Purchase Recommendation 3620h or 4815h

[bcs001]

I posted this in the General forum but wanted to also cross post here to the Branson community that may have actual experience with both tractors.

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.

 

[Slowpoke Slim]

Sorry, I'm just going to cut and paste what I put in the other thread, good luck with either one you go with, and post pictures when you get it home:

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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.

 

[ericm979]

My land is steep, with thick brush on the part that was pasture ~80 years ago and thick woods on the part that was never cleared. Avg grade from one corner to the other is 33%. I use my 3725 with a grapple to move brush and logs up to the capacity of the loader, run an 8" PTO chipper, mow the clear parts with a 5' rotary cutter, use a box blade and loader to move dirt, and run a Branson backhoe. The only times I wish I had more power is when chipping larger material. I do less of that now that I have a good wood stove.

Bransons come with different size wheels- IND 10 for the smaller chassis and lower HP, IND 20 and 25 for the larger 20 series models. The 3725 normally came with IND 20s. My dealer put the smaller diameter IND 10s on along with 2" spacers. Tread edge to tread edge is 70". They also filled the tires with Rimguard. I didn't operate it with the stock configuration so I can't say how much of a difference it made, but compared to my old Kubota it's very stable. The 3620 may come with IND 10s already.

The Branson 20 series has a tighter turning radius than other similar size tractors. The 15 series may too, it could be a function of their axle design.

The tractor will seem huge at first but it get smaller as you get familiar with it.

 

[bcs001]

Sorry, I'm just going to cut and paste what I put in the other thread, good luck with either one you go with, and post pictures when you get it home:

Much appreciated info and I replied back in the general recommendation forum thread.

Bransons come with different size wheels- IND 10 for the smaller chassis and lower HP, IND 20 and 25 for the larger 20 series models. The 3725 normally came with IND 20s. My dealer put the smaller diameter IND 10s on along with 2" spacers. Tread edge to tread edge is 70". They also filled the tires with Rimguard. I didn't operate it with the stock configuration so I can't say how much of a difference it made, but compared to my old Kubota it's very stable. The 3620 may come with IND 10s already.

The 3620 my dealer showed me had the larger IND20s on it and with the capability to turn the rim and gain 4 inches of width. Is it your opinion the stability on grades would be better with the smaller tires? I guess it is a trade off with ground clearance but I do intend to either fill tires or fabricate a rear 3point ballast weight to stabilize the FEL while working.

 

[ericm979]

My idea (backed up by my dealer) was the small wheels lower the CG which increases the angle at which the tractor would tip over. I don't know how wide the wide setting is on the IND20s, that would be a useful number to have to compare with the IND10s on spacers. I think I got it from the dealer when I was specing the tractor but don't remember it now.

Ground clearance is reduced but there's still a lot of it. It's not been a problem for me but I try to be aware of what I'm driving over.

Implement height at max lift of the 3pt is also reduced. I have a steep short ramp to get in and out of the barn where I park it. The chipper sticks out a long ways. I need to tilt it up with the hydraulic top cylinder to get it to clear. It's not a problem with my other implements or the backhoe. I did have to modify the dealer installed hydraulic tilt cylinder to get more implement lift.

Effective gear ratio is also lowered by the smaller tires. I do a lot of work in middle range (mine's the older 3 speed not the new 4 speed). High range is totally useless for me. It's for driving on flat roads. Low range is really low. I only use it for pulling something heavy like a big log. Sometimes I wish the gearing was a little higher but when I can pull a 20%+ grade without having to drop to low range I'm thankful for the low gearing and willing to tolerate it being kind of slow on the flatter parts of my land. If my land was flatter and much larger than 20 acres I'd be wanting the taller tires.

The 3725 has a 2.1L engine compared to the 3620's 1.7L. I think with the smaller engine the lower gearing would be even more useful on steep land.

Even with the filled tires I always put an implement on the back. I got a cheap weight box from Titan which I'll fill with cement when I get around to it. That'll be about 800 lbs vs the 550lb box blade that's my default weight.

 

[Slowpoke Slim]

I'll second the advice to always have an attachment on the 3pt when lifting things with the FEL. Even though my rear tires are filled with Rimguard, I never lift anything of consequence without something on the back. About the best counterweight I have is my 6' mower. It's not that it's greatly heavy, but it's more that it sticks out the back a long ways, and the added leverage of having it so far back is the equivalent of a much heavier weight closer to the arms. If I was going to build or buy a specific counter weight box, I would want it to be at least 1500-2000 pounds.

