All these, "ya but this one time I had this break on me" stories are a perfect example of why I checked every thing on my plane every day I would go up. Now I had worked in Army aviation as a mechanic and they tought a lot of concepts designed to improve safty, but the key thing is they showed me why we had to check every thing. And do it care fully so we don't miss any thing that could cause a crash. I know its nice to take that old nice plane out of your hanger fuel 'er up and go fly just like that. but if you don't do a check on all the (army & air force called the most important areas "flight critical") flight critical parts you are takeing a chance of seeing that model promptly come back down and end up in a garbage bag.
The entire aviation sector learned a long time ago that its impossible to create a machine w/ moving parts that will last for ever and a day. not only is it impossible but it would be impractical as well. the cost of the materials would put the parts far out of reach of even the most wealth private sector. In order to make an air worthy safe plane that was still affordable they opted for parts & materials that were less expencive, easier to work with (less expensive again) but carefully tested the parts to determine its TBO which is the "To BE Overhauled" time. you can not put more hours on that part once it has reached that time limit because thats as long as its suppose to go.

I never saw any thing in any of the manuals which indicated even in the slightest what the TBO was. not in the radio's, not in the engines, and not in the hinges. because of this we don't know how long it will last. That is the exact and only reason why I check every thing before even fueling the plane. before first flight (to insure its airworthiness and thus its safty) and after the final flight (for maintenance reasons).
As any experienced pilot is aware, if you have a problem up high you cannot pull off to the side to check it out or if necessary make a repair. What goes up must come down!