Tuesday, July 30, 2019

Avoided paying $100 for a $2 piece of hose

This is a prime example of why it's imperative that you learn to do your own repairs whenever possible, especially if you are a full time RVer in an older RV.

This is a 10" long, 3/8" piece of hose that is used as the return line for the power steering, and it would have cost me $100+ to have a shop replace it.


A shop would have gone by what their computer says and used a new $20+ hose with a metal line fitting on the end, charged several dollars for a small amount of fluid, and charged an hour's labor at around $75/hr.


For just $2.30 including tax, I bought a new 10" piece of high quality 3/8" Continental hose that's made in USA.


It required a small amount of Type F fluid in the power steering pump, due to some draining out when the hose was removed, but I already had it for topping off from the hose leak so that cost me nothing extra. The only other expense was a bunch of paper towels.

The old USA made clamps were still in excellent condition, not chewed up like cheap Chinese ones get almost instantly, so I reused them. They tightened down great, so that saved me a couple more dollars.

It was a VERY messy job, way worse than changing the differential oil, but now it should be good for many years before it needs replacing again. It required laying on the ground and reaching up to get to, as it was almost impossible to reach from above.

So yes, I would have paid $100+ for a $2 piece of hose, if I hadn't replaced it myself.

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