2005 Aspire 330 catastrophic hydraulic hose failure?

March 17, 2012, 12:48:16 am

We left Gold Canyon on Tuesday am and thought we had an "easy" day to Sedona (2-3 hrs.) and then there was an unusual sound and all kinds of smoke coming out of the back of the coach. There was an exit ahead and we got off and parked in a school parking lot to investigate. The smoke was from hydraulic fluid from one of the hoses on the radiator fan that burst and spewed the fluid all over the engine compartment, on the rear of the coach and covered the toad. Yikes what a mess. Good thing we were able to get off the road as toward the end, the power steering was not working well due to fluid loss. Called Good Sam and they sent Big Dan from Big D Towing from Mesa AZ to assist us with our problem. Big Dan showed up and slid under the coach removed the culprit hose and the adjacent rubbing hose (also abraded badly) and headed out to have new ones made. He returned 2 hours later with 2 new hoses, 2 cases of fluid, 3 new filters (since we lost all the fluid and they were due for a change) and we were on the road again.
The two hoses were touching each other and after rubbing the rubber coating off, the steel mesh inside just tore the hoses up until one of them burst.
Moral to the story, any hose rubbing anything can cause a problem on the road? The toad had to be power washed 5 times to get the oily film (corrosive to paint) off and looking good again. Will need to power wash the radiator to get it clean asap.
When in trouble in the Phoenix AZ area we recommend Big D Towing in Mesa (480-969-5420), he was professional, had fair prices and was real great to work with? he also cleaned up the mess on the pavement.
2005 Country Coach
40' INSPIRE 330
C-9 CAT 400 HP
6 SPEED ALLISON
ID# 51241

2005 Aspire 330 catastrophic hydraulic ho

Reply #1 – March 17, 2012, 02:40:50 pm

Yahoo Message Number: 78020

Jerry,

It sounds like you received really great service from your tow company, most of us would probably not be that lucky.
I would caution every 05 Inspire owner (and probably other coaches as well) to inspect every inch of the hydraulic hoses. I saw that my hoses were wearing badly in several areas. Those hoses would have failed over time, if not rerouted and protected. Over the years I've heard of other Inspire owners with the exact same problem. I had Colton Truck reroute, protect and secure my hoses.
Country Coach made great coaches, however I feel they dropped the ball in 3 areas with the Inspire.

1. The aluminum radiator.
2. The dry pto.
3. The hydraulic hose installation.

Any one of those 3 items could potentiality destroy your day.
With the above items out of the way, I'm a very happy Inspire owner.

Jim

2005 40' Inspire #51225

(no subject)

Reply #2 – March 17, 2012, 03:48:58 pm

Yahoo Message Number: 78022

Jim, we have on 06 40 foot Inspire and am grateful to read your informative email. You are right on with the problem areas, and we have a new radiator and charge air cooler along with a new pto. I do crawl under and look at the hydraulic hoses and wonder if you would relay what protection has been given to your hydraulic hoses. Thank you.

Mike Frederick
06 Inspire 51784

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