What have you done to your Branson today?

[Zork]

Zork, I have almost the same grapple as yours. What I dont like is that it does not open up enough to grab a big brush pile.
Its great on logs and rocks, but the top arms hang to low. I wish I would of bought a different one, so it sits in the shop on a pallet collecting dust...
Nice tractor you have there!

Thanks. I agree about the opening. Before purchasing this, my research indicated all of these types suffer from a smaller opening. Lol, I think this gives me reason to get another like a root rake type, but they suffer from not being able to fully grasp the load. There is a few youtube videos comparing designs regarding which one is good for your use if you had only one. I find that uncurling the grapple so it acts like a clamp, with loader in float, gives me the best load. Truly, if the lower tines were shorter and turned down I think it would be next to perfect. Anyway, the grapple will take some time to get good with it.



There is a new root rake design that has mechanical fingers called Iron Fist that move similar to our hands, pretty cool but I need more proof of it's longevity.

Getting a Grip With the Iron Fist Grapple From Artillian

The finger-like joints on the grapple allow operators to pick up, grip, and haul brush, branches, logs, and other debris.

www.agriculture.com

 

[ptsg]

Cut a couple of decent sized pine trees on a 15 to 20 degree hill. Loaded them on the trailer with the tractor and hauled to another place about 2 miles away where it will get cut and split. Got about 4 loads of logs and one load of the thicker branches.

The paved road to this place where I cut the trees is also very steep. Easily 10 to 15 degrees. Managed to climb it in high range, 2nd gear with the trailer loaded with logs. I could almost see the fuel gauge dropping.

No pictures as I had my hands full of resin and also because I forgot.

 

[2515R Dude]

Well unloading the tractor this morning and noticed a small amount of fluid had dripped onto the trailer floor. Crawled under to find the source and it is coming from the weep hole in the bell housing. Very small amount but it looks like motor oil. I will keep an eye on it but believe I have a rear main seal leaking. What you want to bet that is not considered a part of the 6 year power train warranty?

At 132 hours a rear main should not leak.

Just saw your post. Last week I found spots under my tractor. It is a little over 200 hours. Exactly as yours. Coming out of the weep hole. Mine for some reason looks reddish, not black as the motor oil, not transparent as transmission.
I haven't spoken with the dealer yet. Letting him get over my last ordeal with the backhoe. Please keep us updated. Soo many problems with this tractor.

 

[K5lwq]

Just saw your post. Last week I found spots under my tractor. It is a little over 200 hours. Exactly as yours. Coming out of the weep hole. Mine for some reason looks reddish, not black as the motor oil, not transparent as transmission.
I haven't spoken with the dealer yet. Letting him get over my last ordeal with the backhoe. Please keep us updated. Soo many problems with this tractor.

Man that is not good! Yours sounds like it would be the input shaft on the front differential. That will not be too bad to fix. They likely will replace the bearing while they are at it. They think mine is leaking here as well and are replacing them under warranty.

The quality on bearings and seals is not what it use to be back when. They wear much faster now days. The good news is these issues are not brand or even industry specific. Anything I work on that has bearings seem to fail way more often than they did before.

Edit: to ask is the backhoe working properly now? Don’t recall seeing if you got it going after the cylinder rod broke.

 

[2515R Dude]

Man that is not good! Yours sounds like it would be the input shaft on the front differential.

Why do you think this is the input shaft and not the camshaft rear seal? BTW, on my tractor they changed everything on 180H mark because the through barring was bad, actually the sleeve of the barring had smaller OD and the bearing made loud rattling/chattering nose when the clutch pedal was released. I don't know if they changed the seal, but they say they changed all clutch assembly. Only the parts were more than $1,200. I don't know is it is related.

Edit: to ask is the backhoe working properly now? Don’t recall seeing if you got it going after the cylinder rod broke.

The dealer brought a new cylinder to my place, i changed it. Then he organized a tour to see similar tractors with the same backhoe in my area. ALL of them do the same, jump at the beginning, then slow down, jump again in the middle, slow down and then jump again towards the end. Now i cannot say my backhoe is defective when all of them the same, it is some design flow.

The dealer offered to buy the tractor back. I started checking what in 25HP range i can buy. I checked the RK, Kioti and Kubota.
25HP machines look like toys compare to Branson, let alone they have ~30% less performance according to the specs.
Their cylinders look like thin sticks compare to Branson. I'd afraid to lift any serious load.
So, i'm stuck with Branson now even it is annoying to have so much problem in such short period of time.

 

[2manyrocks]

I would be very reluctant to pass on the dealer's offer to buy the tractor back given the problems you've mentioned plus the fact the dealer has even made that offer would get my attention. And there's the backhoe operation that concerns you.

I'd also recomend against limiting yourself to 25hp tractors. The T474 and T494 would seem to be a step up in HP and overall size for not that much more money. There's only so much HP and lifting capacity with a 25hp tractor.

 

[K5lwq]

Why do you think this is the input shaft and not the camshaft rear seal? BTW, on my tractor they changed everything on 180H mark because the through barring was bad, actually the sleeve of the barring had smaller OD and the bearing made loud rattling/chattering nose when the clutch pedal was released. I don't know if they changed the seal, but they say they changed all clutch assembly. Only the parts were more than $1,200. I don't know is it is related.

The dealer brought a new cylinder to my place, i changed it. Then he organized a tour to see similar tractors with the same backhoe in my area. ALL of them do the same, jump at the beginning, then slow down, jump again in the middle, slow down and then jump again towards the end. Now i cannot say my backhoe is defective when all of them the same, it is some design flow.

The dealer offered to buy the tractor back. I started checking what in 25HP range i can buy. I checked the RK, Kioti and Kubota.
25HP machines look like toys compare to Branson, let alone they have ~30% less performance according to the specs.
Their cylinders look like thin sticks compare to Branson. I'd afraid to lift any serious load.
So, i'm stuck with Branson now even it is annoying to have so much problem in such short period of time.

I am thinking that because you said it was more red in color.

 

[ericm979]

I wonder if restrictors might help reduce the weird BH cylinder behaviour?

 

[K5lwq]

I wonder if restrictors might help reduce the weird BH cylinder behaviour?

When I first saw the issue I thought it was the geometry of the cylinder mount to the swing arm but could not see in the video. I think the arc of the motion is in the center of the swing which will slow the movement down at that point and speed up at the ends of the swing. This is where learning to feather the controls at the beginning and end of a full swing can make it much smoother.

If this is correct then restrictors will help a lot at the ends but will make the center part of the swing real slow. But everything I posted is just an assumption.

 

[2515R Dude]

I would be very reluctant to pass on the dealer's offer to buy the tractor back given the problems you've mentioned plus the fact the dealer has even made that offer would get my attention. And there's the backhoe operation that concerns you.

I'd also recomend against limiting yourself to 25hp tractors. The T474 and T494 would seem to be a step up in HP and overall size for not that much more money. There's only so much HP and lifting capacity with a 25hp tractor.

I want 25hp tractor. If I wanted more hp, I'd buy 85hp or more.