measuring crank or tee handle size

Question

What should I be measuring, so I know whether to get 5/16 or 3/8 or...?  Is there a quick/cheap/reliable way to measure this -- that I can do at home, rather than taking it to a hardware store and having them do it?

Tom · Accepted Answer

You'll want to measure the diameter of the hole that fits over the operator stem. There's not much more to it than that. The tricky part is the fact that different brand operators have similar sizes with only slight differences, and that those differences render them totally incompatible with one another. The only solution to that is to be as precise as you possibly can. At the very least, you'll need a measuring implement that can measure in the 1/32". Anything less than that will be insufficient.