Tractor Sizing Out with the Orange and in with the Red

   / Out with the Orange and in with the Red #11  
Nice looking tractor. I have seen Branson tractor ads in my area, but never knew anyone that had one. Look forward to your report.
 
   / Out with the Orange and in with the Red #12  
Congrats! Is your dealer established and stable? The biggest complaint I hear (and have near me) is dealer support.

But the tractors do appear very stout. I played on some at my "local" dealer which is about an hour away.
 
   / Out with the Orange and in with the Red
  • Thread Starter
#13  
My local dealer is about 30 minutes away, and has been and has been in business for 15 years.
He was at one point the largest seller of Yanmar tractors in the region.

He sales number for the 3520 with the DPF are in excess of 200, and he has not seen a single warranty issue as of this date.
This guy is no-nonsense, down to earth, no pressure, not one of those greasy slick salesmen...

I am fanatical about maintenance, the first hydro and motor oil change will occur at 10 hours - try to get all of the shaving and any missed casting bits out of the engine...
I will keep a log on everything to do with this tractor, and share wit this forum, we will see how solid this tractor is.
I need to plow, and till up some ground for the garden extension, so we will be seeing how well it pulls here in the next few days.

I will start up a new post in the owning/operating section to catalog this tractor and it's performance, but I am limited in my comparisons. I have about 160hrs in a Kubota M94 series, and another 180 hrs on a B series, and then another 90 on the BX2660. I have not used another 35hp tractor, the 26hp tractors will be apples and oranges.
 
   / Out with the Orange and in with the Red #14  
..

I am fanatical about maintenance, the first hydro and motor oil change will occur at 10 hours - try to get all of the shaving and any missed casting bits out of the engine...

Good to know your dealer is safe... I'm fanatical about maintenance too. But, if you change it at 10hrs, I'd still think you'd want to do the 50hr as well. 10 hrs might not be enough time to work the burrs off.
 
   / Out with the Orange and in with the Red
  • Thread Starter
#15  
TSO - yes the 10 is an additional fluid change - I want to make sure any casting sand is caught as well, so 10 hr change, then 50 hr change, and then onto normal intervals.
 
   / Out with the Orange and in with the Red #16  
I am fanatical about maintenance, the first hydro and motor oil change will occur at 10 hours - try to get all of the shaving and any missed casting bits out of the engine...

Unless the casting process has changed you need to get the tranny up to around 160 - 180 degrees to start breaking down and flushing out the sand casting mold release agent. This then allows the fine grains of sand to be released into the oil and filtered or drained out.

If you are operating the hydraulic pump(s) close to their pressure limits 10 hrs of run time will have them close to being fully worn in.
 
   / Out with the Orange and in with the Red #17  
Congrats on the new rig.This is why normal advice is to upsize by one to save trading down the road.
 
   / Out with the Orange and in with the Red
  • Thread Starter
#18  
I put two hours on the Branson today...

I know I upgraded from 26 - 35HP - but Holy Bat Turds.... what a difference... :shocked:

There was a pile of rocks I had to move that the little orange just did not have lift capacity to move, in 3 minutes I was done... I have a back injury left over from a bad car wreck, so I use the FEL.
I had lost several trees due to ice this winter, and just wanted to push them down in a ravine, as they were trash wood, no good for the fire place... little orange would just spin the tires. Big Red well made rather short work of the trees.
I added some top soil around my new fruit trees, and the bucket held 8 cubic feet with room to mix in an additional 100lbs of black cow.

I am very pleased...

I also did not have to wear ear plugs as I did with little orange. Even at 2500 rpm still very manageable.
The seat is an air ride one... very comfortable, little orange had a nice seat - but it was not air suspended, and did not isolate you from the shocks of impacts - really wore you out when cutting rough fields.

One Negative on Red...
Getting on and off is not comfortable, I am 5'11" and about 230#. to get up from the seat once adjusted so you can reach the pedals, the steering wheel hits you in mid thigh.
You have to thread yourself around the steering wheel - it does tilt - but only about 2 inches... not enough room for your legs.
I have size 10.5 shoes - position of the break pedals force you to step onto the deck with left foot and slide your right past it and into the right side position... it's a little funky - I should just take a video and share it.

Once you are in the drivers position all the controls are within reach, and very easy/natural to use.

Here is a picture of Red out where she will be worked for a good long while:
IMG_20150414_160357111.jpg
 
   / Out with the Orange and in with the Red #19  
Glad to hear the good news and that it's plenty of tractor.

I just called Georgia Tractor Co today and he says he has a couple of both H and R left. I'm going to try and make some time to get off work and go up there and have a sit on one to get a feel for both the H and the R. After reading your posts so far, I think I'm leaning more towards the H now. I like just squashing a pedal and going. Thanks for the input!

Size-wise, I'll be interested to see how it fits me, as I'm 6'1" and 270# lbs. So not sure how it'll work out in my case.
 
   / Out with the Orange and in with the Red #20  
That's one of the things I really disliked about the Branson ... Though, I checked out the 4520 cab version. It was extremely cramped, and ingress/egress was really poor. It was quite a let down because the tractor felt pretty solid otherwise.
 

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