Not sure what "slide the gold bracket down an inch" means or how it helped. BUT....in the first picture, I think I would have ground down the two lips on the clamp so they don't touch as shown. This would allow a tighter clamping. Or split some tubing and make two spacers. I may have also tried to get the ferrule in the clamp.
Are you going to weld the crack? Hope so.
Right is right, even if everyone is against it, and wrong is wrong, even if everyone is for it. - William Penn
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