23mm socket, really?

[speed bump]

I have a couple of 23 mm wrenches and sockets but I don't know if I have ever used them. Metric above 19mm and SAE above 1-1/2 are very much in the I buy them whenever I find them cheap because every once in a while you need one category.

 

[dnschmidt]

TOPTUL makes them and I sell them as part of a set that I make up of large sized 1/2" sockets. That stated 23mm isn't exactly common.

 

[Gmonkee]

The "I don't need it so possibly nobody does" theory rarely applies to real life.

These built sets are geared toward many markets besides Joe Handyman I'm his home setting. Mechanic to millwright or oil field worker some job demands those sizes are present.

My carry around socket set is one small box with sockets from 8 to 22mm, some wobble extensions and one 3/8" ratchet. All sizes present plus a few common SAE in one small box. I have used the 20mm a few times for some damn thing.
You never know really, small kits can be as useful as three drawers full of stuff out there in the trenches.

 

[Know Wosad]

LOL. Another thread, another BANNED O.P.

 

[MShaw]

My son gave me a set of Sunnex 1/2" drive deep impact sockets to 27mm. I had to add 20, 23, 24 & 25 mm to make a complete set.

Just saying.

 

[R-Savage]

There seems to be always a WTF when it comes to tackling any job. Whether it would be an odd size or oem tool. This is the reason a lot of us have a ton of tools.. you can have 99 percent of the tool variety. There is going to be that one job. That requires that 1 percent.

 

[Alchymist]

You are right that it is ciomplicated, but not right about some of the details above:

Engineers don't typically design bolts. In some industries, they are forbidden by law from doing so. We typically call out national stds. And different national or industry standards do differ from each other. Japan's stds differe from Germany's or the US std.

Engineers can design bolts. I have. Bolts are quite complicated to design and resulting bolts can be very expensive to purchase. Head size is based on the head's ability to react the tension in the shank of the bolt. So there is a mathematical relationship between head size and nominal diameter, but hardness/strength are not part of the equation since the head is made from the same material as the shank.

The std for M6 is 10mm. No national std allows 1mm variation. The bolt encountered may have come from a chinese product. The chinese routinely "shop make" hardware.

I looked at all the national stds and I don't recall that any country had tighter tolerances than any other.

23mm is not a std size head. It may be that one company or one industry uses this size to differentiate between a plug (which may require a different removal or treatment) from a structural bolt.

There seems to be always a WTF when it comes to tackling any job. Whether it would be an odd size or oem tool. This is the reason a lot of us have a ton of tools.. you can have 99 percent of the tool variety. There is going to be that one job. That requires that 1 percent.

Not 23mm, but last night I was replacing some 1/4-20 nuts on a table saw stand that had rusted. I have a large mayonnaise jar full of 1/4- 20 nuts, or so I thought, that I had emptied several boxes plainly marked 1/4-20 into.

About the 6th nut I went to tighten with the proverbial 7/16" socket, the socket spun on the nut. Looked through a handful of the nuts and found a couple more smaller ones. 1/4-20 threaded, 10 mm nuts. That's just nuts.

 

[rhandwor]

the manual trans on my 2002 kia rio I think has a 23mm drain plug if i remember right.
when I changed out the motor about 4 years ago I remember not having a socket to fit that drain plug..........can't say for sure it was 23mm but i have all the standard sockets (22 and 24) i remember stairing at it and saying wtf because i didn't have one to fit it.

I use a 23mm double box wrench for my 2006 Kia Sorento rear end oil level plug.
A flea market special made in Japan wrench.
I also have both shallow and deep sockets.

 

[cgrutt]

I have a Snap On impact set that goes through 23mm up on ebay. It's older though, maybe they started excluding 23mm from sets recently?

 

[General Geoff]

eh, I have two 23mm sockets, one chrome shallow 12 point from a Ko-Ken 4251M socket set and one deep wall impact six point from a Grey Pneumatic 1326MD set. Between the two I figure I'm covered for any 23mm needs.


Never considered that they were particularly rare.

I finally had occasion to use it, on the retaining nut for the ball joint on the lower front control arms on a 2006 Lincoln Zephyr (same as on a first-gen Ford Fusion/Mercury Milan, and I suspect also a first gen Mazda 6).

