Branson 4720Ch Drawbar strength

ceaster · Apr 4, 2022

Does anyone know how much you can pull with the drawbars on the 4720Ch or the alike chassis? I couldn't find any specs listed. I broke mine, pulling a mower and I wanted to know if it's a fluke or if I'm overloading it.

Cougsfan · Apr 4, 2022

I am curious, exactly how and where did yours break, and what kind of mower were you pulling? I have pulled extremely hard with mine (all the tractor will do) without issues.

ceaster · Apr 4, 2022

Cougsfan said:
I am curious, exactly how and where did yours break, and what kind of mower were you pulling? I have pulled extremely hard with mine (all the tractor will do) without issues.

Hey Cougsfan, you're always the first to reply to my post! I was pulling an RC2512 land pride, rated for 40 to 100 horse power. It broke right where it meets the housing, you can see the grains of the metal where it sheared. It did bend a little before it broke, then suddenly I heard a loud pop, it bent my hydraulic remotes and ripped the hydraulic cable in the process. The tongue weight on mower says 793lbs and the mower is ~2500lbs. It was mowing and pulling extremely well until that point, but the terrain is a bit rough.

Cougsfan · Apr 4, 2022

Hmm, I lead a sheltered life. That is the first rotary mower I have seen pulled by the drawbar as opposed to the three point. If it bent some before it broke it must have had some fairly severe shear or twisting loads along with the expected tensile load. Maybe it was a batch of bad metal, or just an unfortunate circumstance.

I would guess the drawbar could be welded back together and reinforced by welding plate or angle irons to the sides over the break. It would help to anneal it after welding. If yours is like mine, the drawbar has several holes for the pin and you can just use the next hole if you are not at the end. I would make sure the mower has room to twist or rotate sideways without twisting the drawbar. Might require modifying the attachment point.

ceaster · Apr 4, 2022

Cougsfan said:
Hmm, I lead a sheltered life. That is the first rotary mower I have seen pulled by the drawbar as opposed to the three point. If it bent some before it broke it must have had some fairly severe shear or twisting loads along with the expected tensile load. Maybe it was a batch of bad metal, or just an unfortunate circumstance.

I would guess the drawbar could be welded back together and reinforced by welding plate or angle irons to the sides over the break. It would help to anneal it after welding. If yours is like mine, the drawbar has several holes for the pin and you can just use the next hole if you are not at the end. I would make sure the mower has room to twist or rotate sideways without twisting the drawbar. Might require modifying the attachment point.

It's a Land Pride RC2512 pull type, it has a single hydraulic cable that raises the deck and folds the wings. I thought about reinforcing the drawbar, but my fear is if it's not a defective one and I make the drawbar stronger then something on the tractor housing would break instead. You have to keep the drawbar out 14 inches from the end of the PTO or you can cause a catastrophic failure when making turns or sloping too much by pushing the PTO shaft into the rear housing, I suppose that's that weakness is having to extend it out so far too.

Branson doesn't have any specs posted on how much it can handle, and although this mower is designed for lower horse power requirements for the size, the weight may still be too much. Just wish I knew.

Thanks as always

ericm979 · Apr 4, 2022

Did it break at one of the holes for the retaining pin?

I have not looked under there to see how it's held on the tractor but when its out far enough to prevent PTO damage, is it less well supported by the tractor?

ptsg · Apr 4, 2022

Ceaster, I think it's safe to assume that you're well within limits on your tractor and mower setup.

I can't give you actual numbers for that model in particular because it was never sold here in Europe, but using mine as an example, which is equivalent to the 3515R in the US, it has a 7700 lbs braked towing capacity and 6600 lbs unbraked. The tongue weight is rated at around 1760 lbs, I assume it's all the way retracted. Now this is a smaller frame/weight/HP, so yours should get a more than mine does.

With all of this being said, the welds on the drawbar bracket on mine, doesn't really impress me that much but I've pulled a lot with it and it never came apart yet so I guess it's good enough.

ceaster · Apr 4, 2022

ericm979 said:
Did it break at one of the holes for the retaining pin?

I have not looked under there to see how it's held on the tractor but when its out far enough to prevent PTO damage, is it less well supported by the tractor?

It sheared exactly where the housing quits supporting the draw bare directly, so right where it sticks out from the holder.

ceaster · Apr 4, 2022

ptsg said:
Ceaster, I think it's safe to assume that you're well within limits on your tractor and mower setup.

I can't give you actual numbers for that model in particular because it was never sold here in Europe, but using mine as an example, which is equivalent to the 3515R in the US, it has a 7700 lbs braked towing capacity and 6600 lbs unbraked. The tongue weight is rated at around 1760 lbs, I assume it's all the way retracted. Now this is a smaller frame/weight/HP, so yours should get a more than mine does.

With all of this being said, the welds on the drawbar bracket on mine, doesn't really impress me that much but I've pulled a lot with it and it never came apart yet so I guess it's good enough.

Thanks for letting me know. The dealer did say they'd replace it under warranty, and that i'm probably pushing it too hard, but that there are plenty of people out there using these low HP batwings without a problem.