BRIGGS STRATTON vs TECUMSEH

I had a Tecumseh on my first gokart, years back...

Tecumseh H-50
ported/polished carb, and intake
Milled head down, milled deck
File Fit rings, Bored 0.030 over
Briggs low tone muffler
No Governor.
It ran around 4500 rpms, never had a failure, and it purred like a kitten when I sold it.

Now that im older, Ive learned about Tecumseh's reputation for puking rods...so im weary of going with them, but if it was that big of a problem, they wouldnt be in business right?

Ive also never really liked Briggs and Stratton, I know the newer ones are good, but are they better than tecumseh. Do the tecs have ball bearings? I know the briggs have 2 DU bearings, or 1 DU and one ball bearing.

Thanks!

also, I have a Honda G200, rebuilt, no governor, built for Alcohol...but that is a bit much.

I know on all the tecumsehs Ive taken apart and rebuild, they had that little pump on the verticle engines, but the horizontals on both used the splasher.