Uncle Orped's day off

[FullBlowncustoms]

I like those tires on your truck, My wifes Jeep has those.

 

[Road Trip]

It's the perfect sacrificial wrench since 11mm is kind of an oddball.

Funny you say that. It's pretty close/a skosh smaller when compared to the old school 7/16" wrench:

You must be registered for see images attach

Here in the Rust Belt, a NOS 7/16" fastener gets the matching 7/16" socket or wrench. But when the vehicle
is really rusty and the 7/16" socket/wrench is a sloppy fit and wants to strip the fastener, then I go for the snug-fitting/tap-on
11mm. (Always 6-point, if you please. :0)

NOTE: You are right about the 11mm being a bit of an oddball size. These were primarily used by automakers in
the old days when employing a 'soft metric' conversion. (Lots of 11s, 13s, 14s, 16s, etc. In a previous life I
used to see a lot of this on Mk. 1 Fiestas and the old German Ford Capri.)

Then again, never on a Honda. (10, 12, 14, etc) In a Honda-only driveway the 11mm stuff stays factory fresh
in the toolbox drawer.

But here in the land of old crusty rides, I capitalize on the minor size differences between standard & metric
when it works to my advantage. Sometimes taking advantage of minor physical incompatibility can help to keep you
out of the stripped fastener club. :0)

 

[0xDEADBEEF]

Funny you say that. It's pretty close/a skosh smaller when compared to the old school 7/16" wrench:

You must be registered for see images attach

Here in the Rust Belt, a NOS 7/16" fastener gets the matching 7/16" socket or wrench. But when the vehicle
is really rusty and the 7/16" socket/wrench is a sloppy fit and wants to strip the fastener, then I go for the snug-fitting/tap-on
11mm. (Always 6-point, if you please. :0)

NOTE: You are right about the 11mm being a bit of an oddball size. These were primarily used by automakers
employing a 'soft metric' conversion back in the old days. (Lots of 11s, 13s, 14s, 16s, etc. In a previous life I used
to see a lot of this on Mk. 1 Fiestas and the old German Ford Capri.)

Then again, never on a Honda. (10, 12, 14, etc) In a Honda-only driveway the 11mm stuff stays factory fresh
in the toolbox drawer.

But here in the land of old crusty rides, I take full advantage of the minor size differences between standard & metric
when it works to my advantage. Sometimes taking advantage of minor physical incompatibility can help to keep you
out of the stripped fastener club. :0)

Lived in TX my whole life so that rust belt stuff is an unknown to me.

The only weirder metric thing I have in my toolbox is the 5.5mm. 5mm was too small, 6mm was too big, 5.5mm was just right. Or something.

 

[HotWheelsBurban]

Lived in TX my whole life so that rust belt stuff is an unknown to me.

The only weirder metric thing I have in my toolbox is the 5.5mm. 5mm was too small, 6mm was too big, 5.5mm was just right. Or something.

5.5mm is used on the later model blower motor bolts, and on some underhood stuff too IIRC. Ran into a need for that size on the blower motor replacement on our old '99 Burb (that got wrecked in late 2012). Once Rawhide is safe and functional again, and we have a warmer winter day, I'll see what this Burb has. Rawhide has the 5.5 bolts too, so we'll see....
All those Craftsman USA made sockets I got last February, at the swap meet, that 5.5 was one of them. Good, cause I didn't already have one..... though the most common stuff, it's not bad to have duplicates of.

 

[Road Trip]

Lived in TX my whole life so that rust belt stuff is an unknown to me.

You should count your lucky stars. I was born in Ft. Worth, and lived
in the DFW area as a kid. If I had never ended up here in the rust belt I
don't know how many days/weeks/months spent in rusty frustration in
my life I could reclaim? Or end up learning on the fly that you can (mis)use
both metric & standard tools in order to combat too-skinny rusted hardware?

The only weirder metric thing I have in my toolbox is the 5.5mm. 5mm was too small, 6mm was too big, 5.5mm was just right. Or something.

Yeah, that 5.5 is almost a security size? (As in, used to keep normal folks with
normal tools out of the innards?)

At any rate, if you ever cross paths with a rust belt vehicle that's been relocated to TX
(think folks fleeing the concentrated nonsense up here) ...and all the fasteners are
pretty janky, then remember you heard it here first. :0)

****

"The stars at night are big and bright
Deep in the heart of Texas"

I miss the TX experience...

 

[fancyTBI]

I’m with @Road Trip. I’ve used my 11mm quite a few times during my work on the GMC in 2023. His reason for using them regarding rust is the same reason as mine.

 

[PlayingWithTBI]

The 5.5mm fits on most TBI distributor caps too. IIRC the stud used on your spare tire changing tool compartment (for lack of a better description) is that size too. IIRC a 7/32" wrench will fit too.

 

[Orpedcrow]

Well the truck came equipped with a cheap pair of vice grips as a rear entry handle. The 12 point box end of that 11mm fit pretty good over the splines so it got glued on

@Road Trip i do love me some bokeh! Today I used the 35mm lens that came with the camera, it’s autofocus is reliable but I also have a “cheap” manual lens that subjectively has a nicer bokeh.

I enjoy running full manual, partly because I don’t understand anything about the other preset functions on the camera

 

[Orpedcrow]

I’ve started looking into adapters so I can purchase some lenses that are much more affordable than the comparatively limited selection available for Fuji x-mount. Vintage stuff is cool and cannon seems to have a big selection.

 

[fancyTBI]

These photos are really neat, by the way!