How tight to tighten hose clamps??

[seafish]

Hello everyone... I am in the midst of rebuilding the front of the John Deere 3 cylinder diesel engine on my JD350c crawler/loader/backhoe. I have rebuilt the water pump and hydraulic pump and am replacing all of the coolant and hydraulic return hoses with new ones. All of these are on the front of the tractor which is covered by a 400# cowling which I removed, but do not want to remove again for awhile. Earlier today I tightened up all of the stainless steel #10 (approx. 1" dia. ) hose clamps. At first I used a nut driver like I always do, but after I couldn't torque it anymore, I placed a short 1/4" drive ratchet with a 5/16" socket on it and tightened them another half turn or so. The clamps are definitely biting into the hoses as evidenced by the hose sticking into the "worm drive" slots on the hose clamp. Normally, I would not tighten the clamps this much, but since I won't have access to them (and there aat least 16 of them if you count the oil cooler hoses as well) I decided that it would be best to tighten them down hard. Now I am slightly concerned in that think I remember in my early wrenching years that it was better to NOT over tighten hose clamps into new hose as it might cause premature failure of the hose. I do NOT know if my memory serves me right or not...



My question is simple--



What is the appropriate torque or tightness for a 1" hose clamp on a new coolant hose??

 

[Hoefler]

The proper torque for screw type hose clamps is to tighten them until the rubber outer shell protrudes through the screw slot just enough to be even with the outside of the clamp. Any further is considered too tight and can cut into the hose, actually causing the hose to be loose after several heat cycles. If the hose is cut and has rubber sticking through the clamp, the hose should have the bad part removed and reinstalled. If not possible to shorten the hose, it needs to be replaced.

 

[seafish]

The proper torque for screw type hose clamps is to tighten them until the rubber outer shell protrudes through the screw slot just enough to be even with the outside of the clamp. Any further is considered too tight and can cut into the hose, actually causing the hose to be loose after several heat cycles. If the hose is cut and has rubber sticking through the clamp, the hose should have the bad part removed and reinstalled. If not possible to shorten the hose, it needs to be replaced.

Thanks Hoefler, that is just what I needed to know... I will check this morning and see if I over-tightened them. I assume that since they have not gone through any heating/cooling cycles yet and have only been tightened overnight that it will still be OK to loosen them a little and not have them leak??