My 3725 has the stock Ind-20's on it, and they are set "out" on the fronts, and next to farthest "out" on the rears. There are only 2 choices on the front rims, "in" or "out", and it's only from the dishing of the center section. The rears can be set up one of four ways. My centers are set to "out", and my rim is set to "in". This actually has the front and rear tires tracks in the same track path, so driving over ground, I'm only making one tire track set (the rears cover the fronts since they're wider). I could set my rear rims to "out" as well, and gain a few more inches in rear tire track width. Right now, my rears are right at 70" across, give or take an inch maybe. With rears filled, and aired down to have the entire tread bar width contacting hard surface, there is a slight outward bulge at the bottom of the tire. If I aired them up to "max" (which I wouldn't do), I'm sure they would be a bit narrower across when measured.

Anyway, about my "max" comfort zone is 20-22 degree of slope, when side hilling. This is also with a cabbed tractor. At about 22 degrees, I can feel the tractor start to crab sideways while side hilling. Some of this will be due to the industrial tires vs say an Ag tire, and this is also when the ground is dry, but soft. This is also with a 6' brush hog on the back, and the FEL and bucket on the front, with the mower down mowing, and the FEL as low as I can get it without bouncing the bucket on the ground.

Now if I can traverse the slope either straight up or straight down, then I have no problem covering 25 degrees or slightly steeper (about all I've encountered). I could easily mow "up" the 25 degree slope with 4wd engaged, diff lock on and in Low on the HST, and mow at full engine rpm up the hill.

If you set up your wheel spacing to "out" on the fronts, and full "out" on the rears, both center and rim, fill the rear tires with ballast, you should be at least as stable, if not better, since I believe you're not looking at a cab model? The open station will have a lower (better) center of gravity than the cabbed tractor.

My 2 cents.

 

[Branson Bob]

bcs,

There's not much I can add to what Slim and Eric said. You mentioned your property is very overgrown. You didn't mention either implement but I think it's fair for you to consider if you'd rather have a rotary mower/brush hog/bush hog, or a flail mower. It seems you might need one or the other.

My property is hilly too. There's no substitute for developing a feel for G-forces and centrifugal forces but I find this product helpful...

https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/p...gage-3-glass-tube-inclinometer-2525-i-1388617

My comfort zone is 25 degrees depending on my speed, and the slickness and the hardness of the ground.

 

[bcs001]

Great discussion on tire size, CG, track width, ballast, gear ratio vs hp and side slope operation. All things I understand well being a mechanical engineer.

I would tend to agree with Slowpoke Slim that with proper wheel width setup and ballasting, stability using the larger tires should be ok.

You mentioned your property is very overgrown. You didn't mention either implement but I think it's fair for you to consider if you'd rather have a rotary mower/brush hog/bush hog, or a flail mower. It seems you might need one or the other.

My property is mostly dense forest with little open area. The overgrowth i mentioned are the small and medium sized trees and underbrush in the areas surrounding parts of the property I plan to open up and cut trails thru. That is why my primary tools will be a chainsaw and root grapple. In areas I want to completely open, I will have to get a bulldozer in to rip up the roots and stumps then maybe down the road need a small mower.

For now I am just trying to make sure I get something that can handle the work at maybe a slower pace than a larger tractor but at a price I can afford at this time.

 

[ericm979]

When I got my Branson I had a number of small areas in between brush and trees to mow. I got a 5' rotary cutter because it mows in reverse and sticks out so I can back it under trees or into brush. I got 5' rather than 6' so it'd be more manuverable. The rotary is pretty durable for the first mowings after clearing when there's still a lot of small branches, stumps I didn't cut flush enough and half buried rocks. I can push the 3pt to one side a few inches and it will mow to the edge of the rear tire track. I've cleared a bunch (and still have a lot to go) so there's more just plain mowing now. Eventually I'll be able to mostly mow wide areas up and down hill without backing, and then I'll probably get a wider flail mower.

 

[bcs001]

When I got my Branson I had a number of small areas in between brush and trees to mow. I got a 5' rotary cutter because it mows in reverse and sticks out so I can back it under trees or into brush. I got 5' rather than 6' so it'd be more manuverable. The rotary is pretty durable for the first mowings after clearing when there's still a lot of small branches, stumps I didn't cut flush enough and half buried rocks. I can push the 3pt to one side a few inches and it will mow to the edge of the rear tire track. I've cleared a bunch (and still have a lot to go) so there's more just plain mowing now. Eventually I'll be able to mostly mow wide areas up and down hill without backing, and then I'll probably get a wider flail mower.

I am definitely learning from you guys who are already doing what I am about to start on. Depending on how my clearing goes, I now can see a potential need for a mower down the road to keep areas maintained once open.