Metric vs SAE large sockets.

[KE4AVB]

Boy the these manufactures must think we are stupid. I recently had to have a 46mm socket according to my caliper. This actually coverts to 1-13/16" SAE. When pricing one locally they were wanting nearly 15 usd more than metric label one vs the SAE labeled one. It is the same size socket so I ordered the Sunex SAE deep well impact socket through Amazon for 21 usd with free shipping instead of the 47 usd locally plus shipping. The locals wanted 60 usd for the metric labeled one. All I got do is to the 46mm on it. Anyway it the biggest socket I now have in my toolbox.

Lesson here is to check the conversion info and to shop around before buying tools.

[Arkie]

That more expensive one was probably made with non-fossil fuels.

It will get worse.

[KE4AVB]

I think it is Covid-19 surge charge and greed. I have been seeing some ridiculous prices lately on parts too. Like Cub Cadet wanting over $40 for a LM11949/LM11910 Cone Bearing Set which I got for under $4 per set. By the time I got the Cub bearings and seals it would have been more than a complete spindle.

Part of the problem was the last four years where vendors had gotten into the habit of price gouging the customers and shops. And like you said the pricing is only going to get worst if what working its way thru the US congress get passed. I remember what the last major minimum wage increase did.

All we can can do is to use our brains and find a way around some of this madness. I used to buy nearly all my tools locally but I can't now. They don't seem to understand we all are in the same boat.

"¯\_(ツ)_/¯"

[38racing]

Like belts for my mtd snowblower attachment. Original belt 3039 at 103 in. 2000 technical bulletin chsnged it to 0455 at 102 in. For some reason in 2009 they changed 0455 to 103 in as well. Now they have discontinued 0455. Selling off remaining stock. At mtdparts.ca the 0455 is 112$. 3039 is 68$. Basically the exact same belts.

[Skywatcher]

Greetings All

When I was still pulling wrench at the John Deere dealership, the Canadian Government brought in a cost sharing plan to help mechanics offset the cost of having to buy new metric tools as Canada was becoming a metric country. Over night, the price of metric tools from Snap-On, Mac and other tool trucks doubled. They tried to convince us that they weren't price gouging because the price increase came from head office and just reflected to cost of having to re-tool the factories.

Interestingly enough, once the government program finished, all metric tools had special discounts like buy one get one free, essentially bringing them down to the same price as the SAE tools. They couldn't simply drop the price again as that would have made the gouging way too obvious. Sears metric tools were always the same price as the SAE tools, as were Westward tools, go figure. All the best,

Sky

[SUKI]

Yes it easy to see through all the fog if you look close enough but most government tends to turn a blind eye to things that they actually profit off of.

As AVB noticed we all got to do our research when buying just about anything nowadays. I brought a 16 mm wrench once thinking it was needed on an all metric engine but it turned out the the SAE 5/8. What was really weird was the very next day after spent a half looking for and purchasing said wrench I found one laying in the middle of the highway. Just my luck.

I think the manufactures just come up new fasteners just make us buy new tools. So far I have avoid those pentagon fasteners. But I probably end up with vehicle with them in a few years.

[38racing]

I remember way back 20+ years I was having trouble removing a bolt on a car which I thought was 9/16". It was slightly rusted and wrench would slip. Someone suggested I try a 14 mm. Got the bolt out. In hindsight maybe the bolt was actually 14mm. We are supposed to be metric here in canada but what we see is a mix of metric and imperial. Our hardware stores bolt bins are usually all sae imperial. I once bought a container of 1/4 NC bolts and nuts. IIRC the bolt heads were the expected 7/16" but the nuts were 10 mm. What a pain.

[KE4AVB]

I remember way back 20+ years I was having trouble removing a bolt on a car which I thought was 9/16". It was slightly rusted and wrench would slip. Someone suggested I try a 14 mm. Got the bolt out. In hindsight maybe the bolt was actually 14mm. We are supposed to be metric here in canada but what we see is a mix of metric and imperial. Our hardware stores bolt bins are usually all sae imperial. I once bought a container of 1/4 NC bolts and nuts. IIRC the bolt heads were the expected 7/16" but the nuts were 10 mm. What a pain.

Same here in my area of the Southeast USA. Huntsville, AL is a space city/town and you would think we have easy access to the metrics but it is only SAE stock around here. I have to order anything metric.

BTW 14.2mm is 9/16" and 11mm is only 0.0005 under 7/16". 10mm is 25/64" but I haven't seen SAE wrench in that size lately.

As for any hex screw head or nut there are standard and oddballs dimensions. It one of the reason I got so many different wrenches and sockets.

Personally I just wish they would just standardize all of them. That way I wouldn't need at least three 44" cabinets and boxes sets for all my current tools. At one time I tried to inventory all of them and just got so frustrated I quit but I do need still to it as I really need how much I got tied up in tools at least for insurance purposes.

[Tex]

was this a mental test?

[toro-8-2-4]

For the longest time anything metric was invariably more expensive than SAE. In the past few years I am seeing the costing about the same. However there are still some exceptions that the OP has shared. Especially on unpopular sizes. More fastener types the more tools you need to have. It seems like it will never end. Torx, Pozi Drive, Triple square, and more. I hope those pentagon fasteners were only a joke.