Need help with spring hose clamp or pliers for it.

[404]

I need a tool or jury rig method to open a spring type hose clamp beyond the normal distance.

IN the picture, I need the green tab to move along the path of the wine colored arrow until said green tab is well beyond the two yellow tabs. Are there pliers or another way to do this?

I consider the clamp too small, but this is what is original to the car. 1997 Camry. I cannot say I like the 1997 build quality better than a 1992 or 1987. The design is more refined, but I see cost cutting in the electroplate coating on the fasteners just for starters.

And get off my lawn.

 

[abvw]

You're better off buying a bigger spring clamp.

Sent from my Q10 using Tapatalk

 

[CobraRed]

Is the hose swollen? I've never needed to open a clamp that much to take one off.

 

[Rookie2]

If its going on then you may have to force it onto increasingly larger sockets then hold it open with a cross bar or try an older brake c cip spreader tool. I suspect the ears will give out and bend at the wider band area.

 

[wafrederick]

Try a pair of lineman pliers,that is what I use on that style of clamps

 

[404]

Hello all, this is actually trying to put it back on. The hose may be swollen, don't know why it would but that would make sense. All additional replies appreciated.

I do have worm gear clamps in this size(about 9/16 diameter hose) so I may do that.

What years were the peak for Japanese car quality again? Mid 1980's?? Other??

 

[BioNerd]

Get a regular hose clamp and forget about that one. We get rid off all of them.

 

[TNToy]

What we use on them at the Toyota Dealership:

.http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003D3N7YW/?tag=atomicindus08-20

It locks it fully opened, with the tabs all aligned. No plier opens Them past that point, nor should it need to be. Lock the clamp opened, place it in its "groove " in the hose where it has squished it down from squeezing it for 20 years, and slip the hose and clamp onto the fitting together, then release.


A drop or two of penetrating oil on the two surfaces makes life much easier when installing old, dried up hoses.

 

[404]

Thank you all for your replies. Very much appreciated.

 

[redmondjp]

Hoses can swell from exposure to engine oil, either on the hose exterior, or on its interior from a head gasket or transmission cooler leak.

Growing up, I used to hate any and all spring hose clamps. Today, however, that's all that I use! Why? They are constant-tension, whereas the screw-type clamps are constant-diameter.

Constant-tension clamps stay tight regardless - as components heat up and cool down, the clamps stays tight. Constant-diameter clamps need retightening, often several times.

The reduction in leaks is one of the primary reasons why all of the OEMs use spring-type clamps. I now have a half-dozen specialty spring hose clamp tools that will cover every installation that I encounter (but the bent-nose long-reach pliers are a godsend for these type of clamps as well).

 

[wafrederick]

The worst spring clamps are the ones with a locking tab and I hate these.I grind down those locking tabs with my die grinder if I can get to them real easy.If in a hard spot,off the hose and a trip to the bench grinder grinding them off.

 

[ChevyEFI]

Put a needle nose vice grip on the center tab.
Put a lineman or other good grip on a side tab.
If you roll them to peel things apart, you'll get it, or at least to a point where, with a third hand, you can stuff something under the band and try again, easier.

If you wanted to hemmhorage time, you could grind the two sides of a pair of pliers to go past each other. But to work reliably, their grip surface would have to be notched (for a rigid material tab) and you'd have to have a pair that had handles that didn't prevent further travel. Etc. etc.

 

[fourjeepin]

+1. I always chuck these into the scrap bucket

 

[TNToy]

Why? As stated above, their constant tension design is the reason new vehicles leak less and the hoses last longer. It's because worm-drive clamps aren't cutting into them.

They're fast, better, AND cheaper. In this particular case, you get to pick all three of those options.

 

[404]

Thank you all for your great replies. I have been trying this with the lineman's pliers so far. Don't have any bent needle nose right now. If it does not work I will put on the worm gear clamps while I wait for the CP clamp tool to arrive.

 

[404]

Ordered the tool linked by a previous poster on amazon. IN the meantime I got them back on by:

Spread clamp with pliers, put it over the barb (not the hose) all the way on.

Push hose on over barb.

Clamp will now go over hose since hose end is past the barb.

Thank you all for your help.