Buying Advice Branson 3620h or 4815h for Wooded Property

[bcs001]

About to make my 1st tractor purchase and I have decided on one of these two Bransons. Aggressive pricing from my local dealer is making the brand choice easy but the model choice is a little tougher to make.

I am on a 35 acre heavily wooded (north Georgia national forest) and hilly property that is very overgrown. Much of the work will be tree, brush and trail clearing along with maintaining about 1 acre or garden.

From what I have read, it seems that the heavier and larger frame of the 20 series would be a better choice but would like to hear some experienced opinions. This newer series of 3620h has 4 forward speed ranges which I think along with the increased weight would help offset the power difference between the 36 and 48?

My plan is to initially buy the FEL and a root grapple to deal with the brush and overgrowth all over the property. Then a tiller, landscape/rock rake and box blade.

Thanks in advance for any recommendations.
Bruce.

 

[Texasmark]

You are spelling WORK! Get the higher HP and be done with it rather than kicking yourself for being cheap and buying the smaller unit every time you get in a squeeze with the smaller one. The only time you have too big of a tractor for the job is when you are in the market for multiple tractors...... or retire....but that is WHEN you need multiple tractors.....to do what you can no longer do. BTDT

Morale of the story is that the money spent is gone forever.....what lingers is what you did with it. Wink!

 

[bcs001]

The choice between these two is not cost....they are the same price. The 3620 is on a larger 1000 lb heavier frame and with a 500 lb better FEL. So are you recommending the 4815h with less weigh and less FEL capacity but more hp?

 

[K5lwq]

For what I understand your needs are the larger frame and more weight is what you need. I do agree with Texasmark and suggest you look at the higher HP 20 series models. 4820 would be the lowest HP I would go but the 5520 would be better.

Good luck and welcome to TBN!

 

[Slowpoke Slim]

I would certainly go with the 20 series. Heavier frame and more FEL capacity for grapple work will be worth their weight in gold. I only see you listing a tiller as a pto driven tool though. This is where the hp will matter most, not in putting around using the FEL, but rather what you are connecting to that pto to be driven off the tractor's hp.

What about a wood chipper, or a rotary mower? You obviously won't have to worry about a snow blower with your location. But with all that tree work in your future, I could see you wishing very strongly for more hp if you ever put a chipper on that new tractor.

I would lean towards a higher hp 20 series as well.

I would consider the 4815 for more flat ground work, where you mostly needed the pto power source to run stationary tools like chippers and less hard FEL use where lift capacity and root digging force were needed.

 

[Texasmark]

The choice between these two is not cost....they are the same price. The 3620 is on a larger 1000 lb heavier frame and with a 500 lb better FEL. So are you recommending the 4815h with less weigh and less FEL capacity but more hp?

Brain Fart on my part. I missed the 15 vs 20 series part. You are going to want weight to keep the tractor on the ground, course you could externally load the 15. The 20 will probably (have to check specs) give you better ground clearance which could matter when wanting to work with bulky implements or objects. HP can be compensated by selected gear or speed at which you move controls. I'd up it to a 4820 if they make such, if not I guess the 36 would do if choosing between your two listed choices.

 

[bcs001]

What about a wood chipper, or a rotary mower? You obviously won't have to worry about a snow blower with your location. But with all that tree work in your future, I could see you wishing very strongly for more hp if you ever put a chipper on that new tractor.

Thanks for the great info. I considered the wood chipper option but the size of branches and brush are so big (up to ~10in) that occasionally renting of a 12in 85hp chipper seems a better option. I will not be needing to run a mower on this property so right now the tiller would be only PTO tool I foresee right now.

What is the realistic branch size I could chip with a 36hp or if I could afford, the 48 hp tractor?

 

[Slowpoke Slim]

Depends on type of tree, and which chipper I suppose. Softer woods, like pine, will chip easier, especially if still green when chipped.

ericm979 is running a Woodmaxx (I believe WM-8?) and chipping very hard wood. He says he has to slow the infeed down considerably when he chips 6" or bigger.
This is off memory, so hopefully he'll come on and confirm this.

And this is with 32 pto hp (same model I have, except his lacks a cab). I don't know what that 3620 has for pto hp, but you always lose a few hp (at least) from engine rated hp to pto output hp. So for reference, on the 3725's (mine and Eric's) the engine is rated for 37 hp, but there's 32 hp at the pto. Assuming an equal "loss", then your 3620 is looking at 30-31 hp at the pto.

 

[ericm979]

The chipper I have is a Woodmaxx 8H. I can chip up to 6" or so if I set the feed to the slowest speed. I may also need to turn the feed off and on to keep the tractor from stalling, depending on the species of wood. Now that I have a good wood stove I don't chip stuff that large very often.

10" wood would probably need that 85hp chipper!

 

[rbstern]

I'd go 3620h, for two reasons: The extra FEL lift will come in handy when you are grappling large tree trunks. And so will the stability of the extra weight and footprint of the larger frame, not just for that tasks, but for just about everything.

There may be one or two PTO tasks you do that the 48 would be better (faster) at, but for doing tree clearing in hill country, I want the bigger frame more than i want the higher HP.