14mm spanner

[Maurice TaylorParticipant @mauricetaylor82093]

Ford cars use 12,14,15,16 and 18mm spanners

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Posted by Maurice Taylor on 29/10/2016 19:30:10:

Ford cars use 12,14,15,16 and 18mm spanners

Back in the eighties I'm sure they had a way of making sure you needed all five sizes to remove something only held on by four bolts…

Neil

[Nick WheelerParticipant @nickwheeler]

Posted by Neil Wyatt on 29/10/2016 21:42:03:

Posted by Maurice Taylor on 29/10/2016 19:30:10:

Ford cars use 12,14,15,16 and 18mm spanners

Back in the eighties I'm sure they had a way of making sure you needed all five sizes to remove something only held on by four bolts…

French stuff still does. That's before you discover that the bolts are made of an engineering grade of cheese.

[Mark CParticipant @markc]

A 14mm AF is just handy if you have old 9/16AF hex to deal with. When the old 3/8th UNF/UNC with 9/16 heads got rusty (which they did a lot if you live near the sea) a 14mm spanner might just get you out of trouble.

Mark

[julian atkinsParticipant @julianatkins58923]

My complete 'King Dick' socket and spanner set includes 14mm and all metric sizes and imperial. I have 2 other sets that include 14mm and the above.

I really dont know what the fuss is about.

Some of you really ought to get a life.

Cheers,

Julian

Edited By julian atkins on 29/10/2016 23:16:58

[John Stevenson 1Participant @johnstevenson1]

A 14mm spanner fits a 14mm nut.

Does it matter that thread is inside it ?

Get a life.

[Chris Evans 6Participant @chrisevans6]

My toolkit is comprehensive enough to never be short of the correct spanner. Years of working on old British bikes/Land Rovers and modern cars and Jap bikes has made me buy the correct stuff. Spline drive stuff used by the automotive industry is cheap enough to buy for the serious tinkerer. A N Other it would have most likely been a Ford "Pinto" engine that hade the spline drive for the cylinder head bolts.

A friend of mine thinks it is about time another set of sizes are introduced to make all the youngsters buy sets other than metric because he had to buy Whit/A/F and metric like I did. I have some rarities like 25/32" A/F found on prewar BSA and other bikes.

[mick70Participant @mick70]

i get loads of use from my 14mm spanner.

also got a bit of kit with m8 bolts that used 12,13 and 14 mm spanners.

also got a 75mm spanner.

[VicParticipant @vic]

Posted by Maurice Taylor on 29/10/2016 19:30:10:

Ford cars use 12,14,15,16 and 18mm spanners

Back in the 70's and 80' it was 10mm (rocker covers) 13, 15, 17 and 19. They also bought out a brake fitting that needed a 7mm hex driver, we waited ages for Snap-On to supply those.

[Mark CParticipant @markc]

JS, if that was aimed at me (given the proximity to my post mentioning imperial threads) then I struggle to see your problem with it. I was simply pointing out that old rusted heads on those size nuts and bolts can sometimes be undone with a 14mm spanner – this is something I learned a long time ago working on old imperial motors and vehicles. It might just help someone out in the same predicament.

As is often mentioned on here, if you don't like a subject or the replies – stop reading them or simply ignore them.

Mark

[Mark CParticipant @markc]

Mention of Ford "Pinto" engines reminds me that those engines are quite rare, the common 1600 and 2000cc derivatives were actually referred to simply as ford OHC – the Pinto was a 2300cc American engine.

Mark

[VicParticipant @vic]

Posted by Mark C on 30/10/2016 09:43:35:

As is often mentioned on here, if you don't like a subject or the replies – stop reading them or simply ignore them.

Mark

I agree, there were a couple of nasty replies. I expect children to be rude but not adults.

[John Stevenson 1Participant @johnstevenson1]

Mark, Vic,
The reply wasn’t aimed at anyone, it was a general rely.

I have just re-read the whole thread and non of the suggested uses for a 14mm spanner apply to me as I don’t have a Laverda or any Japanese bikes. I did notice there were more posts saying what a 15, 16, 21 mm spanner would fit when this wasn’t the original issue.

My 14mm is mainly used on Chinese M8 bolts and nuts such as clamping sets and the holding down bolts. Something I’m surprised that no one has mentioned, however on second thoughts that I’m convinced that the majority of posters on this forum don’t actually use a workshop it should not surprise me.

Note I said majority, not all.

However I stand by my original statement that a 14mm spanner is used on 14mm nuts and bolts. It’s a logical statement that cannot be denied.

[Mark CParticipant @markc]

JS, yes, and the fact that you can "beat" one onto a jiggered 9/16 af head/nut is also a fact – one that might be useful to remember if you don't happen to own a nice set of snap-on flank drives…. Another useful cross over is 13mm can be persuaded to go on 1/4 BSW if I recall

Mark

[Mike PooleParticipant @mikepoole82104]

11mmA/F is a bit tight on 7/16A/F

Mike

[DodParticipant @dod]

Spannering much of my working life life has meant purchasing a spanner to fit the bolt/nut needing attention and learnt to live with it, results in a toolbox full of spanners and every one useful on the relevant bolt/nut whatever size.

