As a Stihl dealer with many years of experience I think I can address your two main concerns regarding the 4-mix blower models plus add some insight into Stihl's reasoning you may be overlooking. I've sold hundreds of 4-mix blowers over the years ever since they were introduced following the success of their 4-mix line trimmer engines in the early 2000's. This engine design was forced out of Stihl as a result of governmental regulations and Stihl was unprepared at that time and had to source first generation RedMax strato-charged engines for a few years until their engine was ready. Stihl's 4-mix blower engine is a low RPM/high torque hybrid design combining two and four stroke technology and plain bearings are common to four stoke engines. I have never seen a caged roller bearing used in the small end of a con-rod in a Briggs, Honda or Tecumseh four stroke engine. The wrist pin bearing doesn't rotate thousands of RPM like the big end bearing. It only rocks back and forth about 30 degrees. The wrist pin bearing in Stihl's 4-mix line trimmer engines probably is some kind of needle or roller bearing because those engines are lower power and higher RPM. Now on to the cost factor, the MSRP for the 4282-030-0411 crankshaft is currently $443.99. This price does not reflect their 2.5 % bull!#*t charge which we would first add to our cost and then use a multiplier to achieve a resale price of $455.08 resale price. This is a complete rip off rendering any repair uneconomical. However there are complete engines available for all 4-mix blowers, BR600 uses part number 4282-020-0201 which has an MSRP of $199.99. Unfortunately this is not a full margin part and we would have to add 2.5% to the cost and use the same multiplier to achieve a resale price of $247.69 plus tax and about one hour labor. At this price we will make a reasonable profit and economically repair the customers blower. Stihl came out later with their version of the Strato-charged two stroke but they can't use that name because Husqvarna acquired the rights to that name by buying RedMax from Komatsu-Zenoah. Stihl instead uses the name "low emission two stroke" which they use on all their blowers smaller than the BR500. That design of engine does require a roller wrist pin bearing. Next year both of these low emission blower engines will be come obsolete in our area in favor of battery electric tools that are underpowered, heavier and double the price of their gas counterparts. Our shop is located in goo goo land where unelected eco nazis fine you for watering your lawn, ban the use of barbecues and fire places on days they deem as poor air quality, force you to use all electric (no natural gas) in new construction. And on and on, they won't be satisfied until commercial landscapers and home owners are using all hand tools like the Amish. Getting back to the main issue, Stihl 4-mix blowers will run trouble free for thousands of hard use hours if synthetic oil is used with fuel rated 89 octane or higher and it does not have to be Stihl's ultra oil it can be Echo red armor for example. I hope this clears up some questions or maybe raises more questions.

I worked as a small engine mechanic for 10 years and 99 percent of major failures was because of cheap or improper lubrication. It amazed me everytime, that people spend good money on the equipment and then would buy the cheapest oil they could find. And then argue with you about the oil until they came back with a failure.

A good way to break in the new year with a Taryl video.

I am a Stihl Tec. and I am thunder struck that Stihl would use a brass bearing there. I work at a hardware store that is a Stihl dealer. We have sold these models. One had a failure were the shaft bearing failed and punched a hole through the bottom plate. I have had two crankshaft bearings to fail. But, no roller bearings at the piston! I am beyond words. Thank you for the video! You saved me a lot of time with this info. Thanks again.

I just wanted to say Thank You, I learned a lot from your videos. I think showing some of the homemade tools you use and how you take things apart has helped me the most. I am a machinist but I work on a lot of small engines. Happy New Year from Canada.

Happy New Year Taryl! I bought a BR600 used a few years ago from a lawn care company and have never had any problems like that and it's been used commercially and abused from commercial use. I do use premium 2 cycle oil though, only major repair I had to do on it was reseal the engine because the seals were leaking bad causing it to run like crap but after resealing the engine it runs like a champ now!

thank you for being straightforward and honest.

Great as always. Wishing you and entire cast a healthy, prosperous, and safe new year.

