I've recently run into a few problems with John Deere and Briggs & Stratton.
I have a new (2014) supposedly all metric Deere tractor, it turn out the oil drain plug on the front axle is a 1/4 inch Allen (hex) key. It took me quite a while to figure this out, and appears the John Deere dealer has not figured it out as they apparently used a 6 mm Allen key to remove the drain plugs and rounded the corners. Even with my background in the metrication movement it dawned on me only after an hour and only after measuring the size with vernier callipers. I imagine dealers and farmers all over Europe are scratching their heads trying to figure this out and damaging numerous drain plugs. When I finally remove it, I'll report on whether the threads are metric or non metric.
I never realised until after I moved to France that Briggs and Stratton are still 100% inch based. Speaking to people here in France this poses a big mostly unknown problem. It's neigh impossible to buy inch based tools and impossible in regular stores to buy inch size nuts and bolts. A neighbor has found that people will screw a metric bolt into an inch thread hole and strip the thread. Most people rarely fix these Briggs and Stratton products, I have a 76 year old neighbor with an English background who does. I think most consumers here in Europe have any idea a product might be non metric.
Briggs and Stratton might be someone the USMA could contact. I wrote to John Deere in the US and they said contact the dealer for information. Not good advice when it's obvious even the dealer does not know!
Mike Payne lieu dit Gasquet 82400 Montjoi France On 18/08/2015 05:33, [email protected] wrote:
Al-- Your suggestion for the USMA to push metric with businesses more than government was well argued and is the kind of new direction that I think our movement needs. We have limited resources, and if could get one other major industry to go metric, that would be a significant accomplishment. Beer and candy bars would be good possibilities to work with, as you have argued. --Martin Morrison
