Tool question for y'all.

"PlayerWAN" (PlayerWAN) 10/28/2014 at 17:08 • Filed to: None

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Anybody know where I can get a full set of just metric tools? I swear I haven't used SAE tools in about 5 years. It's useless to have them in my toolbox, especially with the extra weight when I want to carry it in the trunk of my Miata. My set of SAE wrenches and sockets looks brand new compared to the metric one.

duurtlang > PlayerWAN 10/28/2014 at 17:10

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Where would one use non-metric tools for? Classic American cars?

I have to get out of my way to get non-metric tools. So get a tool set from Europe.

Luken10 > PlayerWAN 10/28/2014 at 17:12

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I happen to have the same tool kit you pictured. Take a hack saw down the middle of it. BOOM DONE. On a serious note, I don't know where do buy what you want. Maybe just build up your own tool box?

davedave1111 > duurtlang 10/28/2014 at 17:16

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And classic British ones.

jariten1781 > PlayerWAN 10/28/2014 at 17:17

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I've never bought a full set of tools in one go. My collection is an amalgam of different brands bought as needed.

desertdog5051 > PlayerWAN 10/28/2014 at 17:18

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Sears, Lowes, etc. all sell either/or/both kits. If you want really fancy stuff: Matco, Snap-On, etc.

Cé hé sin > davedave1111 10/28/2014 at 17:20

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Ah, but then you might have to deal with Whitworth....

Steve in Manhattan > PlayerWAN 10/28/2014 at 17:22

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You can catch the SnapOn truck at a dealer and see what they have. Expensive though ....

mcseanerson > duurtlang 10/28/2014 at 17:24

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Modern American cars can be a bastard mix of SAE and Metric. Chrysler knows this better than most.

Trevor Slattery, ACTOR > PlayerWAN 10/28/2014 at 17:25

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You can get a full sets of individual metric tools (sockets, wrenches, etc) easily. A complete kit of all the "necessities" in metric only is going to be hard to come by.

I work on British cars and VWs. My problem is remembering what car I am working on and picking tools accordingly.

BoulderZ > PlayerWAN 10/28/2014 at 17:41

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Well, here's one: http://www.sears.com/craftsman-201-…

There were surprisingly few options, though. Seems most suppliers really think everyone wants both.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > duurtlang 10/28/2014 at 17:43

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Not only classic American cars, which exist in very large numbers, but some relatively recent ones, and many other things put together with SAE fasteners. Shelves, mechanical equipment, construction materials, some toys...

There is a large predominance of SAE fasteners across many disciplines when one is actually in the US.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > Cé hé sin 10/28/2014 at 17:45

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True, but more SAE sizes seem to cross-match (in my experience) with Whitworth than metric. There's one fiddly size that's close to SAE 5/8 but isn't, but there isn't a good metric match either.

Two of the most common sizes in Whitworth are close to SAE 1/2 and 7/16, more so than metric 11 and 13mm.

duurtlang > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 10/28/2014 at 17:47

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Not being American I'm utterly ignorant about the non-metric world. So they're still using classic units on new products today? I can't imagine those are still used in US owned volume sellers in Europe, like Fords and Opels.

lone_liberal > PlayerWAN 10/28/2014 at 17:49

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I'd swap your SAE for my metric but every once in a while I have to do something on my DD. Otherwise my metrics go mostly unused as my project car is classic American.

JGrabowMSt > mcseanerson 10/28/2014 at 17:55

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Don't even get me started on this....

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > duurtlang 10/28/2014 at 17:55

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Typically not in cars, so much. In other things, absolutely yes. My company manufactures things with over 90% SAE content, only compromising to metric with some individual parts such as the mounting of those imported from Germany. We also sell our equipment worldwide...

In the case of such things as small engine equipment for example, most construction of US units is in SAE. Taking a log-splitter, everything from the Briggs and Stratton engine to, say, the slide bolts of the wedge and the hydraulic fill plug on its tank, the keyed shaft on the hydraulic pump to the sizing of the lines.

As an interesting note, Land Rover used SAE bolts on a few choice locations involving the Rover V8 up until its discontinuation in 2006. That means that a nominally Euro manufacturer was one of the most recent worldwide volume sellers to use SAE.

