Can you use a metric socket on a sae bolt? socket set questions.

[Tractorable]

Get a set of six sided SAE socket wrenches. The 12 points round off corners more. I've been pleased with my Kobalt hand tools from Lowes.

 

[Garandman]

We purchased a digital calipers with a fractional readout mode.

Amazon.com: iGaging ABSOLUTE ORIGIN 0-6" Digital Electronic Caliper Inch / Metric / Fraction t

On the 60 Land Pride mower we have, it appears everything is SAE except the gearbox, which IIRC is made in Italy and thus metric.

 

[DieselBound]

Talk about penny-wise & pound-foolish!

A set of wrenches and sockets is mice nuts compared to even the cost of one implement

That may be true, but I don't park my implements in my toolbox (which is of limited size- the world's finite!). And when one has more stuff to pick through one tends to spend more time picking through stuff than getting things done. I swear, no matter how organized I am I find that I still managed to not be able to find something! All the time looking for stuff (in a big "pile" of stuff) has a cost (time), so sometimes running out and buying only the one piece/tool you need isn't necessarily more costly. That said, I do like to try and purchase sets (until I later realize that the set doesn't contain the ONE size I need); made that decision not too long ago and happy I did- I mistook the required socket size (3/4" impact sockets) and having a set meant that I wasn't dead in the water (and embarrassed).

 

[Wagtail]

That may be true, but I don't park my implements in my toolbox (which is of limited size- the world's finite!). And when one has more stuff to pick through one tends to spend more time picking through stuff than getting things done. I swear, no matter how organized I am I find that I still managed to not be able to find something! All the time looking for stuff (in a big "pile" of stuff) has a cost (time), so sometimes running out and buying only the one piece/tool you need isn't necessarily more costly. That said, I do like to try and purchase sets (until I later realize that the set doesn't contain the ONE size I need); made that decision not too long ago and happy I did- I mistook the required socket size (3/4" impact sockets) and having a set meant that I wasn't dead in the water (and embarrassed).

<snert> I learnt that one fairly early! I bought a lovely set of open-end spanners with corresponding box-ratchet ends... only to discover that the one size missing = 17mm, is the most common size on the tractor. BUGGER! :hissyfit:

My next trip into the local autoparts shop and they had several, individual, examples of that same spanner.

I now have three of them, in different configurations (straight, off-set & pivot). Clearly marked with electrical tape.

 

[DieselBound]

<snert> I learnt that one fairly early! I bought a lovely set of open-end spanners with corresponding box-ratchet ends... only to discover that the one size missing = 17mm, is the most common size on the tractor. BUGGER! :hissyfit:

My next trip into the local autoparts shop and they had several, individual, examples of that same spanner.

I now have three of them, in different configurations (straight, off-set & pivot). Clearly marked with electrical tape.

Yeah, I mean, WHY are sets sold that skip sizes? I did get a nice set of ratcheting wrenches and a set of socket wrenches both of which were from manufacturers not suffering A.D.D. (very nice to KNOW that a size I need is there) My VWs taunt me with their needs of 16mm and 18mm tools. And then there's the issue of seemingly needing TWO of something that you don't have.

I've got some old sockets that are hard to read (no, really, it's not because I'm older, no!), in, of course, SAE and metric, AND, in 1/4", 3/8" and 1/2" drives, AND, various deep and shallow sockets. Every time I go to grab something from that "pile" I swear I'm going to chuck the whole lot out!

"More tools?" my wife asks. One day I'm going to walk in to the kitchen and tell her she needs to use an SAE 6 11/16" knife if she really wants to get the job done!:laughing:

 

[Mace Canute]

I agree you need both sets. But sometimes you just don't feel like spending half an afternoon looking for where you last placed a given size.

5/16 = 8mm
7/16 = 11mm
9/16 = 14mm
5/8 = 16mm
3/4= 19mm
7/8= 22mm
15/16 = 24mm

Those I will use interchangeably with no concerns.

1/2 and 13mm or 11/16 and 17mm I will use in a pinch.

Absolutely nothing close for 10mm, 12mm, 15mm, or 18mm

I am in the midst of getting a 1944 9" South Bend lathe cleaned up and running and when I went to take the nuts off the shafts that the half-nuts pivot on I discovered none of my SAE wrenches fit. The closest one was decidedly too loose so I decided to see if one of my metric wrenches would fit and fit it did...like a glove! Turns out the nut was sized for a 19/32" wrench which is .59375" and the 15 mm metric wrench I ended up using is .59055" so yes, there is something close to 15 mm...19/32". At one time sizes in 1/32" increments were common.

