Has anyone found that the squeeze-type clamps lose their strength after being fiddled with a few times? I have been chasing a bunch of little leaks, and when I replace those squeeze clamps with screw clamps the leaks dry up. Recently found this when I did the TBH. Now it looks like the top 2 connections to the thermostat are leaking a little. Anyone has a good method of getting a new clamp on their without pulling the hose off the thermostat? Don't really wanna deal with losing a ton of coolant on the street... Thanks

 

You can cut them off if yer careful and replace with the screw style clamps

 

I removed all of them and replaced with worm drive clamps. I was having the same issues you were and decided to replace them all.

How I did it...I would put the worm drive clamps on a location next to the squeeze type. I would tighten it down (engine is stone cold) but, not over tighten it. I then took my dremmel tool with a cutting blade and carefully cut the squeeze type clamps off.

 

I think a lot of problems that arise from the constant tension clamps is that the hoses get soaked in oil and start to stretch out, just a guess.

Here is a video that explains 3 types of clamps and why worm drive clamps are the least desirable.

 

Like this? I've been smelling coolant around the front of the truck recently and keeping an eye on a slow loss of fluid. I bit the bullet and bought an Airtex WP a couple weeks ago figuring I'd start there. I worked up the courage to tackle the job in below freezing weather this past weekend and when I got all the shrouds and fan off I found this. The visible clamp is a replacement worm drive but what's not visible is the compression clamp around the back side of the thermostat. On Saturday I changed that out to another stainless worm drive clamp like what you see here, and the thermo is completely dry after about 200 miles. Yes, that is Dexcool and before anyone gets too excited I'm waiting for warmer weather so I can run a garden hose through the system for a more complete flush to make sure I get it all out. Dexcool was in it when I bought it, and working fine, so I didn't want to introduce another variable when bringing the truck back to life last year.

 

 

I've reused the squeeze clamps many times with zero issues. The "secret" to reusing a squeeze style hose clamp is to put in back in the same spot on the hose, you can see the indentations compressed into the hose, just put the clamp back in the indentations. Done. I think one purpose of a the squeeze style clamp is to prevent someone from over torqueing a worm drive style clamp on plastic fittings. MO

 

That's an interesting video however it's a bit like asking the barber if you need a haircut. Constant dimension clamps (worm drive) are also variable tension. The Gates test was done at "85 pounds" and one would assume that means 85 PSI however it's not clarified. Does anyone know if 85 PSI is an appropriate tension for a worm drive clamp? I know for the Harbor Freight variety pack you're not going to get anywhere near that before the head twists off. If 100 PSI is a more accurate real world tension for worm drive clamps then the test results they arrived at are skewed with regard to whether or not they will fail first when compared to constant tension, which are not adjustable. The bands they are proposing to use as clamps look like they perform well however they are single use, and, can you reuse the hose when you take one off or is that it for hose and clamp? Gates will happily sell you new ones of both .

I agree that reusing the old spot on the hose is critical, and also that plastic fittings introduce a new problem when using worm drive clamps. BMW came up with a plastic clip ring that slid into a cutout on the late 90s and early 2000s cars which turned out to be a complete disaster after a few years of heat cycling. Because the closure and seal were more direct and required no compression, it allowed them to use thinner plastics which broke prematurely despite no pressure at all on them. The flange design on the fitting meant unable to use anything but the clip style "clamps".

 

I just started using them and only once.

 

I also use the same spot on the hose, but my reason has always been esthetics.

I think there is a clear reason why Land Rover uses these constant tension clamps on all of their vehicles.

When launching our coolant tank we sourced constant tension clamps as we feel they are better. But some of the feedback has been that DIY guys don't like them as you need a specific tool to use them easily.