What's the best backpack blower on the market?

[blsnelling]

Thanks for that history breakdown. I've been curious. My Dad bought one and I'm curious if his would have the hardened valve and cylinder. Is there a serial number they started the improvements at?

Well, I've got all six of these torn down. Here's what I found, and didn't find.

1. Four out of six had broken exhaust valves, taking two of the cylinder out with them. A couple took a push rod and a fin of the inside of the cam cover as well.
2. One had only a bend pushrod.
3. Several have worn cams. I haven't inspected them all carefully. I can sure see why vavle adjustments are necessary, since they have a plastic cam! I bet the Ultra oil would help here too though.
4. None of the fans were broken.
5. None of the fuel tanks were broken, despite severe abuse.
6. Most of the fan guards, between the backing plate and engine, were broken.
7. Most straps were trashed.
8. 4 of the backing plates were damaged, likely due to abuse.

Bottom line, these things were used, abuse, and put away wet. Just look at the severe carbon buildup in them! The clamshell cover on the bottom of them were all full of black black oil, like it came out of a car with 15K miles on the oil! I wonder how many of the broken valves were due to abuse and lack of maintenance, rather than inferior materials in the valves. I guess you a manufacturer has to engineer neglect and abuse out of their product

Only one of the six engines was in good condition. It had been run over, so hadn't seen as much use. I believe three of the others can be rebuilt with an exhaust valve, possible camshaft, straps, and seal and gasket kits. I'm thinking I'll put the run over one back together with plastic from broken ones, in trade for the rest. That way I'll have three to sell and try to recoupe my expenses and make a little.

 

[blsnelling]

 

[Andyshine77]

Brad get out your Shindaiwa EB802 and blow that Stihl crap out of your garage!!:after_boom:











Good to hear you can make a few runner out of the lot.

 

[blsnelling]

Can someone give me the details of what's in service bulletin 12.2009? It has to do with the exhaust valve in these BR600s. There are two PNs and I don't know which one I need. There are also two PNs for the cam wheel. I don't know which one of those I need either.

 

[stihl86]

The S/B is about the change of the ex valve material. New valve can't be used in old cylinder due to hardening of seats. As for the cam, one is for the BR500 only (Quiet Power model). Buy a BR600. Adjust the valves when it rips the rope out of your hand (which is done after about 25-50hrs) and use 89 with Ultra. You won't be disappointed.

 

[blsnelling]

The S/B is about the change of the ex valve material. New valve can't be used in old cylinder due to hardening of seats. As for the cam, one is for the BR500 only (Quiet Power model). Buy a BR600. Adjust the valves when it rips the rope out of your hand (which is done after about 25-50hrs) and use 89 with Ultra. You won't be disappointed.

So I can't use the improved valve if I don't have the cylinder with hardened seats? That stinks. How would I know if these cylinders have the hardened seats or not?

I just finished putting the run over one back together with plastic from a blown up one. The valve clearance was probably 3x what it should have been. Spec is about .004". It's running great.

Do I need cam wheel 4282 030 1802 or 4282 030 1801?

 

[blsnelling]

Got another one back together and running. This one had two bent pushrods. I decarboned the piston crown and combustion chamber. Runs stronger than the one that wasn't blown up. It's turning 7,200 RPMs, where as the other ones is only turning 6,900 RPMs. A couple exhaust vavles and gasket kits and the other two will be running. The engine parts are all cleaned up and ready to go.

With what I know about these now, my only concern with them is the plastic camshaft. This if you're buying one that has the hardened valve and seat. Valve adjustment on these could be done in your sleep in about 10 minutes. It really is just that easy.

So how do I know which exhaust valve to order? Help my out here you Stihl techs 4282 025 1901 or 4282 025 1903?

 

[biggysmalls]

Eb802 vs. Br600

 

[TK]

Granted I skipped a couple pages, but I didn't see anything about a Husqvarna blower anywhere :msp_confused:

380BFS
685CFM w/pipe
201mph
29lbs

Is that one generally left out due to it being a tank or some other reason? Just curious. Considering Husqvarna owns RedMax I would think it's the same thing as the EBZ8050 - just colored orange with more dealer support?

 

[blsnelling]

Four out of the six are being delivered tomorrow. Not bad considering what I started with. I lapped in the two new valves. Both are running great.

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[PogoInTheWoods]

I recently found myself in the market for a serious BP blower and happened to also recall this thread. After reading all the reviews of the various offerings from all the various other sources of such information, I took the time to read all the posts included here.

Lots of good stuff. Helped me tremendously.

So I narrowed it down to the Shin 802 and the Stihl BR600 based upon everything I've read here, my own research, and heard otherwise.