Happy New Year Boyz- this is the first thing I did this year is watch this video and now I know the year will be great! All the the to you all!

Thank you Grass Rats Garage for making our small engine devices not such a seemingly hopeless mystery this New Year and many times over the years!

Thanks for the info. Hope you all have a healthy and prosperous New Year!

I’ve had a BR600 for over 10 years and it’s been flawless. Use the right grade of oil and mix it correctly. That’s all these need. If your gonna be cheap and use the wrong stuff this is what you get. All I’ve ever used was Stihl hp Ultra oil or amsoil saber. Good oil isn’t cheap and cheap oil isn’t good.

I’ve had many many of the stihl equipment over the years. Never ever ever had an issue with anything I’ve ever owned. Chainsaws, blowers ,weed wackers. Etc. always used their 2 stroke oil. And good gas too. Pay the extra (Pennie’s) and save later. Also always starts better.

Thanks and Happy New Year, Taryl & Co.!

Having made engines, there is nothing wrong with silicon Bronze bushes for a wrist pin. However it does have to be lubricated and as you and many others have said modern engines require the correct oil or you are gonna pay. As Scotty says oil is cheap engines are expensive. Very good advice we should all heed.

15:24 I LOL'D so hard!!! I moved away from Stihl almost a decade ago when I had a couple of 4mix products. Didn't last too long so I moved to Echo. Stihl is vastly overrated even if Slippers uses the right oil and shakes it up! LOL

I learn something new every time I watch this fantastic channel. Happy New Year Grassrats. 👍👍🔧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧

Great video Taryl. Keep up the great work.

Thanks for the videos I have enjoyed watching and learning some things I didn't know. Happy New Year to you and the family

Love watching and learning thank u👁️♥️👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍

Simple u said it ! Why fix it when it’s cheaper to replace it! That’s these manufacturers goal

And Slippers has a Kawasaki hoodie on! Excellent dig on Stihl for going cheap.

Thanks for all your information

I appreciate your awesome videos...no different than many vehicles nowadays, over engineering to make money, but you are 100% spot on about fluids and additives, customers just never seem to learn that cheaper will burn you every damn time!

Been running these for over 15 years, new plugs and filters, good oil, good fuel and adjust the valves…. Never had one quit. Same I’m with the trimmers. Also use the blower at the farm tank after tank.

Good info. I'm glad my Stihl blower is a 2 stroke model. Happy New Year!

Learned alot in todays video. Thank you!!

You're awesome! Humor at a level I can understand with informative ideas and tips. Keep up the great work.

From what I discovered during some research is that the Stihl ultra oil is synthetic and the older 2 cycle oil is not synthetic. The synthetic oil will not gum up inside the engine as seen in the video and because it is synthetic and very slick and very thin, it lubricates the areas as designed by Stihl...it gets to where it needs to be inside that bushing etc. Use what they recommend and save yourself the headaches of downtime and YUGE costs in repair. Thanks for the video, direct and blunt information for the thick headed.

Needle bearing up there will wear out also if it's not getting oil. Good to know about the special oil.

Happy New Year Taryl and all you guys

Happy new year guys loving the videos

That blower is over 500.00 at the stihl dealers where I'm at.. Glad i have a older blower..thanks for the info Taryl.. Happy New Year everyone..🍻🍻🍻🍻🍻🍻🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

Happy New Year Taryl and family !!!!! And to all my fellow grass rat !!!!!

Great video thank you so much for the information.

Wow learned something new today. I've never heard of the 4-Mix. Crazy. A 4 stroke that takes premix? What's the advantage? Usually the advantage of four-stroke is not having to mix gas. And a two-stroke being lighter/better power to displacment ratio.

Man them Stihl guys crapped out on us.. send blade man and throttle round to open a can of whoop arse .

Thanks Taryl . Have this same blower in shop . Owner said he was using it and it made a weird nose and shut off. Checked it and its that bushing that went . So now i have a parts blower . Thats for the video . Happy New Years from your neighbor just east of you .

