Are SAE tools dead?

[woody6904]

I have more SAE in the service truck then metric. Just deoends on what you work on.

 

[toolmutt]

My metric versus SAE usage is still approximately 50:50.

 

[larry_g]

Do you realize that the SAE has standards for metric tools and fasteners also? So they are all really SAE. Now inch vs metric could be a discussion.

lg
no neat sig line

 

[stonesfan68]

I am just a DIYer. I just used a 1 1/16 wrench on a transmission cooler line fitting; most spark plugs are still SAE; a lot of hose clamps and appliance sheet metal screws are 1/4 and 5/16 (although 6 mm and 8 mm work, too) but other than that I don’t have much use for SAE tools, especially the wrenches.

 

[noahwins]

SAE should have died in the 20th century. I hope they disappear forever, insh'Allah.

 

[WittHay]

I find the use of metric hex is down and bit fasteners up. I like fractions so dont care if I use a 9/16", T25 or metric **** on a 1/4 or 3/8 drive ratchet.

Speaking of metric ****, I think selling a metric car in the US is illegal and probably always will be. No way only kilometres, kilograms, Celsius, kilo-pascals, Barr, litres will be allowed on cars any time soon

Everything to do with a modern car in the US except for a few fasteners is based on the English system. Speed limits, weight laws, tire pressure, temperature, torque measurement, gas and oil sold

 

[Joebass]

Owning a machine and fab shop, 99 percent of my stuff is SAE, fasteners from 6-32 to one inch, plus hydraulic lines, etc. Have wrenches over 2"

 

[Ilikeike]

I still build stuff using a fractional tape measure also.

 

[4xdog]

Do you realize that the SAE has standards for metric tools and fasteners also? So they are all really SAE. Now inch vs metric could be a discussion...

This is correct. The SAE "metric" standards for the use of SI units date from the mid-1960s at least.

 

[RKA]

Just last week I needed 1/2” sockets to tighten up some conference room tables at work. SAE-won’t-ever-go-away. But I only have some hex wrenches, 1/4” and 3/8” sockets in SAE. No impact sockets in SAE. Everything else is metric in spades and any new tools are virtually always metric for my cars. I only keep SAE for household stuff.

 

[ChrisLS8]

I have a set of Williams SAE 3/8 impact sockets for work on anchor bolts. Das it mayne

 

[KnurledNut]

Many sizes like 5/32, 5/16, 7/16, 15/32, 19/32, 5/8, 11/16, 3/4, 7/8, 15/16, 1-1/16, 1-3/16, 1-1/4, etc. will quite often work on metric, giving old inch tools some usability.

 

[Beerman]

Phone and cable company fittings are typically fractional.

 

[RV8guy]

Lololol

 

[Motorman55]

Old Harleys = SAE

 

[DFB]

Honestly though seems the people that ask these questions must do an extremely limited amount of tool work. I don't see it going away anytime soon. Almost everything down our greenhouse business from the building frame fasteners to hose clamp screws are all standard fastener sizing. I don't even carry metric wrenches in my tool bucket around there

And generally the tractor 3pt equipment and sprayer parts are all standard fasteners too unless it's an imported brand. On a personal level both my motorcycles and most of my yard equipment have standard hex head fasteners. And even certain shop equipment too mostly because it is older US built stuff

Sure my tractor is JIS, as are my chainsaws and line trimmers as is some of my SUV

And I have sockets and bits for many types of internal and external fasteners but like others are saying they keep evolving those too

 

[Honda guy]

I'm a motorcycle mechanic and most of the stuff that comes through my shop is metric. I do see quite a bit of older Polaris stuff. Engines and trans are metric and chassis is SAE. Also the occasional Harley, mostly SAE with a little metric here and there.

Then there's whitworth...

