Need a quick opinion….

[Big Blue]

I am in agreement with you. IMO, the hose is there only to keep the harness free and clear.
One way to verify this would be to disconnect the hose and harness, then see if the assembly can be rotated by hand. My guess is it can't.
Any volunteers?

I really think you'll find the hose is there to keep the module from spinning with the fan as well as keeping the harness clear of everything. I'm not going to tear mine apart but I will bet the the black module would spin freely with the engine stopped. As @airline tech has said, without having a fan assembly to tear apart and look at, I suspect the black module is either some type of slip ring or magnetic coupling to the fan clutch, I lean towards the first.

In either case any failure of the supporting bearing that allows the module to freely spin on the fan shaft is going to cause the catastrophic damage we have seen. Because the module is going to want to spin with the engine driven fan shaft. No hose or bracket is going to prevent that.

One thing I have noticed is, the little"L" bracket at the engine end of the hose gets extremely hot, as it is closely attached to the engine. This probably leads to a degrading of the hose in that location.

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