mm or inches on US-made machinery?

['Guest']

We hardly ever see new US-made machinery around here so I was curious: are new American buildt tractors and combines put together with metric-, or english-measured bolts and nuts?

...and how do you guys feel about that?

['Guest']

American machinery still uses the English standard (inch) bolts as far as I know. Not sure about exported machines. Sales of machines in countries using different measurement standards than the country of origin can create further expense through new tools needed; need to get parts from other sources than local manufacturers ; lack of confidence the in parts supply. Metrics make better sense in a mathematical context, and a common standard makes sense as far as trade. Why doesn't American industry change to metric? I suspect the cost would be astronomical if done suddenly and thus prohibitive. Geography of distance from other industrial countries and the forces of American tradition  probably are reasons. Maybe the best reason is that if it isn't broke, don't fix it. I also feel that eventually more metric equipment will be coming from the US as the one world view progresses.

[Woodbeef]

Well now.......There are some that use a mis-match of parts and pieces. If the whole of the equipment was made in the US usually it will have SAE fasteners. The word usually being the kicker!! But as more and more companies are being owned off-shore the parts become low-bid provided. When this happens anything goes,as long as it is  cheap!!

['Guest']

How about US-made cars. Aren't they metric-bolts and nuts nowadays?

I can't belive any manufacturer would use both inches and mm on the same machine (though Volvo did so in some cars in the 1970s) today. Anybodt who worked on such a machine would soon go insane.
Also doen not seem reasonable that they would use different bplts on export and domestic machines. Cost too much. I know there is other differences between the machines but I doubt they'd do that.

['Guest']

The reason I mentionedexport equipment could possibly have metrics is that back in the 70's I thought I read in "Power Farming," that one British tractor maker (Maybe it was David Brown or Leyland) made both metric and SAE tractors. I agree it doesn't make sense, and I'm probably wrong. I do remember when I worked in the "city,"  being at a conference and the speaker asked, "What is made in America?" and then after getting a few answers, he gave the example of a common American auto (Ford, if I remember correctly). Then to their surprise, he named all the different countries from which  parts came for the car. I can't remember the list but with sourcing of major components from such a variety of countries, it must have had a combination of metric and inch based bolts etc. As for the cars built in the United States (Many are assembled in Canada if I'm not mistaken), I can't tell you much since I pay almost no attention to them anymore. I'll probably never buy a car again. Many cars are too small for my uses in a rural area, the big ones are expensive, and the gravel roads we travel on can beat the heck out many modern cars. (Though our old big Chryslers held up well.) With the price, you might as well have a full size pickup with the extra seats. My Dodge is based on inch measurement as far as I know. The engine is listed in cubic inches. I don't worry about it since the dealer will work on it if needed. The Japanese who sell alot of cars  have assembly plants here for some models. I would guess those are metric based and many components come from Japan. It probably depends on what model you're talking about concerning American/Canadian cars. Most bigger cars are probably non metric or a combination. Selling metric based cars  to city slickers is one thing. It's alot harder in my opinion to sell something from Europe or metric to farmers. Their dollars come too hard to risk them on something that may be expensive or difficult to repair. That goes for engines too. One reason Dodge is so popular with the loggers and others is they like the Cummins engine. Valmet logging equipment seems to be getting very popular with the loggers though.

['Guest']

I found out this morning I was wrong about the auto industry still using inch standard bolts etc. I asked the Chrysler dealer about whether US cars and pickups use metric or inch measurement bolts. He said that everything now is metric. Things changed about the early 90's. He thought most farm machinery was still using inch based bolts, but some is going metrics also. Everything we have on the farm, except my pickup truck I guess, use the inch based standard. I always assumed my pickup use inch standard bolts like the older trucks since it is the full sized type. Whatever the standard, there must be confidence in your parts supply. Big name corporations can sell alot of different things using the power of their name. Claas realized this when going with Cat in North America.