PlayerWAN > BoulderZ 10/28/2014 at 17:58

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See, the problem is that one doesn't come with the hard plastic case.

BocaMoccaJoe > PlayerWAN 10/28/2014 at 18:02

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So I came here expecting a Tool question... I'll see myself out.

mcseanerson > PlayerWAN 10/28/2014 at 18:03

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http://www.sears.com/craftsman-115-…

This one isn't metric only but it's the bigger version of the one I carry in my Miata. I actually like mine better because mine has an empty area on the bottom right side I can add random tools to and have added a few bits that I use a lot for the Miata like a 12mm socket and a 12mm gear wrench.

Cé hé sin > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 10/28/2014 at 18:37

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It's not just a question of the SAE measurements that Americans use either - other places used various different Imperial units and measurements and you can still come across esoteric Whitworth fastenings. There are also different screw threads - you can have ISO, UTS, BSF, BSP and on and on. One of the complications arising from the sharing of military hardware and its production by the UK and the US during the second world war was that each used their own standards, neither of which was metric. When Packard built Merlin engines under licence they had to make their own Whitworth tools and dies as these couldn't be sourced in the US.

Maintaining old British cars in the US, or presumably vice versa, can be a tricky business if one assumes that just because all the parts are in fractions of an inch you can use fastenings made in the other country and expect them to be interchangeable.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > Cé hé sin 10/28/2014 at 18:46

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I'm well aware- I've worked on Triumphs and we have within my family six Land-Rover II and IIa models. I've not been terribly bothered putting trim panels back on whole-fastener replace with SAE 1/4" instead of BSF, as it comes off with the same wrench and is nut, bolt, washer and all... but transmission bolts are a whole other story.

The worst is probably the dash panel. IIRC the permanent nuts for the top three dash screws are a BSF size almost identical to #10SAE, but not quite.

Cé hé sin > duurtlang 10/28/2014 at 18:47

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Yes, especially in America. There are also various historical hangovers like the diameters of wheels, plumbing pipes, bicycle frames and so on which even in mainland Europe are still in inches. Somewhat surprisingly Airbus use Imperial measurements when designing planes because of the prevalence of American designed components.

To add confusion, SAE standards are America only. Other non metric fastenings and the like were designed to different standards. A nut made in America with a size of so many fractions of an inch will only by coincidence fit a bolt made in the UK.

And there's more. The Americans use what they call "customary units", other English speaking countries use Imperial units and they need not be the same. The US gallon is smaller than the imperial one. I've only recently discovered that their ton is about 10% smaller than a tonne whereas the Imperial ton is almost exactly the same as the metric tonne.

duurtlang > Cé hé sin 10/28/2014 at 19:43

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Not being from an English speaking country it amazes me this is still relevant, in 2014. For all those international companies it must horrific to deal with these local quirks.

1.21 JIGGA WATTS!!! > duurtlang 10/28/2014 at 19:55

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Nah, nearly all of the international companies that sell a lot of products have their engineering specs done in metric. I worked for Caterpillar for two internships and it was only a problem for me since I was raised on SAE. It's usually just a problem for engineers in the States to think that way. You get real good at remembering your standard sizes in both.

BoulderZ > PlayerWAN 10/28/2014 at 22:19

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Ah, yeah, gotcha. That would be a pain in the butt for portable applications as you mentioned. Weird there aren't more out there.

samsmith > PlayerWAN 10/31/2014 at 08:51

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Dude, Harbor Freight. They have everything you could possibly need, and MORE!

biker > PlayerWAN 11/01/2014 at 12:41

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man, my american gets used quite often, but lately I do use the metric more. but I have used the SAE quite a bit lately as well

in the past few months at friends shop, that I help at for spare cash as needed, 3 International Harvester vehicles, a 68 Cougar, 66 Ford LTD like a Galaxie, a few older Mustangs, old Ford trucks, Chevy trucks, a couple days ago a 1963 Comet pulled in., I know there has been more, but thats just a few off the top of my head, but also get newish stuff in as well, a couple weeks ago I was putting a CPS in a KIA, engine in 2 different Ford Contours, engine in an Explorer, engine in a Jeep Cherokee, head gaskets on a 2004 Malibu, earlier this year radiator support in a 93? honda Civic, & repairing from a crash.