[bluejudge]

So after I bought a new water pump correct hoses and date coded tower clamps for my 69 Conv. The tower clamps are collapsing when they get snug. What is the trick to get these things on? I have them on my 70 Judge and they went on with no issues, it was 20 years ago. Did the quality of these new towers change? Thanks, Marc.

[lugnutx2]

I had the same issue with my first set, on the second set, I sprayed lubed the clamp and used an adjustable wrench to hold the tower as I tightened the screw, I went slow and it worked well.

[bob d]

Try soaking them in WD-40 or some other lub in a freezer bag for a while. It worked for me.

[Brewster]

Yeah, I believe they are thinner thus easier to ruin. I never tried the lub thing but sounds like it couldnt hurt. Good Luck

[bluejudge]

These tower clamps are the worst. Yesterday spent about a half hour straightening the clamp that bent like a pretzel for the 5/8 hose. Today I spent 20 minutes straightening the clamp for the lower hose, soaked it with sea foam and the same thing happened. Tomorrow I am going to get the good old worm Drive clamps…

[428goat]

I use Gates power grip clamps. Get the right size slip them on over the hose along with the tower clamp and then heat them up . They shrink down tight. Then I put the tower clamp on over them. Never had a leak but looks stock.

[north]

Never heard of those power grip clamps before but just looked them up on their website, what a great idea!

[camerjeff]

X2 great Idea!

[unruhjonny]

wow, you guys are making me happy that twenty years ago I grabbed EVERY SINGLE tower clamps I came across!

Sheesh, if these are so bad, why doesn't someone step up and make better/more accurate reproductions?

[428goat]

The Gates clamps work especially great on the heater hoses. After they shrink down no leaks. They have them for all sizes so check them out.

[dataway]

Spring clamps or any constant tension clamp is supposed to be better. I've used worms for years but some say they are not a great solution because they don't expand and contract with heat. Although ... I recently checked and worms are still the standard for aircraft, although they are very nice worm clamps.

I think tower clamps were originally considered a single use item, dealerships would replace them (and charge for them) whenever they had to be removed. I've got some original OEM tower clamps .. they don't seem a whole lot better than the repops.

In general I think a lot of people way over tighten clamps to solve other problems like dirty or out of round fittings, cheap hoses etc. When you realize the pressure in your household water hose is about 4 times more than your cooling system it really doesn't take a lot to seal them.

[J GLASGO]

Original tower clamps are way sturdier than current repos

[dataway]

Well the two I was comparing were OEM examples I pulled off a donor car 40 years ago, and a set of "high end" repops I bought from Marti which are supposed to be made with the same materials as the originals, I think I read even on the same original machines. Perhaps they are better than the average repop.

[Mark Simiele]

Sad that that tower clamps made twenty years ago are superior to ones made currently It figures like everything else made these days, subpar. I always liked the way they looked.

The Gates clamps are a great idea, never knew of a product like that until I read this. None of the suppliers offer a sturdy tower clamp?

[Ram Air IV Jack]

Originally Posted by dataway

Well the two I was comparing were OEM examples I pulled off a donor car 40 years ago, and a set of "high end" repops I bought from Marti which are supposed to be made with the same materials as the originals, I think I read even on the same original machines. Perhaps they are better than the average repop.

Ames use to sell the original tower clamps made by Wittek and they would date code them for you. I bought some and they looked and worked as well as my OEM clamps. This was years ago so perhaps now they are all made overseas like everything else.

[dataway]

I forget who it was, but for a while there was a source for them that claimed they were using Wittek's old machines and their stock of materials ... probably used it all up.