Hose life and death

[George F. VerDuin]

Hi.

I wonder if we can discuss hoses? Hydraulic and air hoses. In the past
year I've had three hose failures on my 1995 BMC-37 built on a MM series
Spartan chassis. It's been kinda expensive to replace a total of seven
hoses after four hoses had to be destroyed while getting access to the
three failures that have become darn near permanent due to seizing.
Mostly though, it has been highly inconvenient and irritating to pause
long enough for the mechanical repair at random moments of travel.

I pretty much understand the arithmetic of 2012 - 1995 years of service
the hoses have given, and nothing lives forever. I am also resigned to
"Suck it up..." as an approach to repair. But there is a common thread
to these failures in my case: vibration, abrasion, and mounting
hardware. All three hoses failed at a point where mounting brackets
held the hose mid-way between start and end. None of the hoses appeared
to have failed of old age and just punky.

So the above situation leads me to think about a review of all the hoses
and wires on the rig. I expect I might find numerous places where
abrasion has begun but not reached failure yet. Perhaps further
abrasion might be avoided by revising just how hoses are hung. I
suspect there are "rules" about support like "No hose should be straight
between two successive hangers" [a bend permits hose flex to relieve any
pressure between vibrating hangers]. I wonder if the labor to prevent
further failure is less than just fixing a broken hose after failure.

This is where I hope others might chime in with personal experience. I
have owned Bird for just over one year and like her a lot. But three
hoses a year seems excessive to me.

Is "hoses" a reasonable topic?
Thanks everybody.
Geo.