G'day John,
Not exactly sure what type of clips you have, but the common ones available here in Aust. are purchased with the band already fed into the clip,
& you can unwind the buckle a/c until the spiral drive backs it out, then wrap it around the gaiter rebate & feed it back to the drive & turn clockwise.
There are heaps of differrent sizes, so I normally get ones that don't need to be cut when tightened, but I have cut them with side cutters before, just
cut either side of one of the perferations, then snip the sharp corners off. My oil seal holders have permanent rings for the base of the gaiters, so I only
need the turn buckles on the top. We are probably talking about 2 completely different buckles, but anyway, hope this helps,
Cus