Convert Torque from Kilogram-centimeters to Kilogram-meters (kg-cm to kgm)

Kilogram-centimeter to Kilogram-meter Conversion Formula

Example

Let's convert 5 Kilogram-centimeter (kg-cm) to Kilogram-meter (kgm).

Using the formula:

Therefore, 5 Kilogram-centimeter (kg-cm) is equal to 0.05 Kilogram-meter (kgm).

How many kilogram-centimeters are in one kilogram-meter? One Kilogram-meter (kgm) contains 100 Kilogram-centimeters (kg-cm) — the inverse of the factor above. Multiplying by 0.01 takes you from kilogram-centimeters to kilogram-meters; multiplying by 100 brings you back.

Put in words: one kilogram-centimeter equals 0.01 kilogram-meters, so the kilogram-centimeter is the smaller unit of this pair. Converting between them never changes the amount of torque being measured — only the size of the unit you count it in.

What Is a Kilogram-centimeter (kgf·cm)?

A kilogram-centimeter (kgf·cm) is one kilogram-force acting at one centimetre from the axis. It is one hundredth of a kilogram-meter.

• 1 kgf·cm = 0.0980665 N·m
• 1 kgf·m = 100 kgf·cm

The Hobby Servo Unit

If you have ever bought a hobby servo, you have seen this unit. Servo torque is published almost universally in kgf·cm — a common 9 g micro servo is rated around 1.8 kgf·cm, a standard-size servo around 10–20 kgf·cm.

The rating tells you how much weight the servo can hold at a given arm length: 10 kgf·cm means it can just support 10 kg at 1 cm from the shaft, or 1 kg at 10 cm, or 0.5 kg at 20 cm. Doubling the arm halves the load it can hold.

Where Kilogram-centimeter Is Used

• RC servos and hobby robotics — the dominant unit in datasheets and marketplaces.
• Small gearmotors sold through electronics suppliers.
• Legacy metric torque specifications for small fasteners.
• Tyre valve and small assembly torque figures on older equipment.

Converting Kilogram-centimeter

What Is a Kilogram-meter (kgf·m)?

A kilogram-meter (kgf·m), sometimes written kg·m or kgm, is the torque produced by one kilogram-force acting at one metre from the axis.

• 1 kgf·m = 9.80665 N·m

A Gravitational Metric Unit

Like the kilogram-force it derives from, this unit builds the Earth's gravity into its definition. That made it convenient before SI was standardised — a 1 kg weight hung on a 1 m arm gives exactly 1 kgf·m — but it is deprecated in modern engineering, where N·m is the correct unit.

Where You Still Meet It

• Older Japanese and European vehicles — service manuals from the 1970s and 1980s specify torque in kgf·m.
• Motorcycle specifications, where engine torque is still occasionally quoted in kgf·m.
• Legacy torque wrenches with kgf·m scales.
• Older industrial machinery documentation.

If a workshop manual gives 11 kgf·m for a wheel nut, that is roughly 108 N·m — a normal modern figure, just written in an older unit.

Converting Kilogram-meter

Kilogram-centimeter to Kilogram-meter Conversion Table

Here are some quick reference conversions from Kilogram-centimeter (kg-cm) to Kilogram-meter (kgm):