Drake Off Road 9409A Hose Clamp Pliers

The problem is that this item was sold by Seller: Palada (http://www.amazon.com/shops/A2S3TUJ6FY56D9) was not actually OTC brand, but instead a knockoff chinese made tool.I have attacked Pictures of the original OTC tool, and the generic tool sold from Palada.I am upset that they charge $35 for the OTC Branded ones, while the generics are sold for about $15.The tool worked ok for small hose clamps on heater hose line about 5/8", but it was not strong enough to open the larger clamps on the radiator hoses.

So doing a complete radiator/hose/thermostat/reservoir change on my venerable Ford '97 F-150 4.6.Generally I did not need this tool. In two hard to reach places, the lower ends of the radiator and the bottom hose into block, this little dandy was excellent. Squeezed the clamp open, was able to reach down and pull the hose off, etc, etc.NOW THE "but" part... I sort of thought the reverse would work, putting the clamp back into its position. And I should say I am a weight lifter, extremely strong hands/grip... so I put the squeezer onto the clamp and tried to close it... I could but it SEEMED (would love comments) twice as hard to do this than open it by squeezing and sliding off? What the heck... on one of the hoses I finally resorted to a set of grips and just muscled the clamp correctly. AM I MISSING something on using the tool to open and slide on a clamp vs open and slide off? Why is it or does it seem to be so much harder (of course perhaps I am obtuse, but...). Good tool to get stuff off but you may not be able to use it as nicely to put clamps "on"... YMMV

This is easily one of the best tools I have ever purchased. I'm a casual week end mechanic, maintaining my own fleet of 5 vehicles. I have always managed to get by without any special tools for the factory type hose clamps. I was getting ready to do the water pump on my pickup and decided to splurge and finally give these a try. As you can imagine, I now only wonder why I waited so long. I hardly cursed at all using these things, they work great. I replaced the upper and lower radiator hoses and reused the original clamps. They also worked great on the smaller heater hose clamps and in some pretty tight situations. No matter the position of the clamp, I managed to get the tool on. I don't think the tool seems flimsy as a few others mentioned. It seems sturdy and well built for its intended use. You do need a strong grip to get them to open the bigger clamps all the way, but nothing the average person will struggle with. Overall I am very happy with them. Even if I don't use them for another year or two, I have no regrets.

as an automotive tech have used this a ton. i cant say it holds up well, i have had it for almost two years and the ratcheting function died early on. it still works but i have to keep squeezing it which can be a pain when its a stiff clamp, i end up reaching for pliers over these if i can.

I had to change out my heater hoses on my 08 Chrysler town and Country as well as the radiator and I can honestly say that this tool saved me at least an hour of time removing the spring clamps. I don't know how I would have been able to remove the upper and lower hose at the firewall if I did not have this tool.The tool itself is built with high quality, since purchase I have used it for 3 other car jobs as well. I would strongly recommend this tool to any weekend mechanic.

Great tool. This has helped tremendously on my current project. One minor hiccup - the clamp gets jammed in the slide rather than the jaws occasionally. Not a big deal - just a small annoyance. I would have no issue recommending this to anyone.Edit 01/02/15: This clamp tool saved my butt. I am working on an 02 Ford replacing the 9 different heater hoses on this little car and would not have been able to reach 1/2 of the constant pressure clamps Ford uses with normal pliers. The thing is a lot stronger than expected. I'm about halfway through replacing the hoses. I am happily surprised with the strength and reach this tool has. The previous jamming was a user error.I wish I would have had this for prior vehicles. You will truly appreciate the tool when you realize that there would have been NO WAY to reach a clamp without it. My "no issues" in recommending this has changed to one of the "must have" small tools for a garage shade tree mechanic.If the tool's durability becomes questionable, I will update this review accordingly.

Works great for smaller clamps. However I purchased with the intension of using it on 2" radiator hose clamps. It does not have the leverage needed to open the clamps completely off the hose. Also, the ratchet/lock design has very wide teeth. Meaning for it to lock on a ratchet, it requires about 1/4" of movement in the jaw clamp (which is alot on these style clamps). Back to the good old channel locks.

Purchased the tool and should have had one a LONG time ago. One problem is that the ratchet latch teeth are not fine enough. This only becomes a problem if you can't remove the clamp from the hose within the range of a ratchet stop at the end of the hose clamp springs travel. So you endup holding pressure on the tool and only one hand to try and move the hose clamp. The worst case is the clamp will not slide off the hose and you try and pull a hose off with one hand and the other is holding the tool. love how easy it is to remove most clamps but there has to a better adjustment or something.