This company makes T-bolt clamps (like the ones in the 1st picture) small enough to do the job. I have not found anyone who retails them so far.
http://www.sealfast.com/f_superex_tbolt.html

those clamps look great.

i switched over from napa US and MB GEMI clamps to these ABA clamps
http://www.abagroup.com/ABATemplates/Page.aspx?id=408

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Current Stable:
1994 S500 v140, 210k miles, white with grey.

Former Mercedes in the Stable:
1983 300CD Turbo diesel 515k mi sold (rumor has it, that it has 750k miles on it now)
1984 300CD Turbo Diesel 150 k mi sold
1982 300D Turbo Diesel 225 sold
1987 300D Turbo Diesel 255k mi sold
1988 300 CE AMG Hammer 15k mi sold
1986 "300E" Amg Hammer 88k mi sold (it was really a 200, not even an E (124.020)
1992 500E 156k mi sold
etc.

Steel braided hose would work but it is difficult more difficult to clamp down on with an external clamp. I am also wonering just how much weight you can hang off of a aluminum oil cooler since the engines vibrate alot and the hose is acting to isolate the vibrations. The steel braided hose would be stiffer and not as flexiable. However, if you go back several pages there is a member who use it with fittings (no hose clamps)that he had welded to origional tubing. He has some good pictures.
Also there are 2 sizes of jags on the tubing . The first one is larger than the rest. The 1/2 inch hose that I wanted to use would not stretch over the front jag (I thought about cutting off the 1st big jag but decided not to as there was still no garentee that the 1/2 inch hose would slide over). 5/8 hose goes over the front jag with a little bit of tension but is a little big for the other 3 jags.
This job really needs some metric sized hose but I used what was availiable and even that was not easy to find. The local hose dealer never answered my Email so I just bought what was available on ebay.

While I know the focus of this entire thread was the alternate hose clamp repair....I see a number of us have experienced trying to remove the oil cooler hoses from the oil cooler only to see the threads on the oil cooler get stripped because the two parts were siezed from corrosion. Same with removal of the transmission fluid hoses from the bottom of the radiator. On my previous car, I stripped out these threads and had to replace the whole radiator! The same thing goes with removal of AC hoses from the condenser.

If you are going to replace any of these hoses with brand new ones, then to remove the old hoses without ruining the theads on the male part, use a dremel with a little mini metal cut-off wheel to cut into the outer female fitting (screw collar?), perpendicular to the threads. You can cut right down into the threads on the male barb, but be careful to go no deeper than the threads. Then just take a flat screw driver and pry open the screw collar....even if you dont cut too deep and the threads on the screw collar are still connected, these will snap when you pry open, and the collar will easily unscrew with no further damage to male threads.

Two things to be careful about:

1. Dont cut any deeper than the threads on the male threaded barb, or you will cause structural weakening of the barb, and
2. Especially be careful not to cut into the sealing surface of the male threaded barb, or else it is toast.

When you're done, clean up the male threads, apply some anti seize, and they are as good as new (almost as good!)...a new hose fitting will screw on perfectly, with plenty of thread left to snug it down with proper torque.

Mark

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1984 300TD Wagon, 407,800 mi (current daily driver)
1985 300DT Sedan, 330,000 mi (gone to that great autobahn in the sky)

i wish i had a digi cam, i moved my cooler a few months ago to make room for my IC,

i had to extend 1 hose about 1 foot, i threaded the inside and fit a brass "i think, ill check later", brass elbow double clamped, the usual hose clamps you can get , i think it cost $20 for everything, i gave the guy $10 tip for NOT cracking the end of the rad

i WILL get pics soon, maby cam for x-mas, lots of work to do while its parked for winter!

driving for about 5-8k klm with it hooked up, its right behind the licence plate

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1985 300D - 599,xxxk - blue interior #265 Monark Nozzle, AL129X, 15" Ronals, Gen II Big Brakes hunting
1985 300D - 491,xxxk - in prog-{A-A IC, 3" exhaust, psi\pyro, 28*BTDC, Hella Euros, IP Limiter removal
1985 300TD - 783,xxxk - parts car,used new engine with ALDA cap inplace
1987 Kenworth T-600 8LL 425 CAT Mech. - 6,000,000+k - DEI exhaust wrap, punched through resonators, 1 recent rebuild,

Of the hose??

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1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

the inside of the oil cooler, i think it comes soldered from the factory? so i did a inside chase you could call it, then turned a brass elbow into it

very very very risky cos if the end\opening of the cooler would crack i would be crying cos that will cost money to fix

when my IC and all is done im gona post a bunch of pics

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1985 300D - 599,xxxk - blue interior #265 Monark Nozzle, AL129X, 15" Ronals, Gen II Big Brakes hunting
1985 300D - 491,xxxk - in prog-{A-A IC, 3" exhaust, psi\pyro, 28*BTDC, Hella Euros, IP Limiter removal
1985 300TD - 783,xxxk - parts car,used new engine with ALDA cap inplace
1987 Kenworth T-600 8LL 425 CAT Mech. - 6,000,000+k - DEI exhaust wrap, punched through resonators, 1 recent rebuild,

That's because it shouldn't be clamped like that. That's definitely an improper technique.

