Intercooler clamps...LOOSE

[Bad340fish]

Opened the hood today for routine inspection and decided to tighten the IC hoses that i had read about loosening up. Crap those things were loose!!! Everyone of them took many turns to get it tight again. Truck seems to run a little better on the highway now. . no boost guage yet to see if thats any higher. How much are a set of spring loaded clamps? I know my International work truck has spring loaded clamps on it i can see how they would help out alot.

So if you haven't checked those hoses before go do it. They are easy to get to not a big job at all.

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Clark
1999 2500 QC SB 5spd Flowmaster 3 chamber, K&N Re-0880
1968 Barracuda Formula S Viper Blue 11. 98@112

NHRA member for life

 

[jkern]

mine were also very loose from the factory. i also didn't find out though till i installed the computer and decided i better check before i blow one off running 42 psi of boost!

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Jeremy Kern
1999 2500HD 4x4 QC,SB, ISB, 5spd, 3. 54LSD, 33x12. 50 cooper STT's Denver off-road bumper with Ramsey RE12k, PIAA series 520 lights, Rancho RS9000's, heavy ft. springs, JVD Torque Enhancer, DiPricol boost and pyro gauges, and a bunch of other little things! www.geocities.com/phrn30 for pics!

 

[illflem]

I think it's a good idea to use a torque wrench on the clamps at least once to get a feel for how tight they need to be,it's much tighter than I'd normally do just by feel. 72 in/lbs is recommended for a 12 valve,I'm not sure for the 24.

 

[Wiredawg]

I found out the hard way about loose intercooler hose clamps. I was towing my 15K lb 5th wheel in the hammer lane in Arkansas passing a line of 18 wheelers. I was running about 70 mph and about 30 lbs of boost, when the I heard a noise, lost speed down to 35 mph and accellerator felt like a plum. It took about a minute to figure out what had happened. Still ran about a mile down the road to a get off ramp. Popped a the hood and found lower left hose half off. Put it back on and tightened all of 'em. Recheck 'em at oil changes.

Wiredawg

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2000 4X4 SLT QC 8' bed; 6 spd, 3. 54 ; BD exhaust brake and 4" exhaust syst; TST PM2; Airlift Super Duty rear air bags; RS 9000 shocks; pyro/boost gauges in 2 gauge a-pillar mount; back preasure gauge mounted under dash; KN air filter; Brown's Welding brush/grill guard, rear bumper & headache rack; nerf bars and aluminum roll top rear cover, Warn front receiver and Hadley air horns, 20K Reese hitch,Mag-Hytec dif cover.

 

[fmj]

I went nuts with this problem, as the clamp nuts kept loosing. I tried locktight and that seemed to slow the loosing down. I finally used a second nut (to act like a jam nut) and the problem went away. Like illflem stated torque them so you don't over tighten. He cautioned me before to make sure you use inch pounds, not foot pounds. The second nut worked for me, and I check them at oil change (7500 miles) and have not found them loose again.

 

[rich m]

"How much are a set of spring loaded clamps? I know my International work truck has spring loaded clamps on it i can see how they would help out alot. "

Scott1 (where's he been, anyway?) has those on his. Got them at his local IH place,and said (here come's Rich's memory... there goes Rich's memory!) about $8 each... . that'd be $32 for a full set (i think) and they looked kinda "trick"--- he says they hold his 40-ish psi pretty good...

 

[Bad340fish]

Thats not to horrible, although i believe there is eight of them. I will go tighten those things for a long time for $64 lol. I can't tell if they work good or not on my work truck. It doesn't have enough sack under it to blow anything lol. A 466CID I6 Rated at 210Hp/520TQ?? This is in a 35K Battery Truck. Wish it had a 8. 3 in it #ad



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Clark
1999 2500 QC SB 5spd Flowmaster 3 chamber, K&N Re-0880
1968 Barracuda Formula S Viper Blue 11. 98@112

NHRA member for life

 

[illflem]

Think there's only six,you don't need to be so concerned about the two between the airbox and turbo,no pressure. The ones that seem to pop off are the two down at the inner cooler inlet,maybe the inner cooler is a bit of a bottleneck. You could start out with just those two as spring clamps,save bucks.

 

[MikeR]

There are a total of eight clamps on the turbo hoses... six of them are 3" diameter,and two of them are 4" diameter.
I went down to one of the local big truck shops and asked how much for a complete set of spring loaded clamps. The 3" clamps were $7 bucks each and the 4" clamps were $16 bucks each,so that comes to $74 bucks. I'll get to it someday.

-Mike

 

[LDusky]

Some Napa stores have the spring claps for approx. $4 each. I use the spring claps and double nut for a jam.