 

[englishsam]

Honestly though seems the people that ask these questions must do an extremely limited amount of tool work. I don't see it going away anytime soon. Almost everything down our greenhouse business from the building frame fasteners to hose clamp screws are all standard fastener sizing. I don't even carry metric wrenches in my tool bucket around there

And generally the tractor 3pt equipment and sprayer parts are all standard fasteners too unless it's an imported brand. On a personal level both my motorcycles and most of my yard equipment have standard hex head fasteners. And even certain shop equipment too mostly because it is older US built stuff

Sure my tractor is JIS, as are my chainsaws and line trimmers as is some of my SUV

And I have sockets and bits for many types of internal and external fasteners but like others are saying they keep evolving those too

Outside of America... Most of the normal stuff is metric as well.

I can't remember the last time I had to use none metric spanners or sockets.

Literally everything is metric.

 

[DFB]

Outside of America... Most of the normal stuff is metric as well.

I can't remember the last time I had to use none metric spanners or sockets.

Literally everything is metric.

That would make sense

 

[yrly]

I just posed about this a few weeks ago but got a factory fresh grill from China that literally had SAE nuts and bolts. Tons of outdoor equipment, lawn and garden stuff is SAE.

 

[BroncoAZ]

My OCD makes me buy both when getting new sets, but I rarely use SAE anymore.

I was kind of surprised last week, I went to the junkyard to pull the transmission out of a 1989 F-250, not a single SAE fastener. 10mm, 13mm, 16mm, and 18mm ruled the day.

 

[zippster]

I bought all new snap on sae 1/4, 3/8 1/2 deep and standards socket sets about five years ago. I may have only used one or two of them. I regret the $$$ I put down. If I could go back, I would have just bought a set of sunex 3/8 deep impacts.

 

[IPFreely]

I bought all new snap on sae 1/4, 3/8 1/2 deep and standards socket sets about five years ago. I may have only used one or two of them. I regret the $$$ I put down. If I could go back, I would have just bought a set of sunex 3/8 deep impacts.

A set of impact sae semi deeps works for me. I use em on my impact and ratchets. For people that dont see sae much they are great.

 

[TailGunner3000]

Honestly though seems the people that ask these questions must do an extremely limited amount of tool work.

I was thinking this exact thing.

For the foreseeable future, there will be a need for all standards of tools. Consider a little historical perspective: Phillips head screws were going to make slot head screws obsolete. Torx heads were going to make phillips heads obsolete. Other styles were going to make them all obsolete. It didn't happen. There are uses for them all, and many others. And there are simply too many out there to expect any short term utility in not being able to service them.

In the early to mid 1970's, there was a huge government push to convert the U.S. to exclusive use of the metric system. In some ways, it succeeded and in others it failed. The end result was the two systems exist in relative harmony side by side. And yet most people don't even realize some of the absurdities this entails. A shopping cart sits with a gallon of milk next to a 2 liter bottle of soda. The one ounce shot of Jack Daniels on the bar is poured from a liter bottle. And your doctor weighs you in pounds before prescribing meds in milligrams. Seems crazy, but it still works.

Same with tools. As we deal more with global standards and production, the need for metric tools will increase, but SAE is not going away. And legacy use will be around longer than any of us.

 

[Farmall450]

:

 

[Aaron_W]

Not in my shop, standard and metric both find frequent use.

 

[BBDartCA]

In heavy truck repair, SAE is still common.

 

[WittHay]

Towing, hitch balls, car trailer hubs, most hardware on North American built trailers, snow plow attachments and a lot of pickup accessories all use SAE

Small tractor attachments and equipment. I assume newer RV,s and boats still have some SAE

The further you get away from normal consumer use the more you run into SAE. We have a lot of equipment and truck trailer manufacturing around here and they use primarily SAE fasteners and English or non metric specifications

 

[SHIFT]

Dead? Not by a longshot...

While metric fasteners may dominate modern passenger and commercial vehicles, almost all building and utility infrastructure in the USA uses SAE/Fractional fasteners. It is anything but dead, at least here in the USA, for the Iron Workers, Concrete Workers, Carpenters, Electricians, Lineman, Pipe-Fitters, HVAC Mechanics, Building Engineers, Millwrights, etc.

