Hose life and death

[Ernie Ekberg]

George, anything in regards to fixing a coach is right on topic. I know when I bought out 88 last year, We replaced the air compressor, and brake line hoses.

Its impossible to guess if the PO had abused the coach prior to your purchase. If you go back with the best hoses you can buy, then you should be good for quite a while.

Ernie Ekberg

88 PT40 Wanderlodge

Weatherford, Texas

817-475-3991

http://www.ernieekbergflooring.net/

From: George F. VerDuin
To: WanderlodgeForum@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Wednesday, November 14, 2012 11:04 AM
Subject: [WanderlodgeForum] Hose life and death

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.