My DC17 was losing suction and I didn't understand why until I pulled the hose assembly out to vacuum the stairs and found the hose was starting to fall apart. I ordered this replacement hose and the hardest part of installing the new hose was finding a large, straight blade screwdriver (no one installs anything in my house). I've read reviews about pulling out the old torn hose and that's exactly what I did. To install the new hose, the longer tailpipe is inserted where the floor attaches to the vacuum and I just ran it through. My vacuum has a red button that you can press to attach/detach the hose to the top of the wand/handle and there is a plastic tube that you open at the bottom of the vacuum to attach the new end of the hose. It's actually quite simple and my vacuum cleaner is like new again.