Drove my car for the first time today. Took a couple rips up and down the road only to find the lower radiator hose leaking right where the clamp is. [Edited by Moparts - Family Friendly Site - Keep it clean]! I have brand new reproduction OE style clamps on a new hose. Anyone else out there run into this problem? Did I install them incorrectly? Any input appreciated.

put a thin film of RTV on first as a safeguard.
i cheated and used standard hose clamps on the bottom...they're pretty hard to see and don't get noticed..

Hose outlet on radiator distorted? Dirt , foreign matter on hose and/or outlet?

I had that problem once years ago, also the lower one at the radiator. I don't recall if mine were replated old ones or reproductions.

Thats why we replaced the "squeeze" clamps with the screw tight ones when these cars were new..

Good point. I guess I will have to go with what works instead of what is correct. Thanks for all the replies.

I had to keep moving mine around to different places on my 383, finally got it in the right spot and they sealed up. Ronnie

I ALWAYS use 3M weather-strip adheasve with all the hoses and those clamps. never had a problem.

you could probably use 3M and no clamps.....How do you get your hoses off, When the times comes without tearing them up?

They come back off just fine with the weatherstrip adhesive.

Here's what I do for the bottom hose, I paint a screw clamp semi-flat black so you don't really see it & use that to hold the hose but I put the factory Corbin clamps right behind them to have the look.

best of both worlds.

Butch

That's odd. I always use the original spring clamps and have never had leak issues with them. Just a dab of white lubriplate grease on the inside of the hoses seals them just fine. It also lets the hose slide right off if you need to remove them. Of course this is just my

The problem with useing the OEM style Corbin wire clamps is most aftermarket/repro hoses are thinner in construction, while the Corbins have been repro'd in the original diameters, thus the clamping action has been deminished, if you try to "shrink" the diameter of the Corbin clamp by bending it, you'll egg the shape of the wire, and it'll leak even worse,....the solution I've found is to order the clamp sizes a fraction smaller in diameter, unfortunately you can't do this with the various repro vendors offering them,....the only choice is thru www. McMaster Carr. com the clamps they offer are identical in appearance and finish, stainless steel versions are avaliable too