Heater Core Plastic Connector Replacement

[Crash1]

03 Sierra, 1500, Z71

The driver side (Inlet?) plastic connector broke off. Can I remove the connector and just push a new hose onto the metal heater core pipe, tighten down a gear clamp on it? I think a plastic connector in this application is going to be prone to problems.

[txab]

You can, or you can buy the replacement part and replace. They do need to be replaced occasionally. Yours lasted 12 years, so they are not too prone to problems. I just replaced mine after 11 years and 140k miles on them, not broken just planned replacement time