Originally Posted by kewdawg

I'm not saying they don't. But some of us like to put the blame elsewhere, before looking at ourselves. Each year, new engines come out, that require slightly different handling methods than the previous year's edition. Such as more time and fuel to fully break-in an engine. How many times have you heard someone say: Man - I put almost a gallon thru this engine and it's still not broken in, yet!? There was a time when six tanks of fuel were enough to seat the piston and sleeve. Now this is no more. A lot of us continue to use the old method(s) for breaking in engines - not to mention many different methods. Everyone has there take on how to properly break in an engine. Hence my, half-joking, previous statement about "user error".

We must remember: In mass production, you're definitely going to have some duds out of the THOUSANDS produced. I think this crankshaft issue falls under that catagory. I haven't heard anything in my region (northeastern US) about the crankshaft going, but I've heard about numerous carbs leaking (i've had TWO myself!).