When did that start? My D6R is SAE, no metric tools on the job and no bolts in my bolt box, no taps or heli coils in my box either and not many hardware stores here have metric bolts. Makes things difficult if you're new to it. Of course I found it out after I bought it.
I used to work for a Cat part supplier. We tapped a lot of metric holes for them. We also tapped a lot of inch threads. Many parts had both. It's a brave new world out there. Lots of Cat motors have quietly had metric fasteners for a long time. They use bolts with 16mm and 19mm heads so you can use your 5/8 and 3/4 wrenches. You can get by with very little metric tools. If you have a set from 10-18mm you're fine. Anything bigger and you can usually use an inch wrench with no issue.
Any cat bolt with 10.9 is metric. Been eeinf it for yesrs
You're a bit behind the times I'm afraid. I started to notice Cat going metric about 20 years ago with the G series loaders. To confuse you even more, there are two (three actually) metric standards which define the A/F size of hex head fasteners in common use. Cat use the ISO standard and Komatsu use the DIN standard. The upshot of this means that two of the most common sizes you'll come across on H/E; M10 and M12 have different sizes A/F for Cat and Komatsu. This isn't really a problem until you have a mechanic that works on both brands and starts to put Cat bolts in a Komatsu machine and vice versa. You shouldn't have to buy a lot of new tools. Here's a brief compatibility list from the perspective of a Cat mechanic. To summarise, the minimum you'll need to buy is 10mm, 13mm and 18mm. 5/16 - 8mm. OK. 3/8 No match. 10mm. No match. 7/16 - 11mm. OK 1/2 - 13mm. OK at a pinch but not great. 9/16 - 14mm. OK but you won't find much 14mm A/F on Cat. 5/8 - 16mm. OK. Cat M10 thread. 11/16 - 17mm. OK at a pinch but not great. Komatsu M10 thread. Rarely found on Cat. 18mm. No match. Cat M12 thread. 3/4 - 19mm. OK. Komatsu M12 thread. Rarely found on Cat. 13/16 - 21mm but not a fastener size. More for pipe fittings. 7/8 - 22mm. OK. 15/16 - 24mm. OK.
10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 18 are the sizes I keep to compliment a full set of inch wrenches. 13/16 can be a little tight on 21mm, but it usually works. If you ever work on Ford trucks, just buy a 21mm. They love that size for no explicable reason. I've never, ever, run into a 20mm fastener. Don't get suckered into buying that size wrench. Never seen a 22 or 25mm. 27mm = 1-1/16.
The compactor line was one of the first to go metric, quite simply because many moons ago in order to get into the market Cat bought Albaret which is/was a French company. AFAIK the compactors are still pretty much exclusively built in France. The excavator line has been metric for a long time, especially the Euopean, South American, & Japanese-built machines. Where it got really confusing for a while, and still is I guess, is when you have a larger machine with a 3500-series engine with inch threads installed in a machine that exclusively uses metric threads for everything else.
Or one we have in the workshop this week. 730 with a 3176/C12 metric engine coupled to a metric transmission but with 7/16 unc bellhousing bolts. Now there's a trap for the young players!
I had a old Volvo once, body/chassis was SAE, engine was metric, and the carbs and brakes were whitworth. Howard
For the shadetree mechanics, anything that says .9 is metric 8.9 is a step lower in strength. Inch sizes have radial hash marks for the grades, doesn't anybody read the first chapter of every shop manual? How long were mixed machines built, or are Cat, Case and Deere still doing it? I can't believe Volvo is still.
On our WA600 Komatsu Seems like they used tree different standards in relation of what size head matched what size threads of some of the bolts. Seems like it was the 6 mm bolts( or was it the 8mm?) that depending on where they were used might have three different sized heads. On the Cat side of things seems like the front end loader people and the off-highway truck people converted to metric at different times. You could get two new machines at the same time and one would be inch size fasteners and the other metric.
I think he was talking about a Volvo car. Yes, Cat still makes mixed inch and metric stuff. Probably will for a long time. Most of the hoses and other fittings are in inch sizes. The 7/16 bell housing bolts I believe are part of an SAE standard and will likely not change any time soon.
Yeah, I figured it was a car, probably built well before the 80's too. I hadn't even thought of hoses, will they be like tires, you have an otherwise all metric car but it still has inch size tires. Rim diameter in inches at least.
My '04 CS533E was made in France and it has metric bolts.
I'll have to live with it, wrenches aren't as much of a problem as getting bolts, guess I'm spoiled as the rest of my equipment is SAE. It's a CP563E padfoot so there are many cleaner bolts to keep the cleaners adjusted. Guess I'll get some xtras and start a metric bolt box.
Mr Dpete, on behalf of the modern world, I would like to welcome you!
LOL, Thanks I like progression not regression, I like things easier not harder, must be just me
Metric is easy. The problem is that they have no standards. DIN, ISO, JIC, etc are followed depending on the country. Metric pipe fittings are usually based on old Wentworth standards that are based in inches. That's fine except that they are almost identical to US fittings so they will screw together, but they won't usually seal up. If the US had gone to metric 100 years ago, it would be no big deal. I work on US made machine tools. Every fastener is inch. But, lots of them have Japanese CNC controls from Fanuc or Yaskawa. All that stuff is completely metric. So, I have to carry both.
What size bolts are we talking about? There are some ebay sellers that sell a fully loaded bolt tray in various sizes. I carry one metric, one SAE and have been very glad I had them many times.
So the SAE standard won out on the flywheel housing. Had that exact problem some years ago with a factory new engine, mounting tandem hydrostat pumps to it. The assembly tech used the wrong bolts but they fit just fine and tightened up okay.... except one or two. Not quite enough thread engagement. Lucky we caught it and drilled/tapped for the next size up, or the pumps would have no doubt parted company with the engine at a most inopportune time. Fun.
To my way of thinking metric has too many standards, and if the manufacturer wants to be contrary they make up their own standard, especially when it comes to hydraulic connections. Metric is not easier than the Imperial system, argue all you want, it's just a bit more popular kind of like General Motors. Just because the masses buy it doesn't mean it's good.
I've worked on Cat wheeled excavators where the m10 bolts have been a mix of 16 and 17 mm heads, with some flange-headed m10's being 13mm, the m12's both 18 and 19 mm, some m16 flanged bolts holding the engines in with 22mm heads, and some hoses where they've needed 20, 21 and 22 mm wrenches to work on. Then throw in the different metric thread pitches...It seems to depend where the bolts and hoses are made, but Japanese equipment makers like to mix and match metric coarse, fine and very fine. Also some supposedly inch size hydraulic fittings vary in size. Some BSP fittings available over here are definitely sized for metric wrenches. I dread working on metric hydraulics, they seem harder to match at suppliers than JIC, BSP or SAE, and for some reason the fittings always seem to be a lot more costly. I've also come across the same size SAE bell housings with UNF, UNC or metric bolt holes. I don't even dare scrap off my Whitworth tools just in case...
Metric hydraulics can be a real bitch. When I work on Japanese machines, they have JIS fittings with a 30 degree flare instead of the 37 degree flare we use in the US. Once again, usually the threads are so close that a US 37 degree fitting will thread onto a 30 degree Japanese fitting, but it won't seal. You can get the 30 degree fittings from Parker and others, but no one carries them locally.