Good Info. Thank's

Exactly why I still have my BR420 blower. Interesting seeing the new Stihl units apart. Thanks Taryl!

I worked small engine at a farm store that sells stihl. I thought all their new stuff was junk. We had to start every new stihl when it was sold. 20% of brand new stihl right out of the box would not run properly or not at all. I was constantly fixing brand new stihl equipment. We also sold echo and i don't recall a single problem with any of their stuff. Rarely even had any echo stuff in for repair and echo has a much better warranty.

Brilliant video thank u👁️♥️👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍

Great autopsy video, a real public service. Thank you!

what a shame. this is why I do Echo now.

1. Reduces production costs. 2. Sells a lot of oil. 3. Punishes those who don’t buy their oil. 4. Increases resales among those dumb enough to buy another one. 5. By the time the company’s reputation has been destroyed, those responsible will have moved on to other jobs, destroying other companies, in service to increasing short-term, bottom line gains.

Lovely video, love the way you guys just make up a reason why the blower engine failed

Great info guys, Happy new year 🎉 👍🏻

Great job Taryl! I sure hope Stihl sees this video. NO reason to not use bearings in this.

Mini 4 stroke with oil sump and splash lube is the way to go! My 4 stroke troy Bilt weed wacker is still going after 15 years!

Thanks great information.Enjoy your videos.

👍👍👍 Wishing a happy healthy and prosperous New Year to you Taryl and all the gang.

OH, BTW, they have changed the cam gear a few times over the years. They seem to hold up fine now. There is also a compression release built into it which was occasionally failing early on.

An engine that has to use special oil is a monopoly. Happy New Year.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!

Great vidéo Man. Happy New year!

As always the working men and women getting screwed again by companies excellent video taryl thanks.

Taryl, can you do an experiment with the blower? You try doing the heat treatment on the connecting rod & try to find a needle bearing that will fit. Get oversized rings & bore the cylinder out & see how long it'll last. I think that would be a GREAT experiment. Take us along for the ride.

Happy New Year!

I've been using the Walmart super tech 2-stroke oil in all my echo equipment going on 20 years I never had any problems with any of my echo equipment I had two Stihl blowers I bought in the past and they both died within one year I will never ever buy a Stihl Blower again they are junk and designed to fail with that being said I do have a stihl power pruner that I've had for years with no problems. Thanks for all the videos best mechanic on KZfaq

Lack of lubrication is a killer. In the automotive world they will deny you warrenty on internal engine repair if you don't have service records showing you used the correct lubrication. Happy new year guys 🎉

Looks like they used old drain oil from a car for mix. Thanks for the video Taryl. Happy New Year to you and the crew!

You are my favorite Grass Rat expert.

This is great information

Finally someone else who seen the issues the 4 Mix has. I get Echo because of the quality control at Stihl.

I had this happen on a BR600 in October

happy new year for 2023

Wow that would be an expensive lesson! Thanks taryl.

Hello and happy New Year my friend. The only reason I can think is that the bushing is probably about $0.23 cheaper than the bearing,go figure huh. Have a great new year and I look forward to seeing more videos

The high mix rate of gas to oil these days don't leave much room for errors. That's why I still use 40:1 or less even with good oils.

Once again the "Pro" from Podunk kills it! Enjoyed watching the job! Thanks and Happy New Years to you folks.

I am so glad I always use the Stihl HP Ultra oil in my machines.

What about the BR549?

We use mostly Stihl equipment and their silver/grey oil. Have never had an issue with lack of oil problems. There is another channel that swears Stihl oil is junk. The stuff he pulls apart is usually all gunked up like this blower you pulled apart. I am starting to wonder myself if that could be true.

Happy new year, Taryl and co.

I've been buying Husqvarna products, Backpack Blower, Chainsaws, Weed Wacker for years with out any problems. Had one Stihl Blower,that was enough.

