Strongman
Member
Thanks in part to all of your input, I bought my Branson 3820 yesterday with a BL20A loader and Kodiak 6' rotary cutter. I should get it delivered on Wednesday after they fill the tires. I thought I would give everyone some of the details for potential buyers and mention some of the items that have been brought up in previous posts.
I paid $16,000 for the 3820 (replaced the 3520) with the BL20A loader, R4 industrial tires, and $850 for a Kodiak (light duty) 6' rotary cutter (just maintaning the edge of fields with it). I also paid $320 for putting 35 gallons of Rimguard in each tire with tubes. I realize someone mentioned that you don't have to use tubes but about half of the companies I talked to about loading the tires with rimguard said they won't fill them unless they had tubes in them because the Rimguard is so slippery and they can lose a lot getting the tires sealed again. One person said under high torque conditions you could break the seal (I question that) and if you do get a leak, it is much harder to fix if you don't have tubes because of the mess around the rim. It only cost an additional $60 for tubes, so I thought it was worth it.
I found it was worth it to shop around, I called 4 dealers in Michigan. The store 13 miles from us was $1200 more for the same setup than what I paid. I ended up going 100 miles away to A.J Rental Equipment (they don't rent the Bransons) in Standish who makes their money on volume and sells for a lower price. They gave me free delivery. They said they will pretty much deliver anywhere in Michigan.
The tractor had 8 hours on it from people trying it out. I had never driven a compact tractor before, but after a few minutes felt quite comfortable on it. I had a lot of "book knowledge" from reading all the threads here but no hands on experience. We talked about some of the problems others have had on this site with the Branson/Centurys and it sounds like Branson has fixed all the ones I can remember (i.e. needing a check valve to prevent fuel from running out of the line after setting awhile, fixing the water problem in the turn signal connector, and the poor users manual). The users manual is about 1 1/2" thick, has nice print (in English) and looks quite complete - and covers the Cummins engine.
Speaking of warrenty issues, the 3820 has the new Cummins engine in it (the website falsely says it's a 3 cylinder - but it is a 4 cylinder) and comes with a 3 year warrenty. He also said that Branson is starting to pay the dealers to go and pick up the tractors from the customer and haul it back to their shop to perform warrenty work (I would assume only if it is a major problem). I asked the dealer to contact Branson and see if there are any service buletins on my tractor before they deliver it just in case.
I called Branson and they said they don't make the 3520 anymore but they do still make the BL20 loader as well as the BL20A loader right now, so make sure you check which one the dealer is offering. They are also offering 0% financing for up to 36 months OR a $600 rebate. Branson only mentioned the 0% and the dealer only mentioned the $600 rebate.
One last item, especially related to the earlier post today about the Diesel fuel geling. Since I've never used diesel fuel before I didn't realize that "on the road diesel" (Number 1 diesel?) that is more expensive (it has road tax) is the type you want in cold weather. When Branson puts fuel in the tractors, they use the Red off road diesel (Number 2 diesel?) because probably it is cheaper and it is in Georgia where they normally don't get down in the low temperatures. The dealer I bought my tractor from didn't get the red off road diesel out of a new 4220 tractor in time and now they cannot start it (they said mine had the Number 1 diesel in it). Someone in this users group mentioned that their tractor uses about a gallon of diesel an hour - to me it is worth the little extra for the "good stuff".
Sorry for the long post but I wanted to give something back for all the great information I received - Thanks Guys!
I paid $16,000 for the 3820 (replaced the 3520) with the BL20A loader, R4 industrial tires, and $850 for a Kodiak (light duty) 6' rotary cutter (just maintaning the edge of fields with it). I also paid $320 for putting 35 gallons of Rimguard in each tire with tubes. I realize someone mentioned that you don't have to use tubes but about half of the companies I talked to about loading the tires with rimguard said they won't fill them unless they had tubes in them because the Rimguard is so slippery and they can lose a lot getting the tires sealed again. One person said under high torque conditions you could break the seal (I question that) and if you do get a leak, it is much harder to fix if you don't have tubes because of the mess around the rim. It only cost an additional $60 for tubes, so I thought it was worth it.
I found it was worth it to shop around, I called 4 dealers in Michigan. The store 13 miles from us was $1200 more for the same setup than what I paid. I ended up going 100 miles away to A.J Rental Equipment (they don't rent the Bransons) in Standish who makes their money on volume and sells for a lower price. They gave me free delivery. They said they will pretty much deliver anywhere in Michigan.
The tractor had 8 hours on it from people trying it out. I had never driven a compact tractor before, but after a few minutes felt quite comfortable on it. I had a lot of "book knowledge" from reading all the threads here but no hands on experience. We talked about some of the problems others have had on this site with the Branson/Centurys and it sounds like Branson has fixed all the ones I can remember (i.e. needing a check valve to prevent fuel from running out of the line after setting awhile, fixing the water problem in the turn signal connector, and the poor users manual). The users manual is about 1 1/2" thick, has nice print (in English) and looks quite complete - and covers the Cummins engine.
Speaking of warrenty issues, the 3820 has the new Cummins engine in it (the website falsely says it's a 3 cylinder - but it is a 4 cylinder) and comes with a 3 year warrenty. He also said that Branson is starting to pay the dealers to go and pick up the tractors from the customer and haul it back to their shop to perform warrenty work (I would assume only if it is a major problem). I asked the dealer to contact Branson and see if there are any service buletins on my tractor before they deliver it just in case.
I called Branson and they said they don't make the 3520 anymore but they do still make the BL20 loader as well as the BL20A loader right now, so make sure you check which one the dealer is offering. They are also offering 0% financing for up to 36 months OR a $600 rebate. Branson only mentioned the 0% and the dealer only mentioned the $600 rebate.
One last item, especially related to the earlier post today about the Diesel fuel geling. Since I've never used diesel fuel before I didn't realize that "on the road diesel" (Number 1 diesel?) that is more expensive (it has road tax) is the type you want in cold weather. When Branson puts fuel in the tractors, they use the Red off road diesel (Number 2 diesel?) because probably it is cheaper and it is in Georgia where they normally don't get down in the low temperatures. The dealer I bought my tractor from didn't get the red off road diesel out of a new 4220 tractor in time and now they cannot start it (they said mine had the Number 1 diesel in it). Someone in this users group mentioned that their tractor uses about a gallon of diesel an hour - to me it is worth the little extra for the "good stuff".
Sorry for the long post but I wanted to give something back for all the great information I received - Thanks Guys!
