US switching to metric system?

[Frank Lee]

Had an old British sportscar, what a pile of poop, won't do that again.

Didn't really matter what sized tool you used on them; ALL fasteners were rusted and broke off anyway.

My other favorite thing is when there is a mixture of standard and metric on the same vehicle- drag ALL yer dam ned tools out there to work on it!

[TestDrive]

Originally Posted by jamesqf

So I'm trying & trying to get a wrench on the A/C tensioner: 17mm's too big, 15mm too small, and I don't think I've ever seen a 16mm. So finally I get out the other set, and guess what? 5/8 fits perfectly.

I'm sure Toyota would describe the bolt in question as having a 16mm head. 5/8" ~= 15.8750mm. The broach on a 5/8" wrench or socket is slightly larger than 5/8" to accommodate mangled bolts heads/nuts. Larger more complete sets include 16mm, though bolts with that size head are uncommon.

[Frank Lee]

^ It doesn't matter HOW MANY D AMN SETS OF TOOLS YOU BUY, you will immediately encounter a fastener for which you do not have the tool.

This goes back to city-boy engineers that are only MAYBE book smart but have never so much as changed their own oil. If they ever tried to work on their junk they'd put serviceability for the end user higher up on the list than last place. That includes choosing readily available fasteners and fasteners that fit commonly owned tools.

[cfg83]

trikkonceptz -

Originally Posted by trikkonceptz

It may happen sooner than later, especially if the push comes from the auto industry. I have heard rumors that Ford wants to simplify be reducing the number of worldwide chasis used for their vehicles. Since the majority come from over seas then logically they would all be metric based.

But it is the nuts and bolts side of things that would have the hardest time adjusting. It's not like it would disappear either, just no longer made new.

I say go for it ... rip the bandaid.

I agree. We seem to be living in Keynesian times, so might as well get it over with and make a bunch of metric widgets.

CarloSW2

[roflwaffle]

Originally Posted by TestDrive

I'm sure Toyota would describe the bolt in question as having a 16mm head. 5/8" ~= 15.8750mm. The broach on a 5/8" wrench or socket is slightly larger than 5/8" to accommodate mangled bolts heads/nuts. Larger more complete sets include 16mm, though bolts with that size head are uncommon.

They could just be using a 5/8" fastener. Foreign manufacturers can be mix and match in terms of whatever stuff is U.S. spec, eg AC, emissions systems on some late 70s/early 80s cars, and so on.

[TestDrive]

Originally Posted by Frank Lee

^ It doesn't matter HOW MANY D AMN SETS OF TOOLS YOU BUY, you will immediately encounter a fastener for which you do not have the tool.

This goes back to city-boy engineers that are only MAYBE book smart but have never so much as changed their own oil. If they ever tried to work on their junk they'd put serviceability for the end user higher up on the list than last place. That includes choosing readily available fasteners and fasteners that fit commonly owned tools.

Amen, Frank. Amen!

[Piwoslaw]

Imperial units are present in international measures, not only in countries which once used them. Pretty much anywhere wheel hubs are in inches (e.g. 14x5.5), bike wheels and tires (e.g. 26 x 2.1 inches), but car tires are a mix (185/65R15 means 185mm wide tread on a 15in hub). The max pressure on a tire is given in psi, even though the placard in the door is in bars. When buying a garden faucet here I can choose between 1/2'' and 3/4'' diameters. According to Wikipedia, 1 oil barrel is 42 US gallons, 34.9723 UK gallons or 158.9873 liters.

[PaleMelanesian]

Originally Posted by Frank Lee

My other favorite thing is when there is a mixture of standard and metric on the same vehicle- drag ALL yer dam ned tools out there to work on it!

Amen! My 1990 Chevy truck (how much more American can you get?) was about 1/2 metric.

[Katana]

Yeah johnny, i bought a set of 10-19mm sockets but they need a 3/8" connector, weird.

Here in England we are caught between metric and imperial, switching between them frequently.
When it's a hot day (becoming a rare thing) most people won't say it's 30c they use fahrenheit, bigger number sound hotter, same thing when it's freezing cold, we won't use fahrenheit and switch back to celsius because the smaller number sounds colder. Even weather reports do it.

Shops are meant to be completely metric, and i'd say most newer ones are, but some still use imperial or both, it's an EU regulation but not really enforced for smaller companies.

I tend to switch between them depending on the situation, when driving everything is in miles, since all the road signs are in miles that makes sense. for small liquid measures i prefer millilitres and litres, but bigger ones in UK Gallons. You can't buy anything in gallons anymore though, the only imperial liquid measurement still used on a large scale is the pint for alcohol, that's almost sacred here, 568ml of lager doesn't sound the same as i'll have a pint of your best.

When you tell someone how tall you are you use feet/inches, and when you say how much you weigh you use stones/lbs, i think stones are only used in england still, 1st=14lbs.
When i want to be precise and do calculation i use metric, base 10 measurements are easier to do, something like 16.6cm (166mm) + 25.4cm (254mm) is easier than 5" 9/16 + 10" 5/8.

I get the feeling i'm the last of that generation though, the only thing taught in school now is metric, most stuff is in metric and the small amount of things left in it aren't hard to convert in the head. I've learnt to convert between 90% metric/imp stuff because it was necessary, you could get waway with only knowing miles/mph and pints in england and have no real trouble anymore.

[tasdrouille]

Even though Canada is officially on the metric system, I think the imperial system will remain at least in certain areas. Especially when there is folklore involved. I think we'll still be drinking pints for a while. And I'll still miss those 3 foot putts every now and then for the rest of my life.