 

[bimmer630]

My SK impact socket set came with deep and shallow 23mm. Ive never used them

 

[mbshop]

I find it interesting that manufacturers come up with odd fasteners thinking folks are not going to or are unable to deal with it. Every odd fasteners has always been dealt with. Even mb had some fastener that only the dealer could get and they wouldn't sell to independents. Strict control. Yet it could be had by the manufacturer of the tool. And the need for it was rather baffling as it wasn't that important. Never had a need for a 23mm socket that I can remember course I have turned billions of nuts and bolts in my carreer.

 

[Codejack]

i think a 15/16 will work . seems like ive done that before i aquired a 23. i know a 7/8 works well on a 22mm on the axle nuts on jap bikes. seems like thats where i used a 15/16 was on a jap bike or maybe a v-rod

That would be loose; 15/16" is 23.875mm, 7/8" is about 22.2mm

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Here are some sets:

 

[JohnDeere1]

I have a gear wrench one from a dollar bin never used it though.

 

[Cope]

My Matco (Wright) shallow and deep 3/8" drive sets both have 23mm. My 1/2" deep set skipped 223 but the shallow set has it.

 

[Ratchet.]

My snap-on impact set has all the sizes from 10 to 24, never used the 23mm, the 20mm comes in useful sometimes, for example on those stainless capped 19mm lugnuts that ford used to use a lot, which often rusted and swelled up so the correct socket would no longer fit.

I have a 23mm wrench that I've used the sum total of once, on the oil pan bolt on an older Volvo, most have 24 so this one must have been an oddball.

Same story with 25, 26, 28 and 29mm which are very rarely seen, but i have sockets and wrenches for.

28mm does turns up on some hydraulic and air brake systems, and is coincidentally very close to 5/8 whitworth...

 

[wolf_from_wv]

Seems like it took a 23mm to change the timing chain on the 2.2 S10...

 

[Mechanical Noise]

Not 23mm, but last night I was replacing some 1/4-20 nuts on a table saw stand that had rusted. I have a large mayonnaise jar full of 1/4- 20 nuts, or so I thought, that I had emptied several boxes plainly marked 1/4-20 into.

About the 6th nut I went to tighten with the proverbial 7/16" socket, the socket spun on the nut. Looked through a handful of the nuts and found a couple more smaller ones. 1/4-20 threaded, 10 mm nuts. That's just nuts.

I have some of those 10mm across flats 1/4" thread nuts. They came in one of those very useful hardware assortments that I bought about 30 years ago. It was made in Taiwan, for what that's worth.

 

[toolaholic]

I have this set. It has a 23mm in it SK 3958 18 Piece 3/8-Inch Drive 12 Point 7-Millimeter to 24-Millimeter Socket Set https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0007GGUEW/?tag=atomicindus08-20

 

[toolaholic]

And another 23 in 1/2 drive: Craftsman Laser Etched Easy Read 4 Piece Large Metric MM ½” Drive 12 Point Socket Set https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01NCB8Y4R/?tag=atomicindus08-20 I have 2 craftsman 1/2 metrics a 20-26 and a 30-36mm

 

[SuzukiGS750EZ]

Some car companies do this so people at home don't fool with their cars. When working on a Volvo's suspension, the struts are held together in part with a 4 pronged star nut. Not sure exactly what the engineers were thinking but thoughts on the Volvo forums is that it was a last ditch effort to keep people from taking it apart on their own and hurting themselves.

It's possible they chose a 23mm so that people changing their oil wouldn't undo it accidentally, since like you said it's a rare size. Just a thought.

Makes sense, ever work on a subaru?

 

[Matt XYZ]

So I was in the local tool store here in Germany and figured I would check what they had in 23mm after reading this thread. There was no 23 mm wrenches or sockets in the entire store, and it has a pretty good selection. Even the larger socket sets skipped from 22 to 24. I think I have an old DBE wrench that is 23 mm but I've never used it.

 

[dutchgray]

My pass through socket set uses a 23mm hex drive. Like a lot of the weird sizes, they really shouldn't be used but then some engineer specs it for a special fastener, drain plug, sensor etc and then you need the tools.

 

[Codejack]

I needed a 29mm yesterday; no one in town had one, I had to cheat with a 1-1/4". Fortunately, it wasn't tight.