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Tool kit rant.

3K views 18 replies 9 participants last post by  Markk9 
#1 ·
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
 
#4 ·
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.
 
#9 ·
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
 
#7 ·
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 !!!
 
#11 ·
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!
 
#12 ·
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.
 
#14 ·
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.
 
#17 ·
I use SAE all the time, but, Kevin, you know what's in my garage.

From the half-and-half side of life, when doing a cyl head gasket on a Jaguar AJ6 or AJ16 you use nothing but metric until you get to the cam sprockets. Then you have to grab your 1/2" wrench to loosen those bolts. The metricization (?) I guess was only skin-deep.

Hey, I got to use a not-often used wrench on Friday. While changing the brake light switch on my '67 420 the original was 1". Not a wrench I often need to grab. The replacement needed a 7/8" to fit it. (yes, a brake light switch that screws into the brakes lines, activated by hydraulic fluid pressure. Don't get me started! Grrrrr.)
 
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