Why is it that all the nicely packaged mechanic's sets with the form fitted cases are dual SAE/metric?? I guess there's still SAE stuff around, but I haven't put a wrench to one in decades, literally. I like the cased sets for carrying in my car and maybe even for garage use, but damned if I'm going to buy and lug around twice the number of sockets and wrenches I need.

KeS

Yeah, the only time I've used SAE stuff is when building my own stuff with SAE hardware I purchased. And that's just because there's a bigger selection at the hardware store.


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I could see it for general tool sets, I guess - but mechanic's sets? I literally can't remember the last car I bought that didn't use metric fasteners. I know it was before my 1986 300ZX Turbo. And no, I'm not excepting domestic vehicles.

KeS

You'd be surprised at how often I use standard stuff. Even on my pickup (ford) which isn't even ten years old, half the stuff is standard. And my 06 mustang- same way.

I don't know why it's mix and match. But american cars have been that way for quite some time. It's like 90-95% metric..... but then some random nut or bolt on something like the alternator will be standard.

I'll agree that I don't need to carry around SAE stuff with me most of the time, though.

Its only the caterpillar stuff at work that throws up the weird stuff . Everyone else is on the metric and available from stock ,but CAT like to throw in sizes and threads I dont have a spare bolt or tap or die for . We need to order in those special as required .

Well, yeah. You're in England. Deal with it.

Yeah ,but even the crazy Hyong sung science and technologicalsistics or whatever the ferk it is chinese loader we ended up with when the company drove a recycling yard into bankrupcy manages to be all metric . Whats with the US hanging on to the old ways ? Your supposed to be the new world !!!

Pardon?

Why did everyone go and change? THAT is the better question. It really depends on the company as to what they use over here.

The real problem is that most vendors stock more shit in SAE than in metric... you can't go to a hardware store here and get as much metric shit as you can SAE shit. Even though like 85%+ of shit is metric.

It makes NO fucking sense. Anything metric that we use here at work I have to order in. If I need an SAE size of ANY type of fastener, though- I can run to our vendor and get it off the shelf in 20 minutes.

It's stupid, I know. But it's not our fault.

I *would* be surprised! The first domestic vehicle I owned since I was a kid was a 1994 Camaro. Everything on that car that I touched was metric (and I touched quite a bit of it). I was surprised *then* because I assumed holdover parts like the rear axle might still be SAE, but they weren't. My 1999 Corvette was all metric, and I *think* my 1989 was as well, and I know my 2001 Tahoe was.

Maybe it's just a Furd thing.

KeS

Well being a Brit I am not one to give much love to the French ,we spent over 100 years at near constant war with em haha . But they came up with a reasonable ,easily translatable system of measurment ,that makes pretty good sense . The imperial system of inches ,feet ,yards ,fathoms,pounds etc had a certain mismatch about it . So I guess we changed as looking ahead a world standard system that works on decimal points rather than fractions makes sense ..The difference engine probably gave us a hint of how things would work in the future and metric was going to work better for that .

Keven this is the worst rant ever who get upset about having to many tool? You can get get all metric tool sets if you look around. Take a look at Cruztools.

My issue is no matter how big the set there is always one or more crucial tools missing. I have 2 sets of t-handles nether set came with a 1/2". Only to find out when elbow deep in a repair!

There is WAY too much SAE stuff to not include it in a standard mechanic's tool set. When I used to work as a mechanic not a day went by that I didn't use something SAE, and I was just a service mechanic; I didn't get into the tough stuff in a car that often has the weird nuts and bolts. Granted, the vast majority of stuff on both foreign (basically all metric) and domestic is metric, there is a bit of mix and match on the domestics. We used to call this hodge podge of metric and standard on American cars 'metridge.'

At this point in time, I would say a mechanic's tool set is incomplete without SAE. Maybe in twenty or more years, an SAE mechanic's tool set will be obsolete.

If you say so. My complaint is that they sell nice SAE-only sets, and nice SAE/metric sets, but I rarely if ever seem to find metric-only sets.

KeS

I havent seen any good metric only sets around here, for the most part I avoid tool kits and stick to individual pieces or set of metric tools.

I have lots of "old" (10 year old) SAE tools I've never had a chance to use.

I haven't priced a tool set in awhile, so I never realized that metric-only sets are hard to find. At this point I'm only buying specialty tools and add-on sets, as I already purchased a good basic set years ago. It shouldn't be hard to buy a metric-only set though IMO, so that is a valid complaint.

However, like I said, if I were buying a starter set, I would only buy a set with both metric and SAE. I'd imagine that the tool manufacturers that sell sets are marketing them toward new tool owners. Those who already have a solid base of tools aren't usually (with exceptions, of course) buying sets. At this point, I guess it makes sense for them to include SAE. If I were buying a starter set, I'd pass on a metric-only set for completeness sake.