1/2 and 13 mm is the widest stretch of any listed.

Heck, there are even alot of universal lug wrenches that are dual labeled.

24mm is 0.007" bigger than 15/16. (That's two human hairs)

22mm is 0.009" smaller than 7/8. (So it actually fits better on the saw fastener)

19mm is less than 0.002" smaller than 3/4. (Now we really have to split hairs to tell a difference....literally)

16 mm is .005" bigger than 5/8

14mm is about ten thousandths smaller than 9/16, so it actually fits a 3/8 bolt alot better. And I have yet to find a 3/8 bolt or nut it wouldn't fit

11 mm is about 4-1/2 thousandths different than 7/16

And 8mm about 2-1/2 thou different than 5/16.

It's absolutely foolish to thin that if you don't use a metric wrenches on a metric fastener you are going to round off the bolt.

Have you ever even measured your wrenches? Or a hand full of fasteners? The tolerances are alot bigger than the few strands or less of hair we are talking about?

Seriously, if you have a metric fastener that calls for a 19mm and you use a 3/4 and it rounds off....trust me, the 19mm would have done the same thing.

I have many sets of both metric and sae. I know which ones I can interchange, which ones I can get a tighter fit with on a questionable fastener even if it's not the "right" one, and which ones I can downsize to and pound on if a fastener is already rusted or mutilated.

Reminds me of the people that are Soo proud of their snapon tools, and brag about them constantly and that they will never use anything but. Well, good for you mr snapon mechanic, your arrogance is humorous. Watch me do the same job, just as well, with a box full of tools that cost less than ONE of your wrenches.

Absolutely correct. I remember years ago we were changing dampeners out with hotsticks on an energized 72kv power line. The hardware was hot dipped galvanized and the galvanizing made the 3/4" nuts jam in the 3/4" sockets. The solution was to use 20MM metric sockets which fit perfectly.

 

[oosik]

All my sockets are either SnapOn or Proto. Over many, many years I have finally acquired both metric & SAE for 1/4", 3/8?, 1/2" and 3/4". I like to use the correct - metric for metric - SAE for SAE - socket but in a pinch will use metric for sae if the fit is OK.

Ha - wait until you need sockets that are in the sizes - 1 1/4" to 2 1/2". Sticker shock!!!!! My 1" ratchet is not SnapOn or Proto - I just can't believe how much they ask for that ratchet.

 

[Gary Fowler]

1/2 and 13 mm is the widest stretch of any listed.

Heck, there are even alot of universal lug wrenches that are dual labeled.

24mm is 0.007" bigger than 15/16. (That's two human hairs)

22mm is 0.009" smaller than 7/8. (So it actually fits better on the saw fastener)

19mm is less than 0.002" smaller than 3/4. (Now we really have to split hairs to tell a difference....literally)

16 mm is .005" bigger than 5/8

14mm is about ten thousandths smaller than 9/16, so it actually fits a 3/8 bolt alot better. And I have yet to find a 3/8 bolt or nut it wouldn't fit

11 mm is about 4-1/2 thousandths different than 7/16

And 8mm about 2-1/2 thou different than 5/16.

It's absolutely foolish to thin that if you don't use a metric wrenches on a metric fastener you are going to round off the bolt.

Have you ever even measured your wrenches? Or a hand full of fasteners? The tolerances are alot bigger than the few strands or less of hair we are talking about?

Seriously, if you have a metric fastener that calls for a 19mm and you use a 3/4 and it rounds off....trust me, the 19mm would have done the same thing.

I have many sets of both metric and sae. I know which ones I can interchange, which ones I can get a tighter fit with on a questionable fastener even if it's not the "right" one, and which ones I can downsize to and pound on if a fastener is already rusted or mutilated.

Reminds me of the people that are Soo proud of their snapon tools, and brag about them constantly and that they will never use anything but. Well, good for you mr snapon mechanic, your arrogance is humorous. Watch me do the same job, just as well, with a box full of tools that cost less than ONE of your wrenches.

Well said.
You the man LD!!

 

[stingray1]

Absolutely correct. I remember years ago we were changing dampeners out with hotsticks on an energized 72kv power line. The hardware was hot dipped galvanized and the galvanizing made the 3/4" nuts jam in the 3/4" sockets. The solution was to use 20MM metric sockets which fit perfectly.[/QUOTE]
Been there,done that.

 

[oosik]

Ha,ha - to each his own.