Busted Branson

[farmersfeedu09]

Hey all, I have some bad news to report. My 3510 has kicked the bucket. I went to start my tractor this morning and upon turning the key to start, I was greeted by a loud pop. I waited just a minute and tried again hoping in vain that the sound was just my imagination. The second time I was sad to here some loud knocking and slapping coupled with some white smoke. Me, being the super duper mechanic that I am immediately shut down the machine and checked the oil. The oil level was fine as it should be. I have done regular maintenance on this tractor and have not intentionally abused my machine. So at just over 3 years and 359 hours my luck has run out.
I did ask a friend of mine to take a look, this man is a true mechanic and is ASE certified. He immediately asked if I had heard a loud pop, to which I replied yes. In his opinion an injector could have been the primary culprit. Dumping to much fuel into a cylinder and causing detonation. I have to say in hind sight the tractor had become more and more difficult to start, especially in cold temps below 55 degrees, that this sounds possible. If this had been occurring for quite some time, as I expect it has, I would think that the piston that was constantly receiving too much fuel would have been weakend.
Anyway I was hoping for some opinions, info, feedback from others with more experience than I have.

 

[polo1665]

Sorry to hear about your trouble. After three years your tractor should still be under warranty for the drive train. Have you spoken to your dealer?
Sorry I can't be of more help to you. I've not heard of this particular problem. Please post when you find out more about the cause of the problem.

Mark

 

[Lunk]

If you bought it new, you should be taking to the Dealer about now. I think I'd leave out the "hindsight" part, as it may give the dealer an out on performing a warranty repair (neglected an issue which lead to ultimate failure...).

Good luck, and let us know what happens!

 

[tnaz]

Keep us up to date, man I hate it for ya!!!

tnaz

 

[farmersfeedu09]

The service guy at my dealer called back the other day. My tractor was out of warranty by 3 months. He informed me that after pleading with Branson that they would cover the cost for parts. He also told me that he had ordered a new block and it was on the way. Anyway this is good news, I was told to expect a labor bill for around 1,000 - 1,100 for about twenty hours of labor. I think this is high or he must not move to fast, but I'm not going to complain as long as they can keep it in the ballpark. So I'm glad to have some help from Branson though I feel like a well maintained tractor with only 360 hours should not have had engine failure to begin with.
I will keep all posted.

 

[farmersfeedu09]

So, Branson did pay for the engine block but the help stopped at that. So here I am months later after having paid a 1600.00 bill for the dealers other charges. I found it strange that the block Branson supplied as a replacement did not have cylinder sleeves and the original did.
I noted that all the sleeves in the original motor had been cracked and the top of one piston had crumbled. I think the piston crumbling is likely due to a bad injector. This would explain the trouble with cold starts and excessive smoke until engine was warm. I did not experience any loss of power or strange noises prior to engine failure.
As for the cracked sleeves???? Maybe a bad casting or is this normal. Branson must have had a reason for going to a sleeveless block.
So no further help from Branson though they did tell me they had almost 7,000.00 paid out for the block and crank. I asked the guy at Branson what the cost of a complete motor would be and he said 9 - 10k ballpark. I guess the mechanic or the Branson rep one was misinformed with engine prices. A lot of difference in 2,000 and 9,000.
So the next time I buy a tractor, and it will be very soon, I'm going with Kioti. Built just as heavy, I think a little more refined and have a great warranty with several tractors out there way past the 2,000 hour mark.

Hope all who read this will have better luck than I did.

 

[IH3444]

Like Uma Thurman in "Kill Bill", you need Japanese steel.

 

[Dargo]

So the next time I buy a tractor, and it will be very soon, I'm going with Kioti. Built just as heavy, I think a little more refined and have a great warranty with several tractors out there way past the 2,000 hour mark.

Oh really????? Recently I tried talking a local dealer into taking on the Kioti brand and even created a thread here looking for specifically what you stated. You know how many reported in with what you stated? Zero! I'm not knocking Kioti, but someone has filled you with a huge load of Bravo Sierra based on your statement. You may want to do a bit more research.

 

[IH3444]

Why is my loader on my Kioti cracking? And the 4WD front wheel knuckle keeps busting off my DK55? And my PowerTrac motor blew up again..... Oops, that not a Kioti! Sorry...

 

[Reg]

So, Branson did pay for the engine block but the help stopped at that. So here I am months later after having paid a 1600.00 bill for the dealers other charges. I found it strange that the block Branson supplied as a replacement did not have cylinder sleeves and the original did.
I noted that all the sleeves in the original motor had been cracked and the top of one piston had crumbled. I think the piston crumbling is likely due to a bad injector. This would explain the trouble with cold starts and excessive smoke until engine was warm. I did not experience any loss of power or strange noises prior to engine failure.
As for the cracked sleeves???? Maybe a bad casting or is this normal. Branson must have had a reason for going to a sleeveless block.
So no further help from Branson though they did tell me they had almost 7,000.00 paid out for the block and crank. I asked the guy at Branson what the cost of a complete motor would be and he said 9 - 10k ballpark. I guess the mechanic or the Branson rep one was misinformed with engine prices. A lot of difference in 2,000 and 9,000.
So the next time I buy a tractor, and it will be very soon, I'm going with Kioti. Built just as heavy, I think a little more refined and have a great warranty with several tractors out there way past the 2,000 hour mark.

Hope all who read this will have better luck than I did.

I'm trying to figure out;
a) How I can avoid such a failure (sorry to be so selfish)
b) Why going with any other manufacturer would be any less likely to give you the same problem.

I think I'm down to checking into cold start problems as soon as they show themselves.
I'm also back to thinking of the several threads we have had in ALL the forums about hard starting and the "solutions" of block heaters, lower hose heaters, heated garage storage, etc.

I'm guessing that there are only one or two injector manufacturers, hence injector failures are probably not a function of badge name.
BICBW (-: