Metric bolts (rant)

RatLabGuy

RatLabGuy

You look like a monkey and smell like one too
Joined
May 18, 2005
Location
Churchville, MD
Why the !@#$ don't any normal fastener stores ever have metric "automotive" style fasteners? E.g. flange head bolts, preferably j-spec?
It's amazing how far you have to drive to get an M-12 flange head bolt, esp JIS (so it's 17mm head vs the more common 19mm E-spec) overt he counter. Yeah, I can order them through Fastenal but it'll be 2 days and a minimum order.

I love my toyota but this is the 1 real pain.

All my buddies make fun of me b/c I have a drawer set w/ nothing but bolts, each tray labeled by size, one set metric, one SAE.
This is why....

On a side note, aparently Fastenal changed their policy for local stores and now only sell by the whole bag? WTF I don't need 20 bolts, just 2...
 
Ain't nothing wrong with having 50# of extra fasteners laying around, and possibly saving future trips to the store!
 
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McMaster Carr has replaced Fastenal as my favorite online ordering site. I can order by 5pm and have it delivered the next day without getting gouged!
 
rockcity said:
McMaster Carr has replaced Fastenal as my favorite online ordering site. I can order by 5pm and have it delivered the next day without getting gouged!
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X2
Love mcmaster carr but sometimes you do have to buy extra with them also.

I keep every little bolt or screw that may come off my truck just for this reason.
 
It goes further than Metric if you want quality! Even the bolt supply houses around here sell nothing but cheap China crap! We used to send stuff back all the time. We would order extra and go through them to see what good ones we could find!

I always save my bolts. I took a Honda engine apart once and kept every bolt I took off. That one engine has saved me many times!
 
Even McMaster Carr dosn't have them, looks like their flange bolts are not only E-spec (so m12 is 19mm head, not 17mm like j-spec), but more importantly not available in the right thread pitch (should be 1.25 like all j-spec auto bolts vs 1.75 standard metric spec).
 
Stop by a Volvo Truck or Mack Truck dealership...I think this is what they would have. I have no idea WTF E and J spec are, or what the pitch value is, just that the course threads are the standard. The hex heads on the flange bolts are usually 1mm smaller than the nut, and are smaller than the flange heads on my XJ.
 
RenegadeT said:
Stop by a Volvo Truck or Mack Truck dealership...I think this is what they would have. I have no idea WTF E and J spec are, or what the pitch value is, just that the course threads are the standard. The hex heads on the flange bolts are usually 1mm smaller than the nut, and are smaller than the flange heads on my XJ.
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E vs J speci s the key problem here.

Bolts designed/made for Japan confirm to the JIS (Japanese Industrial Standard) spec, which is a little different from ISO, the de-facto standard for metrics in Europe (and most of the rest of the world).
The primary difference is that the hex head sizes are a little smaller (e.g., an m8 JIS is 12mm head vs 13 mm ISO) and, more importantly, the definition of "fine" thread pitch varies between the two. In JIS, almost all automotive bolts are 1.25 thread pitch (M8 up to M14), while for example in ISO an M12 is 1.75.
So the point is that an ISO M12 bolt will not thread into a hole threaded for JIS.

Volvo, being a Eurpoean company, will undoubtedly have ISO (what I refered to as E-spec) bolts.

As much of a PITA as it is to find, the JIS standard does make more sense - you have smaller, lighter bolts with higher holding strength that are all threaded the same.
 
I pick up every bolt, nut, washer I find from construction projects @ work...now need to find time to organize them...not much metric stuff though, however everything they are holding in place is, of course, from some other country...pumps, motors, etc...:shaking:
 
I agree, we sell all the metric sizes but no flange head, cheaper to buy the normal cheaper to sell the bolt to normal peps. Even then peps complain that a 12 mm bolt is 45cents were a standard 14 cents
 
purpleTJchick said:
I agree, we sell all the metric sizes but no flange head, cheaper to buy the normal cheaper to sell the bolt to normal peps. Even then peps complain that a 12 mm bolt is 45cents were a standard 14 cents
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man even 45 cents isn't too bad.
JIS 12mm flange head 10.9 = often couple bucks each.
 
Send Jimmy a pm (5keepers on here) He works for Toyota parts dept.
 
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