Strongman
Member
The best tool to use on your 50 hour service is this website! Thanks everyone for your input - it made it fairly painless on my Branson 3820.
The long (~24") funnel was a huge help, along with cracking the line just to the left of the fill tube - didn't take any time at all to fill the hydraulic fluid. Another help was putting a tarp under the tractor for spills, when the hydraulic fluid first came out it overshot my pan.
Had to borrow my Dad's filter wrench, mine was too small, noted the original filter was quite a bit longer than the new stock hydraulic filter. Used Dawn dish detergent to wash off the screen - filled a 5 gallon pail with soapy water and was able to agitate the screen easily to knock off the small amount of metal shavings (washed it off really good to make sure no soap was left) then dried it off with an air compressor.
Hydraulic plug requires a 17 mm socket - wrench won't fit. There is at least one grease zirk I can't get with my gun, I'll have to get a flexible hose to get the one on the floor shift.
I now know why I was confused on where the hydraulic screen was located. The Century manual says it is in BEHIND the rear axle, instead of in front. The Branson and Century manuals actually have a lot of differences in their maintanence schedules, the Branson said to change the oil and filter at 50 hours, where the Century said to just change the oil, and change the filter at 100 hours along with the 2nd oil change. Then they both said to change it at 300 hours (if I remember correctly). I would have to say that overall, the Century manual is much better for maintanence, the Branson better for repairs (has all the exploded views and part numbers). Neither did a good job of showing where all the grease zirks are.
I had changed the fluid in my front transaxle at 43 hours after finding it was very low on fluid. At 55 hours I checked it again and found it was low again - not sure where it is going since I park it on a cement floor and it doesn't have any drip marks.
The long (~24") funnel was a huge help, along with cracking the line just to the left of the fill tube - didn't take any time at all to fill the hydraulic fluid. Another help was putting a tarp under the tractor for spills, when the hydraulic fluid first came out it overshot my pan.
Had to borrow my Dad's filter wrench, mine was too small, noted the original filter was quite a bit longer than the new stock hydraulic filter. Used Dawn dish detergent to wash off the screen - filled a 5 gallon pail with soapy water and was able to agitate the screen easily to knock off the small amount of metal shavings (washed it off really good to make sure no soap was left) then dried it off with an air compressor.
Hydraulic plug requires a 17 mm socket - wrench won't fit. There is at least one grease zirk I can't get with my gun, I'll have to get a flexible hose to get the one on the floor shift.
I now know why I was confused on where the hydraulic screen was located. The Century manual says it is in BEHIND the rear axle, instead of in front. The Branson and Century manuals actually have a lot of differences in their maintanence schedules, the Branson said to change the oil and filter at 50 hours, where the Century said to just change the oil, and change the filter at 100 hours along with the 2nd oil change. Then they both said to change it at 300 hours (if I remember correctly). I would have to say that overall, the Century manual is much better for maintanence, the Branson better for repairs (has all the exploded views and part numbers). Neither did a good job of showing where all the grease zirks are.
I had changed the fluid in my front transaxle at 43 hours after finding it was very low on fluid. At 55 hours I checked it again and found it was low again - not sure where it is going since I park it on a cement floor and it doesn't have any drip marks.