Tools!

I have found from working on my 2001 XJ that most of the fasteners are actually metric... I think, at least.

There's the odd, 1/2" bolt, but I think a lot of the nuts and bolt heads are 8mm and 10mm etc. etc.

One would think, being a domestic, that they'd stick to all SAE or all metric. I bet imports are all metric.

Any thoughts?

I believe all the fasteners on the engine(maybe transmission/transfercase) are going to be standard, most everything else will be metric

i just did the 0331 head swap on my 2001. Its a mixed bag. Lots of metric, and some standard, and some that are both (1/2" or 13mm ). Just goes to show you how many parts are sourced from overseas on an "American" car.

ixj

The AMC242/4.0L is an "inch" engine - but the body has pretty much always been metric/ISO. You may find some metric accessories (the Sanden A/C compressor is Japanese, they use "metric Saginaw" steering pumps, Nippondenso alternators are Japanese and the Delco CS is metric anyhow,) but just about all the engine fasteners have SAE threads (mostly UNC - they're going into a casting.)

Granted, the 1980's were "transitional years" for domestic vehicles - you never knew whether you were going to see an ISO or SAE fastener until you put a wrench on it - but they were getting to be pretty solidly ISO afterwards. The main difference would be engines - engines that have been in production for a couple of whiles will have SAE fasteners, but I don't think there are any SAE engines in production anymore (just about all of them are finally ISO.)

The big problem would be Torx-head stuff - the same sizes of wrench answer to both SAE and ISO threads, so you don't know what you're going to get there either..

Unless they changed it late in the run, you'll also find that the brake lines on an XJ are SAE rather than metric. The chassis is metric.

There's some interchange. For example, 1/2 inch is a tight fit on 13 mm and often interchangeable, 11 mm is very close to 7/16, 16 mm is usually close enough to 5/8, 17 and 11/16 are close enough to work well, and 19 and 3/4 are close. 8 mm and 5/16 are close enough too. But for best results, you end up having to get both sets.

Some sizes just don't interchange well at all. 18 mm is unique. For some reason, although it's now a very common automotive size, and used extensively in the Jeep front end, it's often omitted from metric sets. 14 mm is enough smaller than 9/16 to be unique, 12 and 10 mm are also unique. You don't see 12 much on any but Japanese cars, but 10 is very common. 15 mm is close enough to 19/32 to work, but 19/32 is rarely found in wrench sets anyway.

You have to remember that, love it as we may, the XJ is the bastard offspring of a short liason between American Motors and Renault, and the folks at AMC mined everyone else's parts bins to put it together.

I was wondering, if maybe I was just using metric sockets on standard fasteners...

I'm replacing a radiator, and I took the air cleaner box off to give myself some room. The bolts holding it in are SAE... Almost every other socket I used from then on to get everything out of the way (grille, grille opening, the two brackets that hold the rad in place) was metric.

I have found the mix-mis matching of standard and metric fittings reason enough to buy fully metric cars. My trucks are purchased on a more emotional basis so I deal.

Still very off pissing!

trucksgottaheXJ said:

I have found the mix-mis matching of standard and metric fittings reason enough to buy fully metric cars. My trucks are purchased on a more emotional basis so I deal.

Still very off pissing!

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I don't mind. I was just wondering if I was crazy, or not... :roll:

IIRC, there are two bolts that hold the starter, one from the engine side one from the bellhousing side. The bolt that goes into the bellhousing is metric while the one that goes into the block is English.

It's one of the pet peeves about the XJ - mix-n-match SAE and Metric. They should be all one or the other - metric obviously. SAE fasteners are for dinosaurs.

lol...guess I am a dinosaur!

Which system came first for nuts and bolts...SAE or Metric?

Whitworth!

British gravitational units and the associated inch, feet, etc. are archaic. I mean, who cares how long some British king's foot was in the 1600s (or whenever)? Maybe we should start measuring things with Chucks ears. New millennium and all. The only reason why SAE is still prevalent is because people fear change. SAE/BG is so screwed up they had to invent a unit (slugs) in order to do the same kinds of calculations you can do with SI units.

Illogical stuff pisses me off I guess. Can you tell? LOL

dlarrivee said:

One would think, being a domestic, that they'd stick to all SAE or all metric. I bet imports are all metric.

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You know, i've found my self under the Jeep on several occasions saying the exact same thing. But then it hits me....why would they do that? It would make way too much sense, and make life way too easy....and we can't have that now can we.

That's why. They don't want you working on your own chit!

At least you have a good chance of finding metric tools in the US.


Try finding SAE tools in Europe...