Duane,
I never said that Goodyear made crimp fittings. However, the only ones that I know of that are recommended and/or used by Goodyear are ONLY made by Anchor. When I used to deal with Goodyear, they were extremely conservative about their advice on coupler ends. Advising us to use the Anchor fittings, and if not, make sure with absolute certainty that we used a fitting designed for this type hose, and to acquire said fittings with proven crimp specifications (directions on crimping).
Gates, Weatherhead, Parker and Synflex all stated they had no fittings that they would stand behind, nor issue crimp specs for on the Neptune hose. Coupla-matic/Varicrimp was the only supplier other than Anchor who had fittings and specs (mind you, this was a few years ago). However, since then I have seen various Synflex and Parker swage fittings, designed for thermoplastic hoses, being used for Neptune hose, and seen a variety of coupling related failures in those cases. Asking Goodyear to comment, they issued a "I told ya so", to everyone who brought such cases to their attention.
I have always used a crimp (not swage) machine on either the Anchor or Varicrimp fittings, to the specs outlined by each, and have never experienced, witnessed, or heard of a hose/coupler faulted failure on hose that was (a) crimped to spec, and (b) used on hose considered serviceable, with suitable bend restrictors in place (when needed). That is not to say I haven't seen any. On occasion, old worn, clogged, rusted, falling apart fittings are replaced on hose that should never have been serviced. Neptune hose does lose dimensional and physical stability over time. You put a new crimp fitting on a well-used 2 year old hose, you better look carefully at the condition AND the ID/OD of the hose. Hose that is out of spec, swollen, softened, or cracked will likely not retain a coupler, or will permit a lamination leak to burst the outer jacket at the worst possible time (as people here have so noted).
By none of this am I disparaging thermoplastic hoses. They indeed have their strengths (and weaknesses), and their application for users. One of those being the pin-pricked covers that reveal lamination leaks long before an otherwise sealed jacket would later burst. Moreover, since thermoplastic hoses have a much longer history, and widespread application, the fittings themselves fall into distinct categories of cross applicability (e.g. a 100R1 spec fitting should work fine on any 100R1 type thermoplastic hose, regardless of brand).
And neither am I saying that if you use 100R1 fittings on Neptune hose, are you guaranteed a failure. Heck no. There are thousands of hoses out there with these fittings that work alright. Either by trial and error, dumb luck, info passed down or Kentucky windage, the person who crimped or swaged the fittings placed the fitting in a manner in which the mismatch "got everyone by". It helps too that we use the hose at a fraction of intended use capacity (pressure).
What I am saying, is that those situations where the hose does fail, and it is not attributable to extreme wear or expiration, it usually is a mismatch of hose, fitting and crimp. It is extremely rare that you see a factory (Goodyear) crimp, using an Anchor fitting with a strain relief fail before the hose or fitting is otherwise actually worn out.
