7mm Allen Wrench?

[Dirty Diesels]

now you got me wondering if my snap on set has one in it?

Yeah Snap-on put the 7mm in both 3/8 & 1/2 drives sets

 

[bimmerZ5]

Vauxhalls use a 7mm bolt also on brake calipers. I was working onsome kneeding rollers at work and needed a 14mm hex key, ordered one from RS at 5pm got it the next day straight from Facom in France didn't even know they went that large

Are you talking just about a hex key or the facom D107-14?

 

[Dan5speight]

Just the hex key as the cap head was recessed in about 100mm looked at the facom stm.j9 set but thought the boss would be a little pissed as its over £150 on RS and the hex key was something like £6

 

[billybudge]

I have noticed in recent years that I am using hex keys also known as Allen keys, more often, in fact daily,
I have a few large sets of each size key, metric and imperial, also, long arm, short arm and My favorite ball hex, I only use two brands, and they have lasted well, DRAPER and US made UNBRAKO, also have a full set of hex sockets and a full set of extra long hex sockets all 1/2 or 3/8 drive,
I have found that some standard size hex sockets are sometimes not long enough to reach the cap head,
The cap head is a very popular fixing by car manufacturers, and every European made vehicle will have them on, in fact I've seen them common 7mm and 9mm on brake calipers, also a lot now on suspension, and anything in the engine bay,
How the world changes,
As I am now in the tools and fixings trade, (formal mechanic for over 20 years ) I can see how the industry has changed, The automotive industry world wide use 70% socket caps, 10% torx or security torx, and now only 20% hex head bolts, and out of the 20%, 17% is metric,

I still have a full set of whitworth sockets and spanners, and Imperial, and AF, Full sets of each, which I have not used for years and years, all metric, may be the odd AF comes out to play if I'm lucky,

 

[nicksnothereman]

for what it's worth, I have a companion (CHEAP craftsman brand) set of 3/8" drive allens. Cost like $10 or so, been using them for years for brakes, no problems yet. Just a thought.

You can def tell the are cheap, but if you don't use it every single day, it will do fine.

The come in torx, MM and SAE, so for about $30 you could have the whole shebang,

They have evolv sets now (hex and torx). They don't look that awful but limited sets (5 or 6 per set). On sale often for 9 bucks. Chinese. But at the same time for 10 bucks you can get a set of kobalt taiwan hex which are great and comes on a rail. Don't think they have a torx set outside a boxed set; haven't noticed one.

Companion stuff is more awful than most of the evolv stuff they're selling now but...oddly has held up for occasional light duty. I have a 1/4" set of theirs and a set of sae nutdrivers that have held up decently for **** tools. I think I paid 2.50 for the socket set and around 4 bucks for the nut drivers (on clearance of course) about 6 years ago. Yeah I don't break tools.

 

[theknurl]

Wait till you guys come across Peugeot, Citreon & Renault, they've got five sided pentagon bolts on their calipers & Mercedes vito van rear calipers, also ford put them on the mk3 mondeo calipers.

******** engineers ******* on fire hydrants

 

[nicksnothereman]

I have noticed in recent years that I am using hex keys also known as Allen keys, more often, in fact daily,
I have a few large sets of each size key, metric and imperial, also, long arm, short arm and My favorite ball hex, I only use two brands, and they have lasted well, DRAPER and US made UNBRAKO, also have a full set of hex sockets and a full set of extra long hex sockets all 1/2 or 3/8 drive,
I have found that some standard size hex sockets are sometimes not long enough to reach the cap head,
The cap head is a very popular fixing by car manufacturers, and every European made vehicle will have them on, in fact I've seen them common 7mm and 9mm on brake calipers, also a lot now on suspension, and anything in the engine bay,
How the world changes,
As I am now in the tools and fixings trade, (formal mechanic for over 20 years ) I can see how the industry has changed, The automotive industry world wide use 70% socket caps, 10% torx or security torx, and now only 20% hex head bolts, and out of the 20%, 17% is metric,

I still have a full set of whitworth sockets and spanners, and Imperial, and AF, Full sets of each, which I have not used for years and years, all metric, may be the odd AF comes out to play if I'm lucky,

Ball end long hex sockets for the win. I thought ball end was stupid until I had a tremendous clearance issue that there was no work around. No more!

 

[Dirty Diesels]

I have noticed in recent years that I am using hex keys also known as Allen keys, more often, in fact daily,
I have a few large sets of each size key, metric and imperial, also, long arm, short arm and My favorite ball hex, I only use two brands, and they have lasted well, DRAPER and US made UNBRAKO, also have a full set of hex sockets and a full set of extra long hex sockets all 1/2 or 3/8 drive,
I have found that some standard size hex sockets are sometimes not long enough to reach the cap head,
The cap head is a very popular fixing by car manufacturers, and every European made vehicle will have them on, in fact I've seen them common 7mm and 9mm on brake calipers, also a lot now on suspension, and anything in the engine bay,
How the world changes,
As I am now in the tools and fixings trade, (formal mechanic for over 20 years ) I can see how the industry has changed, The automotive industry world wide use 70% socket caps, 10% torx or security torx, and now only 20% hex head bolts, and out of the 20%, 17% is metric,

I still have a full set of whitworth sockets and spanners, and Imperial, and AF, Full sets of each, which I have not used for years and years, all metric, may be the odd AF comes out to play if I'm lucky,

Some Whitworth sizes still convert into Metric & I still use them today on hydraulic hoses & driveshaft hub nuts, the way the motor trade is going with all these different bolt, nut & screw fixings anybody would think that some manufactorors don't want anybody but their dealerships working on their various makes & models, I'm starting to use the new torx plus & ribe profile more often mainly on Ford diesel & Fiat motors & now & again AF stuff on a few older vehicles for steering alignment jobs.

Had to use a 14mm hex socket driver on a VW Passat 1.9tdi the other day to change a driveshaft cv boot they just keep getting bigger fittings on them, some of them are supposed to have 12 point spline fittings but I ain't come across any on VW other than Seat & Skoda who use them for pinch bolts ect, ect.

 

[littletoes]

I worked at a mill in the mid 80's, and EVERYTHING was put together with a Hex/Allen type of cap-screw. Many were countersunk in design, and much larger than what I've used in years.
Now I've moved on into the HVAC & R industry a bit, and most things are hex, or now a bit of Torx, with the newer steam traps being 3/4" hex to install the ****** end (What a Blessing too!).
Because of my background, I own quite a few different sets of hex stuff and Torx, and most have been replaced at least once, even my Snap-On stuff. That stuff is on its third replacement over the years, and I've been been trying to up-grade to the gold/high-torque Snap-On stuff.

I think quality is better today, with better machining techniques. The Torx tools seem to be sharper-better defined.

 

[tjmonsen5]

I have the Snap-on set of gold hex bits. Im pretty sure my BMW brake caliper slide pins are 7mm, and the rotor hold down fastener is 6mm allen.

 

[Kev442]

Dang it! You guys made me leave a warm house and go out to a cold garage so I could figure out what the heck I used on a Focus this summer.
I found a HF set that is brand new except for the 7mm, which has been used once!