Sometimes if I'm really lucky having to use a 13 mm spanner on the bolt and a 14mm on the nut and not developed a complex about it.

[Ian PParticipant @ianp]

As JS indicated spanners are made to use with nuts that they fit.

Today I had need of a 29mm AF spanner to remove a two stage thermostat from a car radiator . Because of its restricted access and attached wires, It had to be an open ended spanner which is a size I've never needed before.

Although I dont like doing it was able to enlarge an existing 94AF spanner so it fitted a 29mm hex!

I've had the spanner for at least 40 years and definitely not used it in the last 25. (I still have another 15/16" AF anyway).

I have a few other spanners that have end marked in fractions and 'decimals' of an inch but I wonder if any fitters or mechanics ever used the decimal inch markings.

Ian P

[Nick WheelerParticipant @nickwheeler]

I've an old toolbox full of spanners and sockets that I rescued from scrap cars. I have absolutely no qualms about modifying them for special jobs. If that means chopping them down to fit or bending them to clear an obstruction, then so be it.

This was a tired 30mm socket with worn 1/2" drive hole. I bored the hole to accomodate a Torx socket, and welded on a piece of strap to make a spanner for my cambelt adjusters. I could have bought the cranked spanner to do the job, but this tool took about 10minutes to make and saved about £40.

[Nigel McBurney 1Participant @nigelmcburney1]

There was a mention of a 25/32 in spanner,this was known as united States standard,the US like the UK used a larger nut size pre WW2 for their standard coarse thread series. e.g. 5/16 dia had a 19/32 hex,7/16 dia had a 25/32 hex and 9/16 had a 31/32 hex. In my set of Ring spanners now over 50 years old there is a 25/32 size only used in recent years when I found that some old US made stationary engines used these large hex nuts ,for example the most well known open crank engines, Amanco .on the 2 1/4 hp version the nuts and lock nuts on the 7/16 main bearings studs are 25/32 hex, of course only found on good very original engines,very many in their 100 odd year life have had a lot of nuts replaced with Whitworth nuts which fit with no problems,

[john brennan 1Participant @johnbrennan1]

10mm hex head bolts were 17m af but the americans used 15mm af. when it became time to formulate the ISO for hexagon head bolts and screws there was much toing and froing and earnest representations. The eventual result being a compromise at 16mm. So now we need three sizes of spanner. Long live standardisation!

[Tim StevensParticipant @timstevens64731]

When I was teaching motorcycle engineering in the 1970s I was told by someone at Suzuki GB (but it might have been Honda or Kawasaki) that the number 13 is regarded as unlucky in Japan. (It is in the UK by some.) As a result their designs tended to use 14mm heads on 10mm where strength was important, and 12mm where it was not so critical (but only on bolt heads, not nuts).

You may also find 14mm on the nuts connecting the top of a swivelling vice to the bottom, for example. So your new tool might come in handy again.

As to spanners from one standard fitting heads from another, 5/16 AF = 8mm, and (would you believe it …) 5/8AF = 16mm (not 15, honest). Then 3/4 AF = 19mm and 15/16 AF = 24mm. Also 18mm = a Whitworth size but I'm not going out to the garage in the fog to check which exactly.

The symbol = above means 'Jolly nearly, certainly within the tolerances of nuts and bolts and spanners, and generally within 2 or three thou'. I can't find the approximately equals symbol on my keyboard.

And Stahlwille spanners are noticeably thinner in the heads and in the shanks than most other makes. The amount of spring does not depend on the quality of the steel, but this does effect how much bend will spring all the way back.

Regards, Tim

[Howard LewisParticipant @howardlewis46836]

Different manufcaturers will use A/F sizes to suit. On the Renault 5, most 8mm threads had 13mm A/F nuts. In one location, the studs securing the twin choke carburettor, used 12mm A/F because of the restricted space.

Washer faced hardware often uses smaller A/F sizes. M8 calls for a 10mm A/F spanner, M6 an 8mm A/F spanner, sometimes M10 is 15mm A/F, sometimes 14mm.

Often having the nut with a different size A/F from the head, is an advantage, allowing a 10mm spanner to be used on the head and a 13mm on the nut. That way you don't need two sets of spanners!

The hexagon is only the means of applying torque to apply clamp load via the screw thread.

There is at least one brand of Japanese fuel injection pump that uses fixings with 5 sided heads. Presumably ensuring that only their agents, with trained staff can work on them. (In the same way that Bosch used an odd three sided fitting on each end of the governor pivot shaft of the EPVE fuel injection pump). Guess where was the only place that you could buy a suitable socket ?

But with some complicated devices, it is just as well that they cannot be accessed by the untrained; saving them the money that they would have spent buying a replacement for the one that they have just ruined.

(Being a retired mechanical engineer, I am wary of applying a voltage to check resistances on a pcb, for fear of reverse polarising some solid state device)

Howard

[VicParticipant @vic]

Perhaps an odd mix of sizes in this German set? No 12mm or 16mm.

**LINK**

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