Why do they skip sizes of metric combo wrenches?

[clare]

18mm is standard ANSI/ISO nut size. 15mm is not. What vehicle, and where?

[clare]

Well, I've been working on Metric vehicles since 1969, and have never required a 9mm wrench that I can remember. I DO have a couple totally pristine 9mm sockets though. There are some 9mm 12 point fasteners I believe also on VW clutches - you use a special VW service tool to service the pressure plate.- again, a special application where you would/should not use a combination wrench - and the open end part would definitely not fit. That's automotive/industrial And I've worked on British, German, French, Italian, American, Russian,French, Korean, Mexican, Canadian, as well as a few other, vehicles.

I think I heard the float needle seat on some itallian motorcycles are 9mm HEX - requiring a thinwall 9mm scoket to take them out - but a

9mm open end, box end, or combination wrench wouldn't do that job either. Mabee brake bleeder screws - (Honda Motorcycles?) you could use a combi wrench there

Now on BICYCLES, that's a different story.- like I said - special apps

- non standard. Wacky non-standard thread pitches, particularly on Italian stuff. And Chinese?????? a 9mm wrench might fit something that was SUPPOSED to be either 8 or 10.

[Ed Pawlowski]

"LSMFT" wrote

Triumph motorcycle, as are many British cars. Whitworth.

[Ed Pawlowski]

"notbob" wrote

11/16 works well on a 17mm nut. Over time though, any wrench used on the wrong size will eventually damage the nut or bolt head. OK in an emergency, but only a hack would do it on a regular basis.

[Ed Pawlowski]

wrote

Two of my setup guys thought that too. After rounding off too many flange nuts I found out what they were doing and a lot of aggravation was saved in the long run. Better to buy one socket $10 than to change dozens of $4 nuts

[Larry W]

15mm is not a common standard nut or bolt hex size, but it will sometimes be used for a flange nut or flanged hex head bolt. I don't recall right now if I've seen it used for a plain hex nut or bolt, but the size is definitely used on many vehicles.

[clare]

re: 9mm wrenches - Also used by FORD on crash-pad nuts and by VW on clutch bleader screws

- so I stand corrected - there are a few (not specifically "special app") automotive applications - but they do NOT conform to ANSI/ISO, which most american industries (as well as the French) use as their spec, or DIN, which is German, or JIS which is Japanese.

Is there another Metric standard incommon use???

[Larry Fishel]

8,10,12 and 14mm are common on Japanese motorcycles. Most odd metric sizes are not uncommon either. I don't recall EVER running across a 9mm bolt anywhere, but I could be wrong.

On the other hand I have a cheap socket set that not only has 9mm, but

4.5, 5.5, 6.5 and I think 7.5... They're a waste of space for the most part.

[The Daring Dufas]

British Standard Whitworth

Found on some older English motorcycles.

TDD

[The Daring Dufas]

You might come across those odd metric sizes in imported electrical and electronic items. I see odd sizes in tape players, VCR's and other types of electromechanical gadgets.

TDD

[Jim Elbrecht]

Remember Norton motorcycles? My brother had one in the 70's. My son and I were just talking about metric/sae & I seem to recall the Norton was some bastard type, too-- neither set of wrenches fit them.

Jim

[willshak]

spud42 wrote the following:

There is another consideration. Not all tool manufacturers make precise tools unless they are a specialty tool company. That includes metric or SAE. One of my 14mm open end wrenches from one company is 14.5mm, and one from another company is 14.25mm. If you have a pair of inside calipers, and more than one brand of wrenches, check it yourself.

[Red Green]

"Ed Pawlowski" wrote in news:Q5mdnaUaG- okU0nRnZ2dnUVZ [e-mail]:

I learned about Whitworth many decades ago on my Bonneville.

[Red Green]

Smitty Two wrote in news: [e-mail]:

A few years abck when I lived in the land Ft Bragg in FayetteNam I got a cat and thought it would be cool to name it Sniper. As you say, going out calling Sniper Sniper was a bad idea.

So I figure just give her a neutral name and call her Little Girl. Being in the over 50 age range, going outside and calling "Here Little Girl, Come here Little Girl." also turned out to be a bad idea.

[notbob]

You'll get no argument from me. ;)

nb

[Jon Danniken]

My jap bikes made proficient use of the 12mm socket. Same with 10mm and

14mm.

Can't recall the last time I've used it, though (haven't had a bike in a few decades). A lot of the chinese stuff I have uses 13mm though.

Jon

[notbob]

I'm not seeing Japanese in there. I cut my teeth on Japanese motorcycles in the early 70s and gar-own-damn-tee you 12mm is as common a fastener size on those things as teriyaki sauce on salmon. So much so, I wondered if it was possible to have 12 and 13mm open end wrench heads grafted on my fingertips. ;)

That sounds strangely familiar

Howzabout them Puchs and CZs? Weird sizes on those babies. These later global-parts cars are also a hoot. No telling what you'll find on them.

True Story:

I worked on Puch "twingle" (Allstate 250), with 4 square-head head bolts. I'd borrowed a gorgeous set of Snap-On combo wrenches from a trusting acquaintance. I discovered I could only get to the square

10mm bolt heads, buried deep between the cooling fins, by using the open-end wrench end-wise. IOW, the open-end slipped over the sqr head from the top, the wrench shaft sticking straight out along the same center axis as the bolt shaft. I then used an adjustable wrench (Crescent) to grab the 10mm wrench shaft at a 90deg angle to turn the open-end wrench. Got the picture?

I broke 3 bolts loose no problem. The 4th was a bit more stubborn. I kept at it, putting more and more torque on the little 10mm wrench. When the last bolt finally broke loose, I was relieved, but then immediately horrified to discover the Snap-On 10mm wrench shaft was now permenently twisted 45deg from its open-end wrench head. Yikes! This was a borrowed $300+ wrench set. How could I explain it?

I did the repair and quickly reassembled the engine. As I retorqued the head bolts back down, I put enough pressure on each bolt to attempt re-twisting the 10mm wrench shaft back to its original straight form. When I finished, it appeared to have worked, as planned. The wrench shaft appeared perfectly aligned, again, and no worse for wear. I even told my buddy the whole bizarre story and told him if he could identify which wrench I'd deformed and then reformed, I would replace it. He couldn't!

Point of story? That's the difference between quality tools and junk. Pay the $$$ for quality. You'll never regret it. ;)

nb

[notbob]

...or a po' boy, who can't afford the luxury of a whole roll-away w/ two different standards of wrench sets!

When I was jes a young cuss, I used to delight on how much I could do with how little. I swear, I could almost tear down my first real motorcycle, a Matchless 500 thumper, with a couple crescent (adj) wrenches, a hammer, and a pair of channel-locks. ;)

nb

[notbob]

Kluge?

[notbob]

Sounds like a quality issue. It's been my experience, Japan makes a lotta great stuff. Mechanics tools are not among them. Use a Japanese 14.25mm open-end wrench a few times and it WILL become 14.5!

nb