Stainless braided hose is not significantly heavier. It can be quite flexible, depending on the type of inner hose (teflon, rubber, etc.). As the other poster showed, it needs to be used with the proper hose ends.

D911 - You mentioned that one hose barb is larger in diameter than the other 3, also that 1/2" ID hose fit over the 3 smaller barbs. So did you use one 1/2" hose and one 5/8" hose? ... I think thats what I might do.

They make braided steel coverings that just slip over the hose allowing you to use the hose clamp (heavy duty t-bolt for me.) on the rubber portion, with the abrasion and puncture resistance of woven steel. But still, the first thing I'd do is to install a low oil pressure light/buzzer..

Mcmaster-carr has some heavy duty hose clamps.

While searching I found this old post..

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/showpost.php?p=717502&postcount=8

I believe he says his replacement hose failed at the clamp/barb on the hardline that returns to the oil filter canister. Maybe his engine mounts were shot and she was rocking. Sounds like it only lasted 4 months.

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Cheers,
Robert

I stopped in a local Pyrtek hyd shop a few weeks ago- no metric tubing, but they did have good Tclamps.

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1984 123.193 372,xxx miles, room for Seven.

1999 Dodge Durango Cummins 4BTAA 47RE 5k lb 4x4 getting 25+mpgs, room for Seven.

I just saw my old SD the other day, I wonder how my oil cooler bypass is doing on its second year. Its still running! I told them to keep an eye on it.

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1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

3 years later since this thread started, How are everyone's fixes?

I did it a couple years ago on my 6.2L Suburban and 85 300D. The 85 300D has gone about 40,000 miles since then. Still holding. The suburban about 15,000. All good. I use Python Push lock Gray hose from a hydraulic shop.

I just did this on my 2.5 T W124 300D. The pics i took were after my first daily commute. The fittings were dry.

The benifits of this method are
1. Easy -- replacing whole oil cooler lines in a real pita.
2. More maintainable in the future
3. No risk of damaging oil cooler
4. No need for big wrenches most people don't have on hand
5. Cheap -- couldn't even find oil cooler lines in online parts places.
6. Efficient -- the metal parts of the lines are generally perfectly good.
7. You can easily drain your oil cooler if you want to.

Mercedes should have engineered a way to replace just the rubber parts.

On the W124 2.5T , it costs 40.00 for 8 feet of 3/4 ID hose and hose clamps. I had 3 feet of hose left. I didn't double clamp or use silicone. But i think i'll add another clamp to each. Also i like the idea of the spring type clamps that VW uses everywhere. I may add those next oil change.

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What Would Rudolph Do?
1975 300D, 1975 240D, 1985 300SD, 1997 300D, 2005 E320 , 2006 Toyota Prius

I am the one who began this thread back in Sep 2007. At that time I did not know how to post the Thumbnail pics and have added other Photos to my Photo Bucket so it may be hard to find the photos.

About 1-1/2 years ago the Hose to the lower Oil Cooler Nipple started to seep enough that at single drop would hang there.
I re-tightened the Clamps and that solved the Problem. I have had no other issues with the set-up.

I have never followed up on finding better clamps or better fitting Hose for the Job.

Thoughts lately:
Due to some other projects that I have done I now have a 18mmx1.5 Tapp and Die.
This may make it possible for a 5/8" barb to be modified and threaded for 18mmx1.5 and that would allow them to be screwedn into the bottom of the Oil Filter Housing. This would take care of the Hose and clamping issues on the Oil Filter End of the Hose.
The Oil Cooler end is more difficult due to the 90 degree bend.

Although the if you read the Oil cooler Repair Threads you see that the Oil Cooler Nipples themselvs can be drilled and tapped with inside threads. This might be a way to attach an other set of 5/8" Babs.

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84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel

A similar fix was attempted with Ol' Turbo from the previous owner. There was no warning when it did this...





Just popped right off, all of the sudden. I had driven the car almost 5000 miles, and who knows how many the previous owner did on the repair. I was lucky to catch the oil pressure drop immediately, shut off the engine and pull over to the side of the road.

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1985 500SL Euro w/ AMG bits 130k
1984 300SD Turbodiesel 192k
1980 240D Stick China 188k
2001 CLK55 AMG 101k
2007 S600 Biturbo 149k Overheated Project, IT'S ALIVE!!!

Tyler,

You have certainly had your share of heartbreaking mechanical failures on your countless owned Benzes, yet you've prevailed and keep on buying, fixing, and usually re-selling them.

My hat's off to you! I don't think I could have persevered the heartache & breakdowns this ugly in nature.