3515H Loader Hydraulics

[Bald Squatch]

I have a 3515H (Bought new in May 2018) with just over 100 hours on it. I recently let the my neighbor use it to move a couple deer blinds. He has a Kubota 3700SU with a pin on bucket. He needed my tractor and pallet forks. He told me he thought something was wrong with my loader because it was really jumpy when he tried to lower the blinds which weigh around 700 lbs. This is my first tractor so I have no frame of reference. I can feather the loader going up along with dump and curl. While lowering, the loader is either on or off. You really need to push the loader stick all the way forward and let go when it gets to the level you want. If you tap the stick while dropping, the loader will bounce like you're dribbling a basketball. Conversely, his Kubota is so much smoother and rarely seems to bounce. The rated lift on the Kubota is only about half of my BL150's 2100 lbs. I am wondering if this is just a matter of the Kubota being smoother due to weaker hydraulics, or do I have a problem. I have watched several YouTube's on the Branson 15 series and my loader seems to react about the same as what I see in the videos. I have seen a few videos where the stick is pushed full forward and the loader bounces while dropping. Mine does not do that. It only bounces when the stick is released abruptly. After three years of experience I have gotten used to how my loader operates. Dropping the RPM's down to an idle seems to help with the sensitivity. Just wondering what other Branson (15 series specifically) owners have experienced.

 

[K5lwq]

I don’t experience that at all with my loader. But I don’t just stop moving abruptly. I always try to control my movements smooth as possible. I will say the valves are not the best feathering valves on the market.

 

[ericm979]

My Branson's loader control is a lot harder to feather than the Kubota I had before, and that had a worn linkage. I still can't lift and curl at the same tome like I could with the Kubota. I think that Kubota makes better loader valves than what comes on our Bransons.

OTOH Kubota's rear remotes for the L60 series are known to leak down a lot while my Branson's remotes don't.

 

[Branson Bob]

It's only my opinion but I would say that the hydraulic valves for my FEL and backhoe are a bit jerky. Though I've not run another brand of tractor it's easy for me to believe that while Branson is the class leader among CUTs in lifting capacity, weight, and strength of construction that they possibly spend less money on other aspects of their tractors. Just a guess and I'm good with that tradeoff if it in fact exists.

 

[Slowpoke Slim]

My complaint on my FEL control is the bucket curl. It's either "on" or it's "off". There's no feathering or easing it during the curl. Mostly frustrating when using the pallet forks.

The FEL loader lift and lower control is very smooth on mine. Very easy to make small up and down adjustments on the loader height.

I think K5 showed a company making loader control joysticks on another thread. I'm tempted to start researching if it's possible to replace the entire loader control with an aftermarket one. That would eliminate my only gripe (so far) on my tractor.

 

[Bald Squatch]

Thanks for the responses. From what I gather, everybody's loader works just a little different. Mine is pretty smooth on three of the four directions. Lowering with a load on the pallet forks can a bit bouncy. With experience I am gradually getting better at it. Loading the tires has helped immensely. I really think this is just a matter of my neighbor being used to his machine, so there must be something wrong with mine. On the other hand, he has a lot more experience on a tractor than I do. After initially giving me crap about buying a "Off brand" tractor, he has changed his tune about the Branson. He had nothing but praise for it's capabilities and especially the ergonomics. I guess the logical next step is to take some video and get the dealer's opinion.

 

[ptsg]

If you could share the video with us as well, that would be great to get a better idea of what's going on.

It may be possible that somewhere in the linkage from the joystick to the valve, something is lose making it hard to control.

 

[Bald Squatch]

I will do that. It will take a couple weeks. Unfortunately my tractor lives 3 1/2 hours north of me. My job keeps me in the Detroit area but my property is up north. Mostly working from home these days. If I could just get reliable internet up there, we could spend a lot more time together.

 

[denjen]

3515CH with ~300 hrs and I don't experience that issue. I did have an issue where the if I lowered the bucket I could let go of the loader joystick and it would continue to lower and I would have to pull the joystick back to stop it. The problem was the line coming into the value block below cab they had used a normal o-ring which was crushed and caused the value to leak. I changed to a metal style and it fixed the problem. Is your value (where all the loader lines connect) leaking?

I am attaching a pic of the connection that was missing the proper seal (note the rest of the lines had the proper metal one)

 

[Bald Squatch]

Denjen, I have had several small leaks from the loader valve and and third function quick connects. The first picture shows the bottom of the loader valve block. It was dripping between the elbow and the adapter. The area of the drip is circled in red. I took that apart and tightened everything up. That appears to have stopped that drip for now. I do occasionally get a drip of fluid on platform. I think that is coming from the hose crimp. The second picture shows a different view of the drip area. I have circled in blue what I think is the similar connection where you added the crush washer. I do not have one in that area either. The hoses from the third function kit are both weeping fluid at the crimp. I have taken apart, cleaned and tightened the fitting for the third function quick connects up front multiple times. Debating if I want to replace the hoses myself or haul it into the dealer and have him go over all of the hydraulic connections.