What have you done to your Branson today?

[Cougsfan]

A couple of days ago we got about 5-6 inches of snow and the 1 ton dually truck I use for snow plowing slid off the road and got stuck when I was turning around at the bottom of the hill. I used the Branson to pull the truck back on the road. I attached a chain to the truck and to the clevis on the top of my FEL. The Branson couldn't get enough traction to pull the truck so I pulled by digging the FEL's leading edge into the into the ground and curling the bucket back. Worked fine. Afterwards, there wasn't enough traction to drive the tractor back up the hill to the house (The truck made it though). A little later in the day the road got some more snow on top of the icy surface, the Branson was able to get enough traction (barely) to get back home. Probably should have put chains on everything. But then yesterday we got a chinook wind and most of the snow melted.

 

[Slowpoke Slim]

It's supposed to be +40 F and above for the next couple of days here. What little snow we have will be gone, turned to mud. At this rate our ground is never going to freeze this winter.

Strange indeed, this year.

 

[LouNY]

Used the Branson to check out my driveway sanding trailer;

brought it out of my low roofed shed using the front hitch


then hooked up to it with my rear 3 point trailer hitch;


and the view from the cab;


had dumped in 2 trash cans of ash from my insert and spread them on the driveway as a test run

 

[K5lwq]

Looks like a nice setup Lou. Looks like it will do a great job for you!

 

[ptsg]

Beeing that we're under lockdown for a month, I took some time to go over some older stuff and found an old but still in good shape hydraulic accumulator. This came from the old days when we were building the backhoe and we could buy a bunch of hydraulic parts on the scrapyard for next to nothing. This was circa 2005.

Anyway, the accumulator is just the right size for a Soft ride system for my loader. So I connected the accumulator to my homemade hydraulic press to see if it was still charged and with how much pressure.

Turns out it was indeed in good shape internally and had about 55 bar or 800 PSI. If anyone is interested on how to check the pre-charge pressure of an accumulator, here is a simple and great video explaining it: Checking Hydraulic Accumulator Pre-Charge Pressure Wihtout Charging Gear - YouTube

Next I had to make a T fitting as I didn't have any. No big deal, throw a piece of round stock on the lathe, offset it about 10 mm or 3/8" so it gives me material for the middle port, machined both ends, then just took it to the mill to machine the rest. Came out very nice.

I rigged some fittings and a short piece of hose and mounted everything on the tractor.



I did some quick testing, mostly by jumping on the forks and going over a bump on the road.

First thing I noticed is that 800 PSI is a bit too much. I knew this first hand, that's why I just rigged it together for testing purposes. With the loader 2 feet or so above the ground, it works but doesn't take all of the small bounces off because of too much pre-charge pressure I mentioned before. It takes a decent hit on a bump to notice the effect of the soft ride. On the other hand, this means that will be more effective with a load on it, like moving soil with the bucket or moving stuff around with the forks.

With the loader up high, it works much better and takes a lot of the small bounces too, but I don't usually drive with the loader up high. The ideal pre-charge pressure would be around 600 PSI. Most Soft ride kits come with pre-charged around the 600 PSI for a reason, I guess.

For now, I'll use it some more and get a real feel for it as the time goes by. If I like it, I'll just mount it permanently on the cross member. If not, I just take it off, no big deal, or maybe go to a hydraulic shop and have them reduce the pre-charge pressure.

 

[Aquamoose]

Very interesting! I laughed when you got to the comment about making your own T fitting. Most of us would have to drive to town or order one while you’re whipping one up as if it’s nothing to you.

I too, am interested in getting the same setup to soften the ride. If you have an extra laying around or know where I can get one for a decent price, I’d be much obliged!

 

[Branson Bob]

Used the Branson to check out my driveway sanding trailer;

brought it out of my low roofed shed using the front hitch
View attachment 683675

then hooked up to it with my rear 3 point trailer hitch;
View attachment 683676

and the view from the cab;
View attachment 683678 View attachment 683679

had dumped in 2 trash cans of ash from my insert and spread them on the driveway as a test run

**** Lou... you got a lot of iron laying around your place!

Beeing that we're under lockdown for a month, I took some time to go over some older stuff and found an old but still in good shape hydraulic accumulator. This came from the old days when we were building the backhoe and we could buy a bunch of hydraulic parts on the scrapyard for next to nothing. This was circa 2005.

