Technical WHO was the Einstein that came up with this 'great'idea ?...

Like it or not the big 3 have been metic since about the mid 1970s it was requirement of the Federal Government.

My dad talks about working in the Chevy dealer when the change first took effect and GM had hardware with metic size bolt heads and standard tread sizes!

As much as I don’t like it it make sense for hose clamps to be metic as everything else in a modern car is, let’s face it we are a small minority when it come to ordering parts.

 

More First World problems...

 

I'm still trying to understand why a 5-minute job takes 5X more time because the hose clamp takes a metric socket.

 

OK Francis.....Get over it!!!!

 

I thought distance was measured in time.

 

every time I run into someone that says "metric is the NOW, get with the times", I ask them
Do you own a metric socket set?
Yes, of course I do, why?
Big ones to little ones? Like 27mm down to 4.5?
Yeah, why?
What size ratchet handles and drives came with them?
Their smile usually goes away, and then they follow.

Even the contractor that bought his set in Poland before coming to the states for our systems admitted his ratchets and drives were 1/4", 3/8" and 1/2" drive..

-Rick

 

If you really want to get messed up in the head, go look at those EPA emissions regulations, not for the why, that’s another topic that we don’t discuss. No just look at the units used for emissions. Grams per brake horsepower-hour! Talk about an Einstein moment… just like mixed metaphors

 

I have a lot of tools. None of this is a problem with the proper tool. Letting a hose clamp spoil a day working on a hot rod should not happen. There are enough things that can go wrong. Don't let this be one of them.

 

Or if you're in Texas, how many beers for the drive.

 

Here's how I solved it.............I got a cheap Facebook Marketplace Craftsman ($100) toolbox and put some pegboard on it. I welded a frame with some steel bar behind the pegboard so I could drill through the pegboard holes and tap them. Got some 4" long x 5/16 " bolts ...cut the heads off....put them in a drill and spun them while rubbing them round on the beltsander. Then I hung wrenches on it according to their actual size............not metric and not American Standard.........SIZE.

Then I put sockets on the top surface of the cabinet .......but segregated by normal metric and AS holders. If I need a larger socket, I look at the wrenchs on the peg board to see whether I need to grab a metric or a standard socket.

Then I took the Craftsman cabinet and stored ratchets (by size) in one drawer and extensions in another drawer. Later I welded a couple of studs in one corner and I keep a few different size short pipes slipped on them to grab when I need extra leverage. Then a couple small wings for screwdrivers.

It all came together as I needed things while working on a vehicle, I just added more small ways to hold that kind of tool on it.

Trust me............. but verify it yourself ) this thing saves a lot of time and verbal expletives.












Yep, It ain't NASCAR quality, but its cheap and efficient and you can roll it out in the driveway or keep it right next to your lift (like mine). Probably wouldn't want to do this with a Snap On box. Got lots of other tools that I keep organized and handy in other areas of the shop, but this is the go to for dirty jobs on the lift. Yours doesn't have to be this cruddy, it can be nicer.....but I find it impossible to keep perfect tool storage in an area where I use a lot of tools for dirty jobs.





See, I'm not completely RedNeck............

 

If Albert Einstein was alive today, I am sure he would have appreciated my pure "OKIE"
country boy, modern day, too lazy to do it right, solution to a common problem.

The cut down smartwater bottle, is a catch all for assorted little nuts and washers and a few loose bolts, verses the open container you see in the lower right hand corner of my dedicated catch all drawer, that I don't care to organize, the rest of the drawers are all organized !

Everyone else's results may vary greatly!

How ever , I did use special "metric" clear, industrial strength, packing tape, to hold the bottle together, it's been like that for over a year now, still holding very securely!
Thanks from Dennis.

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My Grandfather had a tree for nuts and bolts. A long pipe with round wood tiers that would spin and baby food jars attached on the underside of the wood.

I just use old plastic food containers (have a few people giving them to me). Everything is separated by size and type (nuts, bolts, screws, washers, stainless....). I don't' have enough space or containers to separate by bolt length......but my crazy head would like to. Maybe in the future when I have more space I can find a large used nut/bolt cabinet. I also have a tool problem, I hit swap meets and find cheap tools (metric and standard). 3 regular tool boxes (at different places I do work at) and every car has a hand held box......all full of quality old tools. There's going to be a tool sale either when everything has to come into 1 place or when I kick the bucket .

 

Everything I do at work is metric. Been that way for my 49 years there. With only 1 or 2 exceptions. Everything I play with in my garage is standard. My choice. Almost all USA made. My choice again. My car was built in 1951, my motorcycle in 1952. Other projects go back to 1939. They didn't come with metric ( except the already mentioned spark plugs), and they won't have any when I'm finished with them if at all possible. I buy old hardware from old, closed down suppliers, etc. Again, my choice.

 

Now that's an old style hose clamp.

 

OOOOHHHH Yea. Been there. My Brother and I had a restoration shop in the 1970's that specialized in vintage British vehicles. First thing was buy up the then Sears Craftsman tool kits in English, Metric and they even had Whitworth which is not exactly the same as British Standard and there was some odd Italian stuff. Also the threads cut are different than what we have. Now we have "Chinese Standard" which is another issue ! ! Then taps and dies for all those different threads. At least 55 years ago I could pull bolts off a junk Dodge and used them on my junk Ford. We sound like a bunch of Old Farts.

 

There are things worth bitching about...and then there is this.

 

I'm bilingual.
I speak metric and imperial.

Q- How did the metric system become so widespread?
A- Take a look at this map showing in pink all the countries that were invaded by England......

 

Shouldn’t all the pink countries be imperial? Or did England push the metric system? As has been stated above I don’t really care as long as just one system is used on the car/ bike/ whatever. My hobby stuff is sae! By choice.
Dan

 

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And yet, it was the French that created the metric system, and Great Britain only started to introduce it in the mid 1900's. I think your logic and reasoning might be a little askew.......

 

That's easy. I just use a metric adjustable wrench. Works every time.

 

I feel like there's a,
"Your Momma is a hose clamp"
joke that needs to be made here.. So there yall go.

 

This works.

 

I'm just gonna put this right here...

 

Ain't the internet great, ask a question and do a little digging and the answer pops up.

• Hose clamp - Wikipedia
  The first patent for a worm-drive hose clamp was granted to Swedish inventor Knut Edwin Bergström in 1896

 

So I guess that’s a monkey wrench?

 

Well technically that is a Monkey with a Crescent wrench.

The real " Monkey Wrench " according to the source of all knowledge , was invented by Charles Moncky, who patented it around 1858. However, the first wrench was patented by Solymon Merrick in 1835, and Jack Johnson later patented an improved version in 1922.

Again according to the source of all knowledge, the Crescent Wrench was invented by Karl Peterson, who founded the Crescent Tool Company in 1907. This adjustable wrench design became widely popular.

Who is to argue with the internet.

 

In the local GM plant we changed to metric Phillips screw driver tips. We held on to the old tips like the were gold. I still have a very few of them. Trust me there is a difference. Metric Phillis screws have extra marks by to Phillips opening.

 

Not 5 minutes ago my wife wanted help taking the upholstery off our daughters car seat to wash it. It had plastic panels that needed to be removed, so I walked over to my toolbox and grabbed my door panel removal pry tools and got to work. Having an assortment of tools makes a lot of tasks easier.