What have you done to your Branson today?

[ericm979]

I changed the oil, filter and fuel filter. This time I drained the fuel out of the filter housing before unscrewing the bottom instead of dumping a pint of diesel all over everything. My 3725 has the clear plastic bowl filter housing that has the manual priming pump on it. I also figured out that the air bleed is the 12mm bolt right behind the priming pump that has a screwdriver slot in it. It needs to be unscrewed quite a ways to open but it eventually does. The drain on the bowl won't work unless the air bleed is open, and even then it's really slow. I think it's mostly for removing water in the bowl.

Leaving the air bleed open and turning the key on to get the lift pump going worked well to bleed the air out of the housing. I didn't even need the manual pump.

The filter was pretty gunky with what looks like tiny bits of that dark red algae stuff. I have had a problem with that growing in my gas cans so I'm not surprised. I use biocide but it still grows. I've taken to cleaning the cans out with soap and water if there's any of that stuff in there, before I fill them up again.

Hopefully the stuff in the fuel tank is just remnants from the cans not new growth.

 

[Cougsfan]

Later on, had the lift arms set too narrow, which then caught on the PTO shield once I lift them and bent the cr@p out of the shield. Second time it happened. The third time will probably not going back in.

I am surprised that you still have it on. I am all for safety, but I am not sure that guard really does much for safety if you have at least an ounce of common sense. Seems like its a feature deemed necessary by lawyers. But it sure does make hooking up PTO driven implements a challenge. Mine got bent to cr@p in the first couple weeks I owned the tractor and went into my scrap metal bin. Can't say I ever felt 'unsafe' without it.

 

[ptsg]

I am surprised that you still have it on. I am all for safety, but I am not sure that guard really does much for safety if you have at least an ounce of common sense. Seems like its a feature deemed necessary by lawyers. But it sure does make hooking up PTO driven implements a challenge. Mine got bent to cr@p in the first couple weeks I owned the tractor and went into my scrap metal bin. Can't say I ever felt 'unsafe' without it.

To me, it's not even about safety. I've never had a shield on any of my previous tractors. I try to keep my stuff as original as possible but I'm afraid it's a lost cause for this one though.

I do use that shield to just lay the pins, balls and lynch pins when I'm changing implements. I'll try one more time and I'm contemplating trimming it a little bit on the length and maybe at an angle so it doesn't catch on the little tab of the side link again.

 

[ptsg]

I finally pulled the screen out of the fuel tank yesterday. That was an interesting ordeal.

I used one of those cheap endoscope cameras through the fill neck. Turns out the screen was all the way back in the tank, no less. I couldn't simply wire a piece of wire to fish it out because there is the level sending unit and the pick up tube in the way and I didn't want to grab any of that and damage it.

So I proceed to take the left floor pan out so I could access the level sending unit. Which is not too bad but not great either. Turns out the diameter of it is just barely bigger than the fill neck, but still managed to use one of the little hooks that came with the camera to reach all the way back and pulled the screen out.

Anyway, adjusted the sending unit a little bit so it reads all the way down, put everything back together including rerouting the sending unit wire a little better, and guess what? It wasn't reading, so pulled everything back apart and the sending unit was somehow jammed inside so the arm wouldn't go up, fixed that and it's good to go.

You know what they say: We do it right because we do it twice.

 

[ptsg]

Got an hydraulic filter for my Branson. Yes, I'm the first one to say go OEM on the hydraulic filter but due to the lack of stock and crazy pricing, I started searching some alternatives. Ended up finding some numbers from Mann Filter, Baldwin, HIFI filter and Fleetguard. All reputable brands.

Turns out, about the only one in stock was the Baldwin. Time will tell whether it works well or not but I suspect it will be fine. I know more people that went this route and had no issues. So here it is:

Also, very pleased to see this:

 

[Cougsfan]

I finally pulled the screen out of the fuel tank yesterday. That was an interesting ordeal.

Jus curious, Why did you pull the screen? I didn't even know there was a screen in the fuel tank (other than the one in the filler neck).

 

[ptsg]

Jus curious, Why did you pull the screen? I didn't even know there was a screen in the fuel tank (other than the one in the filler neck).

Yes, that's the screen I'm talking about. The one on the filler neck. I accidentally pushed it in when I was refilling the tractor.

 

[ptsg]

In case anyone wonders what's inside an OEM hydraulic filter. Not much going on really. I did noticed something on the bottom of the cartridge, can't quite tell what it is but doesn't look like a bypass. The Baldwin filter had the same thing on the bottom but wider and also had bigger diameter holes on the 6 hole pattern.

Comparing this one to other aftermarket filters I was looking for, all the other ones are about 1" shorter than the OEM one.

Oh like a lot of people have said before, this thing was a bear to come out. You can see the dents of filter wrench I made on it.

I was very pleased to find that the magnetic drain plugs had little to no trash on it. The filter also was super clean with only the common tiny particles of metal and a little bit of RTV here and there. Nothing to worry about. Keep it mind, this filter is still the one that came originally with the tractor and it has 370 hours on it.

 

[LouNY]

In case anyone wonders what's inside an OEM hydraulic filter. Not much going on really. I did noticed something on the bottom of the cartridge, can't quite tell what it is but doesn't look like a bypass. The Baldwin filter had the same thing on the bottom but wider and also had bigger diameter holes on the 6 hole pattern.

Comparing this one to other aftermarket filters I was looking for, all the other ones are about 1" shorter than the OEM one.

View attachment 760259 View attachment 760260

Oh like a lot of people have said before, this thing was a bear to come out. You can see the dents of filter wrench I made on it.

I was very pleased to find that the magnetic drain plugs had little to no trash on it. The filter also was super clean with only the common tiny particles of metal and a little bit of RTV here and there. Nothing to worry about. Keep it mind, this filter is still the one that came originally with the tractor and it has 370 hours on it.

Likely a check valve to prevent drain back in the system.

 

[Slowpoke Slim]

In case anyone wonders what's inside an OEM hydraulic filter. Not much going on really. I did noticed something on the bottom of the cartridge, can't quite tell what it is but doesn't look like a bypass. The Baldwin filter had the same thing on the bottom but wider and also had bigger diameter holes on the 6 hole pattern.

Comparing this one to other aftermarket filters I was looking for, all the other ones are about 1" shorter than the OEM one.

View attachment 760259 View attachment 760260

Oh like a lot of people have said before, this thing was a bear to come out. You can see the dents of filter wrench I made on it.

I was very pleased to find that the magnetic drain plugs had little to no trash on it. The filter also was super clean with only the common tiny particles of metal and a little bit of RTV here and there. Nothing to worry about. Keep it mind, this filter is still the one that came originally with the tractor and it has 370 hours on it.

Glad to see it's staying clean. That's good to hear.

I just asked Asteral to quote me for 2 full sets of filters. One set to put on, and a spare set to put on the shelf.