bluestreak63

Getting close to finishing the heater core installation and I came to where the heater hoses get attached to the heater core at the firewall. Won't have enough room to re-attach the clamps you tighten with a screwdriver (not the tower clamps, the other ones). So I'm going with the spring ring clamps, because they are a lot thinner and while I know they are correct in the first place, how is there holding power when tightened? It looks like when you tighten it over a rubber hose end, it would just bounce back from the rubber and not actually squeeze/tighten it.

Also, would it be a waste to get the spring ring hose clamp pliers? Or could you just take 2 pairs of pliers and pull outward to tighten them?

Thanks...

ratpack1968

Installing/removing corbin clamps without the corbin pliers is an exercise in futility. NAPA sells them for under $10.

chris ritchie

You'll hate yourself if you don't get those special pliers made for those clamps. Next to impossible and certainly frustrating to try to spread them without the special pliers.

If you have the opportunity, get extra clamps. They can break when they're squeezed open. If you don't wear eye protection, keep them away from your face.

They seem to hold just fine. Yeah, I too at first thought that they looked a little wimpy. But when you remove one a few years later, you'll see where it has left deep marks in the hose. Chevrolet built tens of millions of cars with these clamps, so I guess they work the way they're supposed to.

JohnZ

Doc Rebuild has the best quality Corbin clamps - have used his for many years on several cars, and have never had a leaker. Definitely buy the Corbin clamp pliers with swiveling jaws - they make installation or removal quick and easy, without damaging the clamps.

bluestreak63

Thanks for the responses guys...

Never knew they were actually called Corbin clamps...

nassau66427

The clamps come "tight". Squeezing the ends together temporarily expands the clamp. Don't squeeze the clamp any more than you have to.

Being cheap, er I mean frugal, I made my own special tool by drilling the end of an old set of pliers. It works good enough for a tool I use very infrequently.

bluestreak63

There lies some of the confusion I had. I thought they came loose, meaning bigger than 5/8 and 3/4, so they would slide over the hoses with no effort, then you would actually have to compress them to tighten.

So they come pre-tightened...this is good news...

Trophy Blue

One of my drunken friends one day decided that he wanted to see how tight the spring rings are so, he put one on one of his fingers. All I heard was screaming since he could not get it off! Needless to say, he never did it again.