 

[KenS]

Just wish Tractor Supply sold metric hardware by the pound like it does for SAE.

 

[bob15]

I was thinking this exact thing.

For the foreseeable future, there will be a need for all standards of tools. Consider a little historical perspective: Phillips head screws were going to make slot head screws obsolete. Torx heads were going to make phillips heads obsolete. Other styles were going to make them all obsolete. It didn't happen. There are uses for them all, and many others. And there are simply too many out there to expect any short term utility in not being able to service them.

In the early to mid 1970's, there was a huge government push to convert the U.S. to exclusive use of the metric system. In some ways, it succeeded and in others it failed. The end result was the two systems exist in relative harmony side by side. And yet most people don't even realize some of the absurdities this entails. A shopping cart sits with a gallon of milk next to a 2 liter bottle of soda. The one ounce shot of Jack Daniels on the bar is poured from a liter bottle. And your doctor weighs you in pounds before prescribing meds in milligrams. Seems crazy, but it still works.

Same with tools. As we deal more with global standards and production, the need for metric tools will increase, but SAE is not going away. And legacy use will be around longer than any of us.

To add to the gallon of milk, the farmer is paid in another unit of weight: per hundredweight.

I'm not sure how the NFL would work in metric; or buying a 1ft hotdog, do you ask for a 30.48cm dog?

 

[Downwindtracker 2]

My neighbor was working on a 20 year Dodge pickup, he used just metric tools. I'm rebuilding/restoring/repairing some lapidary equipment, all SAE. When I bolt them down to the plywood bases it will be with 1/4" carriage bolts.

 

[zendriver]

No intention of buying any new SAE tools, unless I needed them.

LOL I have considered buying a new set of HF PP SAE ratchet wrenches, just because my ex -wife still has the 1/2" she borrowed for her jewelry business.

Gotta have a complete set, ya know.

 

[wolf_from_wv]

I used a 5/16" socket for Tapcons.

3/8" socket on mower.

Seems like trailer ball was 1 7/16".

Exhaust bolts were 1/2, 9/16.

 

[WNYflyer]

Just got back from an estate sale of a US Air mechanic. Two tool boxes full of SAE tools and hardly any metric tools to be seen. I am assuming Boeing, McDonnell Douglas aircraft from that era were pretty much all SAE?

 

[JohnM45]

To add to the gallon of milk, the farmer is paid in another unit of weight: per hundredweight.

I'm not sure how the NFL would work in metric; or buying a 1ft hotdog, do you ask for a 30.48cm dog?

And the dairy farmer ought to be, since the milk coming out of the cow weighs more per volume unit from a well-fed, healthy cow than it does from a poor quality cow.

I seem to only expand my metric stuff...working on mostly modern vehicles and European motorcycles. But around the house and my John Deere are mostly SAE.

It can be a bit annoying if you're unsure. I usually check both and see which socket fits tighter so I can hopefully avoid rounding errors.

 

[cvairwerks]

Just got back from an estate sale of a US Air mechanic. Two tool boxes full of SAE tools and hardly any metric tools to be seen. I am assuming Boeing, McDonnell Douglas aircraft from that era were pretty much all SAE?

Boink, MacDac, Hughes, Lockmart, and most other US based manufacturers are SAE. Scarebus, Saab, DeHavilland and other Euro manufacturers are metric, with the exception of Siai-Marchetti, which has lines that are metric and others that are SAE.

 

[WNYflyer]

cvairwerks
Thanks for the information, certainly explains all the SAE versus next to no metric.

 

[Ton ton]

The John Deere's that I run are @ least 90% or more metric. Compact tractors.

 

[HPRifleman]

I'm going to throw out all my SAE and metric and fully convert to Whitworth. Who's with me?