Thoughts on BRANSON tractors....

[Trophyduck]

I don't see much about them on here.....What are your thoughts on them. Looking at the literature, they sure seem to be ok.

Are they worth looking into further or should I stay away from them? I noticed also they had the different series' in the same hp. Looks like frame sizing/weight differences....(?)

 

[Tractorable]

They have a pretty good rep on here. They're Korean built with Cummins diesels. Heavier than most with good loader specs. New tractors nowadays are either Japanese, Korean, Indian, Korea-nese, or Mexi-nese......take your pick, they're all pretty good.

Branson is trying to compete for a slice of the North American market by offering more tractor for less money. Dealer support is something to consider when looking at the less common brands.

 

[fishheadbob]

[QUOTE=Trophyduck;4877460....What are your thoughts on them. Looking at the literature, they sure seem to be ok.

I don't know beans about Bransons, but I would never look solely at a brochure for quality, durability, or dependability. Brochures are written in the sales department and probably made Yugos sound great.

 

[ericm979]

Many makes have models in different series with the same hp. For example Kubota B series has 25 and 33 hp models and there are 25hp and 33hp models in the larger heavier L series. Usually there's also more features in the larger series but in Kubota's case it's the reverse. Tractor size and weight determine a lot of it's capacity. Power is only part of the equation.

There's a Branson specific section here on TBN with a number of active owners and a couple dealers as well.

 

[EddieWalker]

I have a Century tractor that I bought brand new, which is the same thing as a Branson. Later on they combined both brands and just use the Branson name. I feel it's a great tractor and when I compared it to Kubota and Deere, for the same transmission, same HP and same features, it was $4,000 less. I've only replaced minor things like the fuel pump and some electrical items that I would expect to replace on anything else, so no complaint there.

I do have a serious concern and complaint about their customer service. Parts are very slow when coming from the factory. If your dealer does not have it in stock, it could take weeks or even months to get them. Searching online is usually a better option, or finding it at the parts store if you can. My dealer suggested replacing my fuel pump with a diesel Mr Gasket electric one instead of waiting on it from Branson, and paying a lot more money.

They used to have all their manuals online, but for some reason, they removed them. So now if you need a part, you either have to hope the dealer has the manuals, or it's pure guess work in figuring it out. There is no source for my electrical diagram any more. Or at least, after posting on here, talking to me dealer and a few that responded to my post, I was never able to find one. I looked at other models, but they are all unique and eventually, it was just hit and miss to finally fix what was wrong with mine when it wouldn't start a few months ago.

If I was shopping for a tractor, I would look at Branson, but consider it more of a grey market tractor that will be difficult to get parts for. The price would have to be very good to buy another one.

 

[Helitech]

I've had a 5220R for 2 years, used it 200 hours so far. It's heavier than the same size competitors tractor. Great tractor for the money!

 

[LouNY]

I have a Century tractor that I bought brand new, which is the same thing as a Branson. Later on they combined both brands and just use the Branson name. I feel it's a great tractor and when I compared it to Kubota and Deere, for the same transmission, same HP and same features, it was $4,000 less. I've only replaced minor things like the fuel pump and some electrical items that I would expect to replace on anything else, so no complaint there.

I do have a serious concern and complaint about their customer service. Parts are very slow when coming from the factory. If your dealer does not have it in stock, it could take weeks or even months to get them. Searching online is usually a better option, or finding it at the parts store if you can. My dealer suggested replacing my fuel pump with a diesel Mr Gasket electric one instead of waiting on it from Branson, and paying a lot more money.

They used to have all their manuals online, but for some reason, they removed them. So now if you need a part, you either have to hope the dealer has the manuals, or it's pure guess work in figuring it out. There is no source for my electrical diagram any more. Or at least, after posting on here, talking to me dealer and a few that responded to my post, I was never able to find one. I looked at other models, but they are all unique and eventually, it was just hit and miss to finally fix what was wrong with mine when it wouldn't start a few months ago.

If I was shopping for a tractor, I would look at Branson, but consider it more of a grey market tractor that will be difficult to get parts for. The price would have to be very good to buy another one.

I have a Branson 8050, it has been a decent tractor.
For the money it has been worthwhile.
My dealer is fairly good.
Branson USA is NOT so good, complete lack of response to inquiries, the lack of on line parts lookup and the lack of available
service manuals is a major concern and irritant to me.

 

[Rmart30]

Branson USA is NOT so good, complete lack of response to inquiries, the lack of on line parts lookup and the lack of available
service manuals is a major concern and irritant to me.

Thats what will keep me from buying anything other than mainline tractors. Im sure there are a lot of well made ones out there, but with no parts or product support its all downhill. LONG and even Mahindra taught me that lesson. Other than to buy and resell I will never have one of either for myself to keep.

 

[Helitech]

I've had great support from my dealer.

 

[ericm979]

If you're getting a new Branson buy the service manuals with the tractor. If you wait until you have a problem it might be 10 years later.

I wish Branson had their parts data on line. I think I read that they used to and took it down.

Kubota corporate probably doesn't help Kubota owners directly much either. Manufacturers prefer people to go through the dealers. I'm sure it wouldn't hurt to assign someone to answer customer emails though and I would do that if I ran things.

There's some Branson dealers who are willing to ship parts. Dave's Tractor here in CA does that. I bought my Branson from them even though they're 300 miles away. Mr Bitz in North Dakota is another Branson dealer who is active here and very helpful. I think they ship parts. And there's some large dealers in Texas that I think will ship parts (though you'd want to ask any of these dealers to make sure).

I've been really happy with my 3725 and Dave's as a dealer. The tractor's been able to do far more than my old Kubota B7100 (no surprise there) and more than I thought when I got it. The 50 hr service was easy; I just needed a large oil drain pan and a pump for the transmission fluid.