Bongo Fury

I've got the message that jubilee clips aren't good on the cooling system! The favoured spring clips come in different types (double wire, flat ...) but appear mostly in smaller sizes for fuel and air lines. Clearly there are clips for different purposes and I'm feeling ignorant. I'm planning on a hose and coolant change this spring and now wary of making the wrong choice of hose clamps with potentially expensive consequences.

Which clips do you buy and where from?

Why are normal jubilee clips frowned upon, they are widely used especially on boats on critical parts like sea water inlets.

The jubilee clip doesn't expand contract with temperature, hence when the metal pipe under the hose expands the hose gets compressed, then when it cools the rubber / silicone takes a while to expand again, during this period it can leak coolant. The constant pressure type of clip expands as the hose is pushed outward by the expanding pipes keeping the joint under a constant pressure and doesn't compress the hose and hence no leaking when it cools again.

Nothing wrong with "Proper Jubilee Clips", I have bee using them on hundreds of vehicles (including bongos)for years with absolutely no problems. Most of the problems that peeps get is when fitting miss fitting /badly moulded hoses . Some suppliers in the past used worn/blown hoses for moulding purposes.

The "Jubilee" .Company has been going since 1921 you don't last that long selling c**p.

One of the problems with Jubilee clips is that peeps over tighten them with the biggest screwdriver in the box.
Constant pressure clamps are better, that's why they are factory fitted. Best of all are the NORMA Clamps......Mclaran bought my entire stock a few years ago, they should know best.

As hinted in posts above, whilst many have done fine with jubilee clips, many have had to resort to re-tightening after a period of settling. In the meantime, they may suffer a (hidden) leak, and the consequences of that. And, if the clip is in an awkward place, sorting the issue can be time consuming and tedious. It's a fair bet that constant pressure clips were brought into service by those (like manufacturers) who don't want to be worrying about post-delivery issues. I'm guessing also (though I don't know, so correct me if I'm wrong) that constant pressure clips are - overall - more tricky/expensive to produce and distribute, for a variety of reasons, which might be why the jubilee clip is so popular for non-standard/post-manufacture jobs.

So, nothing wrong with jubilee clips, but you're more likely to have a good fire-and-forget experience with constant pressure clips maybe.

With this being prep for a Scottish tour - and my coolant is ancient - I don't want to turn a so far well-mannered Bongo into a nightmare.

I am not adding that I recommend jubilee clips in this application. However one thing is a fact they are not all made the same quality ! Some unbranded (even branded) ones are clearly inferior. Lighter manufacturing, lighter weight and seemingly made of something more like soft steel or lead than high quality steel.

BongoBongo123 wrote:I am not adding that I recommend jubilee clips in this application. However one thing is a fact they are not all made the same quality ! Some unbranded (even branded) ones are clearly inferior. Lighter manufacturing, lighter weight and seemingly made of something more like soft steel or lead than high quality steel.

Very true

they fit the constant pressure clip to every jap car and bike made.

i get mine from the scrap yard, you should get a bag full for next to nowt if you have one of the old school scrappies.

That's your Northern Thrift, Ady.

If you do a search you will find topics on here from a few years ago which go into the whole subject of hoses, clamps etc in great detail. The resulting consensus was constant pressure clamps had many advantages over simple Jubilee clips and apart from cost no disadvantages.
Some constant pressure clamps do require that the hose be removed from the stub (factory ones), I suppose this could be a disadvantage in certain cases. The NORMA clamps do not require the removal of the hose.
We used to sell the NORMA clamps but I also used to feel guilty even selling them at cost....average cost was around £2.50 each and a full Bongo set around £50.
You get what you pay for.

i fit them from you to several bongos haydn, and had really good results and never had one leak or fail.

mikeonb4c wrote:As hinted in posts above, whilst many have done fine with jubilee clips, many have had to resort to re-tightening after a period of settling. In the meantime, they may suffer a (hidden) leak, and the consequences of that. And, if the clip is in an awkward place, sorting the issue can be time consuming and tedious. It's a fair bet that constant pressure clips were brought into service by those (like manufacturers) who don't want to be worrying about post-delivery issues. I'm guessing also (though I don't know, so correct me if I'm wrong) that constant pressure clips are - overall - more tricky/expensive to produce and distribute, for a variety of reasons, which might be why the jubilee clip is so popular for non-standard/post-manufacture jobs.

So, nothing wrong with jubilee clips, but you're more likely to have a good fire-and-forget experience with constant pressure clips maybe.

I suspect the constant pressure clip scores on fitting time in manufacture which probably makes it the car manufacturers favourite. As far as I am aware most jubilee clips are not made of invar so should expand and contract as the local temperature changes but just how well this matches the spigot the hose is on may be a factor.

One problem with constant pressure clips I suspect can be if an old hose has hardened and is removed and refitted. It may not yield to a constant pressure type clip. There's nothing like a jubilee clip if you need to be telling an old hard hose who's boss