Stopped by one of several Stihl dealers in my area this afternoon to check out the BR600 Mag and was quite surprised at their willingness to deal on the price -- compared to the Husky/Shin dealer who was more concerned about dumping his Shin line completely and wouldn't budge on anything Shin or Husky price-wise anyway. 'Course we know the Stihl's engine design has pretty much run its' course in this application, but it has obviously been refined over the years to be a reliable performer if treated right and properly maintained.

While ya probably can't go wrong with any of the blowers mentioned in this thread, the major player to compare everything else to is obviously the BR600 as the first to really pull off the mega-power vs. light weight in the $400~$500 price range regardless of engine design. Bottom line is reliability over time and end result performance of whichever design approach is applied to
same. Any choice is subjective personal preference for whatever reasons the individual applies to the purchase.

For me, my Stihl dealer willing to go 15% off list with a four year warranty on the BR600 Mag simplified the whole process after all the other research and opinion was digested and sorted out.

$425 (plus tax) out the door with a four year warranty if I also went with a six-pak of Stihl-Ultra?

Duh? SOLD.

Poge

 

[blsnelling]

Keep the valves adjusted about every 50 hours, or when it starts getting hard to start, and run Stihl Ultra oil in it, and it'll last you a very long time. Great blower.

 

[DavesMower&Saw]

Keep the valves adjusted about every 50 hours, or when it starts getting hard to start, and run Stihl Ultra oil in it, and it'll last you a very long time. Great blower.

Overall the 600's have been very reliable, the first ones we sold to commercial guys are starting to get worn out. I haven't run into any other issues with the valves, that I've seen people talking about online. For a period of time we were having issues with coils going bad, but that was more than a year ago. They seem to like fuel, and sometimes need to be run rich to feed enough fuel for them to come up to full revs.

 

[166]

What would everybody think of a backpack blower that had 908 CFM with the tubes along with 206MPH at 24.7 lbs?

 

[spike60]

What would everybody think of a backpack blower that had 908 CFM with the tubes along with 206MPH at 24.7 lbs?

Don't talk about those things yet, I still have seven 8050's to sell. :msp_sneaky:

 

[166]

Don't talk about those things yet, I still have seven 8050's to sell. :msp_sneaky:

I thought those specs sounded nice it would be nice if someone made it:msp_rolleyes:.

 

[Andyshine77]

What would everybody think of a backpack blower that had 908 CFM with the tubes along with 206MPH at 24.7 lbs?

Sounds like my next blower.

 

[spike60]

I thought those specs sounded nice it would be nice if someone made it:msp_rolleyes:.

Yeah, you never know. Maybe somebody will make it. :msp_wink:

 

[Carl Anderson]

Not to hijack the thread but this is sort of related. Last spring I bought a Stihl KM110R power head with string trimmer attachment. My intention has been to get other attachments for it as well. It was an impulse buy so I didn't research first it like I normally would. I just got sick of buying box store disposable trimmers so I threw the last one across the yard when it died and stormed out and bought the Stihl because that was the closest dealer that carried anything decent.

After that I heard some of the horror stories of the 4-mix motor and I have been worried I made a bad decision. So far I like the trimmer but only have a few hours on it last year. I really hope this thing won't blow up on me. I run at least 89 octane and Stihl Ultra oil so hopefully it will be OK. Maybe I should wait a while before I go buying more attachments for it just in case.

Should I bring it in for the valve adjustment now before the season starts or wait for a few more hours to be put on it?

 

[epicklein22]

Not to hijack the thread but this is sort of related. Last spring I bought a Stihl KM110R power head with string trimmer attachment. My intention has been to get other attachments for it as well. It was an impulse buy so I didn't research first it like I normally would. I just got sick of buying box store disposable trimmers so I threw the last one across the yard when it died and stormed out and bought the Stihl because that was the closest dealer that carried anything decent.

After that I heard some of the horror stories of the 4-mix motor and I have been worried I made a bad decision. So far I like the trimmer but only have a few hours on it last year. I really hope this thing won't blow up on me. I run at least 89 octane and Stihl Ultra oil so hopefully it will be OK. Maybe I should wait a while before I go buying more attachments for it just in case.

Should I bring it in for the valve adjustment now before the season starts or wait for a few more hours to be put on it?

They can be hit and miss. I have a fs90 giving me issues at the moment and have read countless stories over at lawnsite about 4-mix OPE. I would say the majority run really good, I know of a landscaping crew that runs cheap gas and oil through them and has never had a problem with them. I own the fs90 and a BR600, then I have a parts fs110 and BR600. I like the performance, but I'm still shy about giving the 4-mix a complete thumbs up.

So I would put some more hours on your trimmer and if it doesn't show any signs of being finicky, go for some attachments. Valves shouldn't need checked for a good while longer.