Anyway, the accumulator is just the right size for a Soft ride system for my loader. So I connected the accumulator to my homemade hydraulic press to see if it was still charged and with how much pressure.

Turns out it was indeed in good shape internally and had about 55 bar or 800 PSI. If anyone is interested on how to check the pre-charge pressure of an accumulator, here is a simple and great video explaining it: Checking Hydraulic Accumulator Pre-Charge Pressure Wihtout Charging Gear - YouTube

Next I had to make a T fitting as I didn't have any. No big deal, throw a piece of round stock on the lathe, offset it about 10 mm or 3/8" so it gives me material for the middle port, machined both ends, then just took it to the mill to machine the rest. Came out very nice.

I rigged some fittings and a short piece of hose and mounted everything on the tractor.

View attachment 683761 View attachment 683762 View attachment 683763 View attachment 683764

I did some quick testing, mostly by jumping on the forks and going over a bump on the road.

First thing I noticed is that 800 PSI is a bit too much. I knew this first hand, that's why I just rigged it together for testing purposes. With the loader 2 feet or so above the ground, it works but doesn't take all of the small bounces off because of too much pre-charge pressure I mentioned before. It takes a decent hit on a bump to notice the effect of the soft ride. On the other hand, this means that will be more effective with a load on it, like moving soil with the bucket or moving stuff around with the forks.

With the loader up high, it works much better and takes a lot of the small bounces too, but I don't usually drive with the loader up high. The ideal pre-charge pressure would be around 600 PSI. Most Soft ride kits come with pre-charged around the 600 PSI for a reason, I guess.

For now, I'll use it some more and get a real feel for it as the time goes by. If I like it, I'll just mount it permanently on the cross member. If not, I just take it off, no big deal, or maybe go to a hydraulic shop and have them reduce the pre-charge pressure.

Pedro, is the accumulator the yellow bulb? Is there a diaghragm in it or what is the operating principle?

 

[ptsg]

Very interesting! I laughed when you got to the comment about making your own T fitting. Most of us would have to drive to town or order one while you’re whipping one up as if it’s nothing to you.

I too, am interested in getting the same setup to soften the ride. If you have an extra laying around or know where I can get one for a decent price, I’d be much obliged!

Well, it was sort of a custom fitting and since we're on lockdown, I didn't feel going to the hydraulic shop and buy one just for one time use. I also like challenging myself in machining and learn about new ways to fixture the parts, machine, etc. It's a good learning exercise.

I should have another accumulator just like this, but for the life of me, I don't know where it is. I do have a vague idea that it was too far gone in rust to be useable.

If you're looking for this setup, the volume of it is around 0.5 liter to 0.75 liter with a pre-charge of 40 bar or 600 PSI.

Pedro, is the accumulator the yellow bulb? Is there a diaghragm in it or what is the operating principle?

Yes Bob, the accumulator is the yellow and rusty bulb. It's a diaphragm style. On one side, you have a pre-charge with nitrogen. The other side is where the hydraulic fluid pushes against the diaphragm. The nitrogen compresses and absorbs the shock of the loader.

The working principle is just like an airbag on the suspension of a truck. Instead of having the axle pushing the airbag, you have hydraulic fluid.

 

[Branson Bob]

Yes Bob, the accumulator is the yellow and rusty bulb. It's a diaphragm style. On one side, you have a pre-charge with nitrogen. The other side is where the hydraulic fluid pushes against the diaphragm. The nitrogen compresses and absorbs the shock of the loader.

The working principle is just like an airbag on the suspension of a truck. Instead of having the axle pushing the airbag, you have hydraulic fluid.

I thought so. A slightly different application of that principle is the use of a diaphragm tank (analogous to the accumulator) in conjunction with a water pump to pressurize well water systems. By pressurizing a volume of water beyond what's in the pipes you reduce the number of times the pump has to cycle on to keep the system pressurized. The side of the diaphragm opposing the water is pressurized or "charged" with air. If I remember correctly the pressure switch on my water pump is set to 55 psi and the diaphragm tank is charged to 60 psi.

 

[Moak]

I haven't done anything custom yet but I want to get a different bush guard so the grille, headlight, and hood are protected better than Branson does on my 2610H. From what I see there nothing out there to buy so I'm going to have to enhance my welding skills and build something. To me, this setup is just useless for protecting the front end. Something like what's on the 2515R would be even better if it would fit. But I would take that and add more wire mesh to it and may even extend it higher and back over the front section of the hood and make it pivot so you can lean it forward to open the hood