Metric sockets? how come?

[Whitmore]

How come metric sockets still have a 3/8" drive??? You would think the corn balls would have made it like 12 mm or some stupid crap so it willnot work with your standard set.



Cheers, Kevin

 

[EMD Diesel Power]

Damit Whitmore... .



you just gave the Canadians and Europeans more ideas to make our tools more complicated and our vehicles more un-fixable. :-{} :-{} and more money we have to spend to complete our toolsets.



hehe... .

 

[big jake 1]

Originally posted by Whitmore

How come metric sockets still have a 3/8" drive???



Cheers, Kevin

Kevin:



this will really freak you out, I just bought a metric socket set today and it was... ... ... ...









1/4"





drive... ... ...











big jake

 

[QRTRHRS]

I have metrics in both 1/2" and 3/4" drive too.

 

[illflem]

Another thing I've found strange is that in most metric countries plumbing pipe and fittings are in inch sizes, same as here.

 

[The patriot]

Originally posted by illflem

Another thing I've found strange is that in most metric countries plumbing pipe and fittings are in inch sizes, same as here.

That's mind boggling... .....

Eric

 

[JohnMcIntyre]

The last word.....

The reasoning is quite logical when you think about it..... The input configuration for all ratchet drive sets started out life with Imperial/AF being the default input drive convention. The two output drive configurations supported are metric and imperial/AF, thus NOT requiring everyone to double up on their ratchet drives.



One of the very few examples where obsolescence is not built in these days.....



EDIT UPDATE I just checked with my local SnapOn dealer here in England and he confirmed what I wrote before as being right on the money.

 

[me4osu]

From my little travels of working on gas compressors in different parts of the world, one INCREMENTAL metric set is all you need for both.



I have used socket sets that are sized on each millimeter (ie. 10, 11, 12, 13 ..... ) without skipping a millimeter. We use those on metric and SAE bolts with no rounding.

 

[vssman]

Actually the drive end is metric - the small size (1/4) is really 6. 35 drive, medium size (3/8) is 9. 525, large (1/2) is 12. 7. Ex large (3/4) is 19. 05, Jumbo - Super size - Muy Grande (1) is 25. 4

 

[BV]

Man - I gotta get home and measure my ratchets - I think they are 10mm, 13mm and 18mm



Are you sure the Doc T didn't start this thread ?

 

[Jff24Gordn]

Ive got a Kal double ended ratchet. One end is 3/8" and the other is 1/2" It is marked in both American sizes and the metric size on the handle. Ond end has 3/8" and 9. 5mm and the other has 1/2" and 12. 7mm stamped in it.

 

[Doc Tinker]

Some things seem bigger when they are measured in metric.



Ever get a 14mm socket stuck on a standard bolt and sit there slamming it on the driveway to get the bolt loose?



Doc

 

[rfcom]

you just gave the Canadians and Europeans more ideas to make our tools more complicated and our vehicles more un-fixable

Actually, I believe that the US is the only industrialized nation on the planet that doesn't use the metric system. However, even after all the years we've used it, you never hear someone talk about how many liters/100 km they get, it's still MPG. Even though the trucks are metric, most aftermarket accessories come with standard nuts and bolts, so I still have to keep 4 sets of sockets.



Jim

 

[big jake 1]

Originally posted by Doc Tinker

Some things seem bigger when they are measured in metric.



Doc

Your are absolutely correct, I converted both of my exwives to this system before I married them... .....











:--) :--) :--)















big jake



THE FORD GUY!!!!!!!!!

 

[Andy Perreault]

I bought a set of socket holder racks from Sears (Craftsman), and on the 3/8" drive, the printed card stapled to it said in big letters, "NEW!! METRIC!!" I kid you not, go to Sears and check them out. Funny, the 1/2" and 1/4" drive racks didn't say that. BTW, they're the best socket organizer racks I've ever used. You can by extra pegs for the rails, too.

Andy

#ad

 

[E7mack96]

??? 5.5 MM size

I just bought a new metric set yesterday. It had a 5. 5 mm socket in the set



I have never, ever heard of a 5. 5 mm. WTF uses that size??



The set goes from 4 mm all the way to 33 mm in 1 mm increments, except the 5. 5

 

[Cooker]

Originally posted by big jake 1

Your are absolutely correct, I converted both of my exwives to this system before I married them... .....

LMAO

 

[merryman]

I have a socket set that is neither 3/8 nor 1/2" drive but is somewhere between those two----Its not real handy now to check the name, but it is one that is around. I was told by a guy at a truck parts house that the company brought out the odd size thinking they would have a captive market for sockets, etc, but I did not go over.

Its a good set, just can't use sockets from anyother set, and wouldn't you know the one missing socket is the 9/16.

Vaughn

 

[REndres]

Snap on used to list a metric adjustable wrench in their catolag. Asked dealer about it and he said the thumb wheel adjustment for the jaw opening was a metric pitch thread. Go figure.

 

[Doc Tinker]

Does your wife weigh 140 pounds? Then she weighs 63,502. 9318 grams. I can't see the metric system becoming our national system.



Doc