Hose Clamps Under Your Hood

[NickMaul]

NC4x4,

I recently did a cooling system overhaul on one of my XJs and realized I hate the crappy worm gear hose clamps I use at the ends of the upper and lower radiator hoses.

Foolish young me must have thrown out the oem spring style clamp the first time I replaced the hoses or the PO ditched them. Ironically a few days after the cooling system overhaul I found a stream of coolant coming from the upper radiator hose where it meets the thermostat housing.

Research shows that a brand new set of OEM style spring clamps will run about $8 for each. Does anyone have some parts store suggestions before I dig through some pick and pulls in search of these? I’d like to have something that has constant tension instead of tearing up a brand new hose by tightening down a worm gear hose clamp to death.

TIA


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[a_kelley]

Sure there are screw drive constant tension clamps! They are not cheap nor crappy. There a few bucks each but are better than the spring constant tension style because you don't have to worry about distorting the clamp. I dislike the spring type constant tension and discard after every removal.

Here's the style I'm referring to

They're not your average screw clamp. After you tighten the clamp down, you will have to peel the hose off whatever it's on if you want to remove it.

 

[Stuntman Autoworks]

NC4x4,

I recently did a cooling system overhaul on one of my XJs and realized I hate the crappy worm gear hose clamps I use at the ends of the upper and lower radiator hoses.

Foolish young me must have thrown out the oem spring style clamp the first time I replaced the hoses or the PO ditched them. Ironically a few days after the cooling system overhaul I found a stream of coolant coming from the upper radiator hose where it meets the thermostat housing.

Research shows that a brand new set of OEM style spring clamps will run about $8 for each. Does anyone have some parts store suggestions before I dig through some pick and pulls in search of these? I’d like to have something that has constant tension instead of tearing up a brand new hose by tightening down a worm gear hose clamp to death.

TIA


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Technically speaking those OEM style spring clamps are one time use. I've always used regular hose clamps and never had any issues so I dont have anything to add on those.

 

[WARRIORWELDING]

I’d like to have something that has constant tension instead of tearing up a brand new hose by tightening down a worm gear hose clamp to death.

Back it off a round or four! I like the higher quality vs. of these just fine....the cheaper ones who strip and distort are usually the problem. The spring style requiring pliers (hose pliers the best choice) are extremely sensitive to size and diameter. Also very commonly sprung by over manipulating them.
Something to be said for a clamp you can get to and tension from almost everywhere with a socket and needed extensions or swivels. The higher end band clamps with springs excel in larger diameters.

 

[Fabrik8]

There are also higher quality hose clamps and bolt clamps instead of those crappy ones that everyone seems to love. The good hose clamps have rolled band edges, and the "windows" that pick up the adjustment bolt threads are embossed in the band instead of punched out. They don't really damage hoses as easily because of that. Sandvik and NORMA both manufacture that style, for example.

The bolt clamps have a smaller adjustment range, but they're just an overlapping steel band with a drawbolt to tension the clamp (T-bolt clamps are one style of this). A lot of OEM coolant hose clamps are like this, but have two heavy parallel wires instead of a steel band. They're reusable. Edit: I just found out they're called "twin ring bolt clamps".
Some of the smaller diameter OEM clamps use a band instead of wire.

If you know exactly what you need (because of the narrow adjustment range), the bolt clamps work really well. I generally save the generic worm clamps for emergency/temporary repairs only.

 

[C.Berry]

These are amazing no clue what their called specifically or where to get em tho just had a few on my old truck when I got it and kept em all to reuse!

 

[rockcity]

I like the T bolt clamps from intakehoses.com

They have quite a few quality clamps to choose from.