whoever had the idea to mix metric and american bolts on the same vehicle, even worse on the same part, deserves a fate worse than death.
im mostly non-violent but i do have a power steering hose from an 82 van i would like to make the designer eat slowly while sitting in the hot sun and fluid dripping slowly on his forehead.
1966 F250 4x4
1964 Rambler Ambassador 990
Rest in peace departed Slick family members
Cam Milam
Lesley Ferguson
Steve Lopes
John Sutton
i hear you.... have ran into that too
i dont mind metric , but when they mix it...
Last edited by slick4x4 on June 1, 2011, 7:07 am, edited 1 time in total.
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. '' I think what scares me the most about you guys is that I understand you '' ..... KID
'' lookin good, a little paint adds at least 100hp!'' ....... COOTER
'' well an old guy can dream cant he? ''............ICEMAN
''I would donate organs before selling my slick''........ HOOFBEAT RACER
And it means you need 2 sets of spanners/sockets for EVERYTHING!!!!!
It gets worse when you own American cars, but live in a country that uses metric! Cause everytime it comes back 'fixed' the bolts end up more and more mismatched! That means you end up with the entire socket set in your pocket just so you dont have to crawl out from underneath the car!!! GRRRRR
Leeroy wrote:And it means you need 2 sets of spanners/sockets for EVERYTHING!!!!!
It gets worse when you own American cars, but live in a country that uses metric! Cause everytime it comes back 'fixed' the bolts end up more and more mismatched! That means you end up with the entire socket set in your pocket just so you dont have to crawl out from underneath the car!!! GRRRRR
I hear you brother!
Honey, If I say I`ll fix something I will, there`s no need to remind me every 6 months!!
66 f100 tabletop swb 351 Clevo C6 "Beryl"
Us Engineers do it to F with you mechanics that think you know it all! ....Oh, and because we can! JK
I had to do it on a Hydraulic system once because we couldn't go up or down a size on eather end of the hose, both had to be male and one end had to have a built in check valve. So basicly we have to idiot proof the hose so you couldn't put it in bacwards. That was a rare case. Most of the time we don't even design parts that use different grip lengths.
Yep GM started it in the late 70s early 80s. I can remember cars that had all SAE with 2-3 15mm bolts under the hood.
I am sure some of you guys remember when "everybody" thought we were going to go metric here - that started it.
Thankfully my stuff is easy.
Jeep is Metric
Escort is Metric
64 is all SAE
Harley is SAE
I make "notes to keep it easy too
Both the Jeep and the Escort have the oil drain plug bolt size in Sharpie written on the top of the radiator(yea they are different), lol.
Jeep has alot of Torx though and the Harley has alot of Allen head bolts.
Maybe this is part of the reason my hand tool box weighs about 2000 lbs?
Yea the air tools have their own rollaway.
Last edited by Greg D on May 31, 2011, 10:09 pm, edited 1 time in total.
1964 F 100 - I am going to do "something" with it.......
I feel your pain Brian. It gets even better. There is metric and then there is Japanese metric. When I worked for Deere, there was a standard assortment of metric sizes unless it was on some of the imported CP tractors with the Yanmar engines. They seemed to have their own thread pitches and sizes that didn't match anything.
Look on the bright side though. If you have a stripped head of a bolt that a 9/16 wrench slips on, a 14mm will work nicely. 5/16 wrenches are 8mm, 3/4s are 19mm, 15/16 are 24mm, and so on
Dan, as far as the engineering aspect of it, my absolute favorite is when the service manuals tell you that installation is opposite of removal. Pretty bad when removal involved the biggest hammer that you could find.
I got all your butts beat! LOL I own an Ariel Motorcycle. It is one of the later ones called an Ariel Leader. They were intended specifically for the American market in the late 1950's and so just to be safe they used as much SAE hardware as they could. Keep in mind that this a bike made in England when Whitworth was the standard but it was make for the American market where SAE was king so Ariel decided to make it with SAE hardware on the components they manufactured BUT subcomponents are Whitworth OR metric! There are bolts with Whitworth threads and SAE or metric heads, metric threads with SAE or Whitworth heads and SAE threads and metric or Whitworth heads! try buying replacement bolts for that! LOL The really funny thing is the bikes actually failed here in the states and sales were dismal but the UK crowd loved them and they became the most popular bike in the companies history and they sold tons of them to the home market and everybody there had to go out and buy tools. The one part that gave me the most grief was the Lucas fuel petcock which is dual threaded so there is no generic replacement. Hawkrod
Last edited by Hawkrod on June 1, 2011, 1:27 pm, edited 5 times in total.
I have to admit, I admire the comraderie you all have on this subject. Reminds me of when everyone bands together and doesn't let the jerk who chose to try to side lane to get infront of the accident quicker in. Stay strong brothers!
I hear you brother!
....Oh, and because we can! JK 
