20mm Sockets and Bigger

[purplezr2]

30mm VW axle nuts
29mm Cummins fuel filter
32mm(I think) ecotec filter
36mm Gm Axles
27mm Polaris Flywheels.

21,22,24 on various things

 

[ganymede]

You could, I guess, and I certainly did in my own garage at seventeen...

The torque is generally very low, 25 Nm for a bolt that's effectively M24 or so. And they're invariably aluminum, lightweight, anodized, and in plain view of picky customers: poorly-fitting wrenches can be pretty hard on them, at least aesthetically. As Garboui noted, I had a machine shop remove the chamfers from the tops of sockets used for these fittings.

Oh right. Cant stand soft metal. You look at at anodized aluminum the wrong way and the coating comes off and there's a nasty burr.

 

[basspro]

I own up to 36MM in deepwell 6pt. Many uses for mobil heavy equipment. I use 30 and 32MM alot on our 6 head Costa sanders at work, motor mount bolts. Many italian and German machines at work use 36mm as jacking/leveling bolts.

 

[arnwoodwheels]

European metal and woodworking machinery uses most of the larger sizes. But after 32mm or so inch size fits well enough. I dont want to spend the money on a 1" drive metric set.

 

[Applesauce]

Oh right. Cant stand soft metal. You look at at anodized aluminum the wrong way and the coating comes off and there's a nasty burr.

Meh. It's not ideal, for sure, and sometimes it's way worse than just M24 fork topcaps. Bicycle stuff is all about weight savings!

 

[Applesauce]

Also, I had a 2005 Mini Cooper S with a 36 mm socket for the oil-filter cap. I was told at the time it was a common fitting for these cars... My current BMW is some kind of weird 87 mm plastic cap, though, so the 36 mm thing may not have stuck!

 

[cz_699]

Use mostly hex/allen sockets at work. I have used up to a 36mm hex socket, and I've seen them use a 102mm regular socket for torquing tie-bar nuts on Injection molding machines. That 102mm is roughly 4 inches across, is 1.5 inch drive and we use 2 torque multipliers to get the nut where it wants to be.

 

[nwtech]

Up to 38mm and 2" in sockets and SAE wrenches up to 2", I used to use the bigger stuff for hy-rail wheels and bearing locknuts on railroad equipment, plus of course axle and pinion nuts, crank bolts that kinda thing

 

[HTGTS350]

50mm socket and wrench to remove Toro 0011 front diff mount bolts, far too often for my liking.

 

[Applesauce]

That 102mm is roughly 4 inches across, is 1.5 inch drive and we use 2 torque multipliers to get the nut where it wants to be.

Wow. I'd seen things like that in catalogues and wondered what they were for...now I (sort of) know! My dad once told me about the crucible seal-head bolts on the reactor on nuclear powered submarines, which see torque like that when the bolt is red-hot and allowed to cool in place.

Just out of curiosity, what's the actual torque spec on a fastener like that? The tightest bolt on a bicycle is maybe 60 Nm. Whenever I have to work on the subframe of my car (i.e., rusty 200 Nm bolts), I have to drag out the cheater bars...and I still feel like I'm going to separate a shoulder!

 

[young_buck]

I use 19mm more than anything but as a heavy equipment technician I use sizes from 21mm up to 46 on a regular basis. SAE sizes are another story...

 

[pendragon1998]

24 mm for rear differential fill and drain bolts on third gen 4runners.

 

[bw77]

Volvo S70 crankshaft bolt is 30mm.

 

[cz_699]

Wow. I'd seen things like that in catalogues and wondered what they were for...now I (sort of) know! My dad once told me about the crucible seal-head bolts on the reactor on nuclear powered submarines, which see torque like that when the bolt is red-hot and allowed to cool in place.

Just out of curiosity, what's the actual torque spec on a fastener like that? The tightest bolt on a bicycle is maybe 60 Nm. Whenever I have to work on the subframe of my car (i.e., rusty 200 Nm bolts), I have to drag out the cheater bars...and I still feel like I'm going to separate a shoulder!

I was actually wrong on the use of the 102mm socket it was for a certain hydraulic cylinder in a 720 ton press torqued to 3600 ft lbs. Tie bars use a similar size (or larger) socket but they are not hex. They get torqued to a specific stretch. Tie bars that we work with are up to 10 inch across and ten-ish feet long. Average stretch on our machines is fifty thousandths and should be verified with an ultrasonic tester to make sure all four bars are under identical strain.

 

[FLRover]

27mm lug nuts

36mm oil filter cap

24mm, 22mm, 26mm 32mm for axels

 

[PinkLinc]

R53 MINI Cooper:
32mm Axle Nuts
36mm Oil Filter Cap

And my spring compressor takes a 24mm

 

[djb2]

Pretty much everything fastener in that size range is on something delicate or critical, and has a torque spec. So buying a big adjustable wrench won't do.

Especially on motorcycles, where everything is soft aluminum exposed to the elements, in a high vibration environment. And most of them aren't Extra Parts that are OK to come off during use.

You need an accurate socket to push on all of the flats when breaking the fastener loose from its corrosion, and a socket to use with a torque wrench when putting it back together.

 

[diesel_doctor]

I use 21mm for the main bearing cap on Cummins ISCs, the ones on the ISX take a 24mm, I believe. Most lug nuts are 33mm on class 7 & 8 trucks.

 

[Requin6]

And my spring compressor takes a 24mm

Ahh yes, same here....forgot about that one!