Product Review: Ryobi C430 4-stroke String Trimmer

[mccutter]

Product Review: Ryobi C430 4-stroke Curved Shaft String Trimmer

This trimmer was bought to replace a 2-stroke trimmer. List price was $75 more than a comparible 2-stroke model. The trimmer is capable of taking "Expand It" attachments and came with a curved trimmer attachment and "regular" trimmer head.

It was bought as a former "display" unit and as such, did not include instructions. And Ryobi did not yet have them available on their website and/or the website was having problems. More pictures can be found HERE

The reason I mentioned instructions was that I was unsure of the crankcase oil level. The dipstick is the grey thing in the pictures. At the direction of the associate at Home Depot, I propped the back of the trimmer up until the cap was level and proceeded to add the recommended 10w/30 oil (3oz) to bring it up to the proper level on the dipstick. Of course, the last little bit I ended up spilling, getting the underside of the trimmer oily...

Then I mounted the "J-handle" from my old unit instead of the "loop" it came with. I had to stipple the clamp to get it to grip the powder coated tube without slipping. Then I installed my edger attachment, put in some fresh gas (only), primed the carb., set the "choke", pulled about 10 pulls until it finally came to life and I was able to coax it to continue running while it warmed up.

Once running, I proceeded to edge and it seemed to work good until it started intermittantly losing power and when it would lose power, I also noticed blue smoke coming out of the exhaust!

Once done with the edging, I turned it off and brought it into the shop. On the workbench, it left a puddle of oil that came out of the air cleaner housing and which I determined to be from the crankcase breather.

A call to Ryobi determined they were not "open" on Sundays so I called another Home Depot associate in another store and he was able to fill me in on the proper oil checking proceedure which calls for the machine to be LEVEL not tilted.

So I drained out the oil I put in by tilting the trimmer on a 4x4 block of wood and draining the excess from the fill hole. If you wanted to pull the "oil pan" you would loosen about 9-10 screws. The engine covers took 3 screws and came right off while it only took 1 screw to pull the valve cover off.

Once back running I proceeded to string-trim my property. Smoke no longer came out the exhaust or found its way down the carburetor throat from the breather. Performance was equal to if not better than the 2-stroke model. Differences noted were that it didn't continue spinning after you let off the gas--there is no "free-wheeling" effect you get with the 2-stroke. It seemed to have more power at a lower engine speed and didn't lug at all like the 2-stroke would do. The sound is similar to a small dirt bike with the muffler baffle removed.

When I had the trimmer apart to drain/clean up the oil, I took the pictures below. Note the high-lift polymer camshaft and timing gear mounted overhead! I expected OHV but not OHC! The top "green" cover took 1 screw and the bottom "black" cover took 2 screws to get off.

The other black cover is for the carburetor and I don't know if this is how they are, but there was/is no air filter present. There was none in a 2-cycle unit, either.

[Swivelchair]

Bought a Ryobi C430 from Home Depot; I'm a big fan of Ryobi, especially the 18v lithium tool line. BUT this is a BUST. When this machine is placed in anything but upright flat attitute it is liable to leak both oil and gas. Took first unit back after it flooded with oil and smoked out after about 20' of use--thought it might catch on fire in my confined work space in the brush. The replacement started smoking a little so I tried to figure out why and discovered that if the pole saw was pointed up with engine pointed at ground oil leaked into cylinder and it started smoking. Same thing if muffler pointed toward ground. Made it through a 2-hour job by being careful, but it's on its way back to Home Depot--think I'll stick with 2-cycle for now.

[rustythe4x4]

I bought the 2 stroke little brother to your exact trimmer, all the attatchments are interchangeable. IM very happy with the little unit, and will only say it is happiest when running AMSOIL 2 cycle mix rather than a good quality 2 stroke oil. Easier starts and smoother running with no "power out" like the 2 stroke oil. The brushing attatchment is fantastic for taking care of those pesky caragana shrubs that pop up all over.
The 2 stroke Ryobi was a replacement for a 4 stroke Cub Cadet. The Cub Cadet was nothing but problematic, and I think I only had it running well for about 20 minutes once. I dont think the 4 strokes are up to the task yet as trimmer motors...

[Mild Steel]

It amazes me that they can make plastic cams that seem to work just fine!! There is a big push to go 4 stroke to reduce emissions but I can see a real problem with a 4 stroke trimmer. It has to work level, sideways and maybe upside down in some cases. That makes it very difficult to control the oil in the crankcase.

I have a 2 stroke Homelite trimmer that I hate. It's always a struggle to start and it doesn't like to accelerate from idle. I have fiddled with the mixture screws several times and it runs well for a couple of times and then I have to fiddle with it again. I'm looking for a replacement when the Homelite bites the dust. This thread is good information for me.

[LeonS]

I purchased the Ryobi 4 stroke model a few yrs back for clearing a fence line at some property I had purchased. I use the blade on the vines and briers, took a while but did the trick. I also purchased the edger attachment which was a big mistake, using it the second time edging and the flex shaft twisted in two. Fortunately it was still in warrantee. The problem I had was since I share lawn
equipment w/my son, he would forget to turn the string trimmer head sideways
for edging, if you don't the oil in the crankcase will run toward the piston and will start smoking. It soon went away due to the oiling. Cured the problem w/the
purchase of the Stihl string trimmer.
L*S