Thread: Whitworth sockets

Gentlemen,
I'm only now setting out on the restoration journey of my 1953 Series 1 80". I've have her driving, looking fair and stopping well, but now I need to get series.
I have a set of whitworth spanners which have got me bye so far, but now that I am heading towards the heavy engineering stuff, can anyone recommend the size range of whitworth sockets that I am going to need?

My first big job will be removing the head. What size socket is needed for that?

Any advice will be gratefully received. I am a bit of a Whitworth novice.

Many thanks in advice,
Jeff in sunny Perth.

Garage sales and OP shops (clearing sales if rural) are your best source for Whitworth sockets.

If you are not familiar with Whitworth spanner sizes, note that the sizes are the size of the bolt, not the spanner, that is, a 1/2"W spanner fits the head of a 1/2" bolt.

But more complications! This is also the spanner for the head of a 7/16"BSF bolt, and the spanner of socket is probably labelled with both sizes.

To further complicate matters, for almost all engineering work post about WW1, including Landrovers, the Whitworth bolts and nuts take BSF sizes. (This is ultimately because the original Whitworth sizes were for iron nuts, and less metal is needed for steel.

Most of the fastenings on your Series 1 are BSF. If you have or can get the factory workshop manual, it lists spanner sizes for each operation (at least later manuals do, so I assume the Series 1 does).