We are in the 21st century and have those "new" rubber trees.

 

Rubber is rubber. There's a reason why most of the manufacturers replace small rubber hoses on their 100K and 120K kits, lol.

 

Since 1998-99 serpentine belts are made from very little rubber....they started to make them from a compounds called "Neoprene" and "Ethylene Propylene Diene Monomer". The EDPM makes them wear for a longer time, made them more tear resistant, improved flexibility to resist cracking.....a mechanic actually uses a depth gauge to determine the wear of the belt.... http://www.gatesprograms.com/beltwear/beltwear

 

Either way, almost every vehicle I have worked on in the past decade has serpentine belts which start to show cracks/wear around the 100-120K mark. Sure, you can get away with not replacing belts/hoses, sometimes for over 200K miles if you're lucky. But why chance a simple maintenance item that is so cheap to do? It's like not changing the oil for 20K miles. Sure you can do it, and 90% of the people who do so won't see any ill effects, but that doesn't mean it should be standard practice.

 

I didnt do anything special to my truck when it hit 100k last year and now its at 115k. I had the plugs replaced around 95k.

Its still got the original belt and battery and runs strong. I did have to replace a wheel bearing a few thousand miles ago but that was a 10 minute job.

 

lol yea the new rubber asian trees that have raised the price of rubber lately. I'm just going by what I have experienced myself. I'm still running the original lower radiator hoses and heater hoses on my 90 bronco. The lower rad hose does feel like jello in spots near the water pump. The original serptine belt is cracked, but not fraying; and it's been coated in powersteering fluid for atleast half a decade.

I run parts till they are unusable. Learned that from working with old farmers.