Standard vs Metric. Do we need both?

[Art From De Leon]

For the most part, metric and SAE are different up to 3/4" then they seem to be in

agreement for some reason.

Uncle Bob

I have noticed this also, BUT, I have both inch and metric sockets and wrenches up to about 1 1/4"/32 MM, but my 3/4" drive are all standard, up to 2 3/8", with one exception which is 24 MM (same, same as 15/16) which I bought for the express purpose of removing/installing the bolster plate on JD MFWD tractors.

One use for metric sockets is that you can use them on standard nuts/bolt heads that have been slightly rounded.

 

[md21722]

If you really cared you can put a thread pitch gauge on the threads, or read the the markings on the fastener. Hash marks mean SAE, something with a number is metric. Many sizes are close and close enough that people don't even notice but it depends on what tools you are using and what sizes. Many people use 8mm where 5/16" is the true size, 11mm where 7/16" is really the true size, and sometimes 1/2" and 13mm are interchangeable but there is a difference there depending on tools and who made the fastener itself. The larger sizes are more forgiving, say 3/4" and above.

 

[shockwave]

You will need both depending on what you work on most modern vehicles use metric but replacement parts use same all the time like bleeder screws on calipers not to mention most pullers use saw not metric a 1/2 is a tad tighter than 13mm and a 14mm is a bit smaller than 9/16 a 13/16 is smaller than 21mm and a 10mm will be bigger than a 3/8 closest between the 2 commonly used will be 1 1/16 and 27mm almost no difference in size


And if you are near any rust you want both

 

[AndySchlagzeuger]

One nice thing about having both is that some metrics are a little smaller than AF's and vice versa. So with that being the case, if you get a rounded fastener there's a trick you can use that will help get it off where other methods might not be available.
Yes and in modern garages I have some workmates say "Andy- you don't need those Imperial sockets- they just take up room" Until something older comes in, then every few minutes it's "Andy- can I borrow you're Imperial sockets again?"
For substantially older British cars and bikes investing in a set of Whitworth spanners and sockets is more fun again.

 

[ecotec]

Blame Gerald Ford, that savage.

He's the one that put us in that uh-Holy alliance with Satan and pushed us on down the metric path to hell and damnation with his Metrication Council.

Its publicly advertised goal was to make American products more appealing to overseas markets and help boost exports and create jobs if I remember right. We now know that its real purpose was to make foreign protects more readily accepted here and destroy the industrial capabilities of the US along with it's economy with the end result of enslaving us. Yes, enslaving us to people that use the metric system.

Reagan saw it and tried to stop it, but it was too late. It had already started to snowball because of fifth columnists and agent provocateurs.

Remember, the metric system has been the preferred system of measurement of Communist countries and tyrannical regimes for a long time. Stalin used the metric system while he starved over three million Ukrainians to death. So did Hitler while he kicked off a war that ended up killing 30 million people. Mussolini might have made the trains run on time, but he did it and murdered people at the very same time he was using the metric system. Let's not forget the 7.7x58mm people that bombed Pearl Harbor. North Korea, the Land of the Perpetual Famine, uses the metric system. And old Mao did too.

'nuff said...

WoD

Exactly. And it bothers me that blue is used to identify metric and red is used to identify SAE! It should be opposite. Red should identify those commie metric tools.

In all seriousness... If this is really about money, there are ways to stretch a buck. If you are starting out with nothing, and need hard line tools (wrenches, sockets, extensions...), allocate 85% of your budget to metric. You can pick up the SAE wrenches and sockets for pennies on the dollar at estate sales, garage sales...

 

[GasNSteering]

Just get this Metrinch set and you're covered for both SAE and metric.

Quote from the below link- "The patented Metrinch Wall Drive profile drives only on the flats and not on the corners. The dimensions of Metrinch sockets and spanners have been precisely calculated, so that a single Metrinch tool will operate on both metric and inch series fasteners."

http://www.metrinch-tools.com/website/introductie.php?subnr=1

The above tool recommendation is said kiddingly.

Yeah I agree about kidding I have the Metrinch sockets and wrenches and am not impressed. I use the proper size from the tool box working in my garage and would pack the Metrinch for a junkyard run.

 

[Know Wosad]

I have a stack of both. The outcome of WW3 will determine if I keep the sae

 

[teddlett]

You guys are funny, at my work we use 2 sizes, 9/16 & 15/16. If it's something else the client who brought it in had better have enough of what ever tool you need to crank it down for the whole crew. (and amusingly my job title is Mechanic too). But in my own garage it's almost all metric on my Ford Ranger, though it makes my grandfather's full set of SAE SK sockets sad.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

 

[SawtoothJL]

read the the markings on the fastener. Hash marks mean SAE, something with a number is metric.

That isn't always the case. Stainless SAE Fasteners are always Marked with numbers, usually THE 307A, unless it is another stainless alloy. Metric stainless fasteners are marked with A2-70.