Corbin hose clamps

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DavidW

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I have a '68 340 GTS finishing restoration and a couple of the oem style corbin hose clamps are leaking. Has anybody else had this problem? Should I go to a different style?
 
Professor..

You beat me to it.

In a nut shell, the clamp kits sold by Dales Cuda Shop, resold by Classic ind are sized for perhaps NOS hoses.

Some of the clamps do not fit readily available hoses of today.

Example... The radiator of small blocks have the same size tube for in and outlet. The thermostat and water pump are the same as radiator. Yet the kit supplies two different sizes for heater hoses. Two work, two leak like a sive.

I contacted Dales and he told me it was my reman cast iron water pump.

I have some of the bypass hose clamps extra still pm me and I can get you a couple.
 
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Yeah, I remember having bookmarked that thread for future reference, since I really dislike the looks of wormgear screw clamps. Always good to be able to take advantage of others' experiences!
 
I had to rotate a couple on my 71 Demon as they leaked a bit. Got the right pliers but you still have to be careful as they can really sail away when they escape!! I agree they look nice but they HAVE to seal!!
 
There are a couple of different styles of corbin clamps. Which do you want? The old wire style slap SUCK dead elephant balls and will sometimes cut into the hose. The wide style is much better. I don't care if I had a concourse restoration, if I ever drove it, I would want the wide style. They are much more dependable.
 
The factory clamps are the first things I replace.
I agree with Rusty's assertion of the wire clamp.
 
RustyRatRod said:
There are a couple of different styles of corbin clamps. Which do you want? The old wire style slap SUCK dead elephant balls and will sometimes cut into the hose. The wide style is much better. I don't care if I had a concourse restoration, if I ever drove it, I would want the wide style. They are much more dependable.
Click to expand...
My Honda S 2000 has the wide style Corbin and they work great, so I think I'm going to look in that direction.
 
RustyRatRod said:
There are a couple of different styles of corbin clamps. Which do you want? The old wire style slap SUCK dead elephant balls and will sometimes cut into the hose
Click to expand...
I have always had leaks on every car I have ever had. EXCEPT my dart once I put the correct wire Corbin clamps on.

Not a drop in 5 plus years, 16 lb cap
 
Dana67Dart said:
Professor..

You beat me to it.

In a nut shell, the clamp kits sold by Dales Cuda Shop, resold by Classic ind are sized for perhaps NOS hoses.

Some of the clamps do not fit readily available hoses of today.

Example... The radiator of small blocks have the same size tube for in and outlet. The thermostat and water pump are the same as radiator. Yet the kit supplies two different sizes for heater hoses. Two work, two leak like a sive.

I contacted Dales and he told me it was my reman cast iron water pump.

I have some of the bypass hose clamps extra still pm me and I can get you a couple.
Click to expand...
I've got to talk to the guy whose working on it as the engine is a 71 340 and the pump and nipples are different than 68. He changed one of them as well. I may go with the newer wider corbin style like my Honda S2000 has, as they work well and look better than the worm screw clamps.
 
You can get Wire Corbin clamps from Mc Master Carr
The dimension listed does not seem to propperly correlate to the OD of the hose it is supposed to clamp. I ended up getting a size larger and a size smaller than the listed size and one of the 3 worked great.

My theory as to why the work so well is they apply all the force in a very small area thus making a very tight seal at that point.

The other thing I do is use new hoses. Or put the clamp back in the exact same location if I had to remove it.

I will never use a screw clamp again.

As for the wide ones, same basic principle.
 
Corbin style clamps apply pressure more evenly than screw clamps, but have to be properly sized.

That's their secret.

I got an aftermarket kit for my Satellite ans except for the one non-OEM sized heater line I have, they all worked great.

Note some AC equipped small blocks have an extremely difficult to get at clamp under the compressor bracket.
Mine had a screw clamp there and I can't see a way to get corbin clamp pliers on it.
 
I really like the Gates shrink clamps. They work great. I had my doubts, but I tried them on my heater hoses and they've held great for over two years.
 
I think the biggest thing that makes these type clamps fail is that over time, seepage causes corrosion and rust between the hoses and "whatever" they're attached to. From there, that's when the leaks start. I like the above idea of the contact cement, but even then, the contact area needs to be CLEAN. I would even endorse a light coating of RTV.
 
RustyRatRod said:
I think the biggest thing that makes these type clamps fail is that over time, seepage causes corrosion and rust between the hoses and "whatever" they're attached to. From there, that's when the leaks start. I like the above idea of the contact cement, but even then, the contact area needs to be CLEAN. I would even endorse a light coating of RTV.
Click to expand...
I'll look into he Gates clamps. I'm finding that the wide corbins are mostly offered in smaller sizes probably as the engines/hoses are smaller.
 
The corbin style band clamps on my Dakota could be used on 2" Radiator hoses.
 
The flat spring bar style from the 90's-2000's is a little more forgiving to be over expanded than the spring rod style that was OEM in the 70's.

I'm not even sure what size they are exactly.
 
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