Did not know that the piston wrist pin uses bushings in these larger Stihl blowers, good to know. My Still BR600 blower is running strong after 15 years.

Is there a chance that they thought it was a four cycle and didn’t use a mix in the gas? Man, that’s a crank, piston and a new cylinder. Plus a gasket kit? That baby is toast, the hand cleaner you had to use was worth more than a Stihl backpack blower. Hard to believe until you see a plastic cam and lifters. Thanks Taryl, I hope you and the guys and everyone watching to have a great New Years! 🎉

Cool thanks guys

Thanx again for the excellent informative video Taryl sure glad I got the B-440 unit. Do you have any videos on why my Stihl KM 130R wacker has air bubbles in the primer bulb and blow fuel out of the air cleaner?

Ever since I first touched one of these 4 mixers I thought they were junk. Low reving vibrating junk. Give me a 2 cycle blower/trimmer/ pole saw anyday. Reminds me of early Polaris 4 stroke atv engines 425/500s cam failures. Company/ techs tried blaming it on operator and bad oil and come to find the cam and rockers were not heat treated correctly.

Happy new year

Interesting. I’ve noted in RC gas engines larger engines generally use roller bearings and around 50:1 oil. Smaller engines might use bushings, but might call for 20:1 synthetic oil mix.

Makita 4 strokes have oil in the crankcase, works great.

Great one guys. Happy New Year 💥🎉💥🍻cheers

I'm glad you exposed the problem so maybe they will fix the problem.

As long as I can remember I alway shake up my two stroke gas can. It really just became habit for me to make sure my oil and gas is mixed. I've seen that oil for that backpack blower and really never knew what you would use it in. I would hope if you bought this brand new there would be some kind of warning tag to let you know what you must use.

I’m a multi decade urban forester/climber. For the vast majority of that time I’ve only run Stihl chainsaws. A few years ago I picked up an Echo cs355t top handle saw when I just couldn’t justify paying nearly $800 for a Stihl trim saw. Now I doubt I’ll ever buy another Stihl. After three years of daily use that Echo has not given me a single moments headache. Not even so much as a recoil cord replacement, in fact I’ve never even removed that cover.

Good job guys. Thanks for another good video.

Happy New Year Taryl and all the crew 🍺🍺🍺🍺

Happy New Year Taryl and the gang. I never liked the 4-mix engines from Stihl. The 4-mix engines seemed over complicated for what it needed to be. I love my piston ported Echo PB9010. Keep these awesome videos coming for 2023.

I have a 10 year old BR600. I ALWAYS use Stihl 4mix in it.... I buy it by the case. It has thousands of hours on it and has given me zero trouble. I also use Stihl's combustion chamber cleaner in it a couple times a year to keep the valves clean.... recommend by Stihl. It's one of the best blowers I have ever owned. It always starts in one pull.

😏TOP NOTCH INFO !!! THANKS and HAPPY NEW YEAR to you all !!! 🎉😍😍😍😍😍

Thank you for explaining this failure. The Four Mix oil and how they designed these engines to run efficiently on it .

they did it for the same reason that everyone else is using bronze bushings, its cheaper and they want you to just throw it away and buy new.

Do you suggest going 40:1 ratio (in everything)?

I have a BR 600 purchased new in 2010, and I use it at least weekly year round every year. It still starts on the first or second pull every time and runs like it did when new. I only use the synthetic Stihl two stroke oil (HP Ultra in the silver bottle) per the advice of my local Stihl dealer, plus non-ethanol pure gas. These are great units when taken care of, and the landscapers use these more than any other brand.

Happy new year all

They use a bushing because it's cheaper to use and it increases their profit margin. Thank some company bean counter for that mess.

4 mix, all the disadvantages of a 4 stroke , with all the disadvantages of a 2 stroke

Thanks Taryl. If I see one of these Stihl units for sale dirt cheap, I'll stay far away from it. BTW: HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!