Branson 2400h

[incontrol6253]

It looks like you've asked the same question about 5 times in the last 15 minutes, so I'd suppose you're "anxious to get an answer", so here's my take on the Branson 2800H after owning it almost 6 years.

The post you referenced, I made in June of 2012. That was 5 years ago. Since then I've graded about 300 miles of our road (it's about 1/2 mile long) so that means grading it about 600 times (weekly ??) I've kept the road plowed of snow during the winter, moved multiple tons of sand, gravel and dirt, rebuilt two berms in the back of our property, brush-hogged multiple times, bought two more implements, a 60" 3 point snow blower and a 12' 3 point boom. So far I've got about 300 hours on the tractor and the only maintenance problem I've had is a bad hydraulic filter (it blew the rubber gasket and deformed the seal) which was replaced by the dealer with no charge. I do all my own maintenance (oil, filter, hyd fluid changes) and have had only one breakdown problem that occurred two times. The hydraulic fluid cooler located in front of the radiator blew apart two times, both in sub zero weather and both times made the tractor inoperable (hydrostatic drive). Both times the dealer ordered a replacement hydraulic cooler at no charge and I went to a local hydraulic hose fabricator and paid to have a bypass hose made. When I blow a cooler, I can now remove the bad cooler, install the bypass hose and I'm back in business after topping off the hydraulic fluid level. To be honest, it's the way the aluminum finned cooler is constructed and trying to force thick, cold fluid through the small passages. Branson does have a "fix" and the dealer provided it to me, I installed the replacement cooler and I've had no problems winter or summer since. The new oil cooler is actually a 4' section of 3/8" copper tubing in an "S" pattern. I was concerned that it wouldn't provide enough cooling during the summer, but so far I've had no problems. Granted, I'm in northern Michigan and the temp seldom is over 80 F, but working the tractor "hard" I would have suspected some hot hydraulic fluid, but so far, no problems.

So, after 5 years and 300+ hours, I'm still satisfied with the tractor, the implements and the work that little 2800H can do. It's stingy on diesel, lifts and pulls within reason anything I throw at it and I've had no mechanical problems.

Now, would I like a bigger tractor? ****, any man who says "small is good enough" is lying LOL so yes, I'd love a bigger tractor. I think we all would. But, given that "bigger is better" syndrome we all have, honestly, I can do anything with this tractor that I've set out to do and have accomplished them all. I haven't "NEEDED" a bigger tractor, but would love to have one (if it didn't cost anything)....

The ONLY complaint I've got is that the rear axle spread is relatively narrow and the tractor is not as stable working on side sloping hills. I've never even come close to tipping or turning over, but I do think about it every time I'm in a situation where I get "sideways on a hillside".... I've thought about making a couple of wheel spacers and extending the tire/wheels out about 4" on each side, but so far, I've never got "so close I'm ready to change"..... So, enough said about wanting a wider wheelbase.

Other than that, I'm very satisfied with this little "2400 with a turbo" and if asked, "Would you buy it again?" The answer would be a resounding "Heck yes."...

Thank you very much. Yes, I saw how old the post was, and that is why I asked you, lol. I appreciate your reply. I'm thinking , going back and forth on a four foot bush hog would probably be slower than I'd like, but that being said, I feel like probably no more than I would use it for, it should be plenty. The rest of the issues maybe once or twice, and then keeping it maintained, so it doesn't get that bad again. I'm thinking the 24 or 28 horsepower would be plenty, even on 10 acres. Although it is super hard to downsize after driving that Branson 3520 h.

 

[rgr33]

I always appreciate a well rounded assessment of tractors and implement that the owner has had a while and is objective in their appraisal.

Thanks for that JR, enjoyed it.

 

[JRTJH]

Thank you very much. Yes, I saw how old the post was, and that is why I asked you, lol. I appreciate your reply. I'm thinking , going back and forth on a four foot bush hog would probably be slower than I'd like, but that being said, I feel like probably no more than I would use it for, it should be plenty. The rest of the issues maybe once or twice, and then keeping it maintained, so it doesn't get that bad again. I'm thinking the 24 or 28 horsepower would be plenty, even on 10 acres. Although it is super hard to downsize after driving that Branson 3520 h.

I'd simply have to ask: If you already have a tractor that is working for what you need and you're concerned that downsizing might not be a smart idea or a "workable solution", then why even consider it? Now, if you're having problems with your current tractor and need to trade it in, downsizing might be cost effective, but I'd question whether it's a "penny wise, pound foolish" action to trade "just to get a smaller tractor", especially if you are satisfied with what you have......

 

[JRTJH]

I always appreciate a well rounded assessment of tractors and implement that the owner has had a while and is objective in their appraisal.

Thanks for that JR, enjoyed it.

You're very welcome. I've been extremely satisfied with my Branson. I was concerned when I was looking and there were several "nay-sayers" on the internet proclaiming their "doom and gloom" version of why it's the worst tractor built. I was very pleasantly surprised (well not really) to have the positive experiences that I have had with my Branson. It's not the biggest, not the most expensive, it doesn't have GPS steering and it doesn't even have air conditioning (no cab either) or a radio, but for getting work done, it's all I need and quite frankly, all I'll ever need. I'm satisfied and I'd buy the same tractor from the same dealer and do it all over again, knowing what I know about my own personal experiences. I suppose that means I'm a "satisfied tractor owner/operator" LOL

 

[Cougsfan]

The only advantage I can see of a smaller tractor is that you can get into smaller places easier. (Cleaning out horse stalls with the FEL, etc.) Other than that, I would advise to get as many horsepower as you can afford, regardless of how many acres you have. The bigger the tractor, the FEL will lift more weight and volume, will lift it higher and dump it further away from the tractor (A huge advantage that you immediately notice when you start using tractors of different sizes). More PTO horsepower makes heavy mowing easier. More horsepower means the tractor has to work less hard to get any job done.

My neighbor just bought a new 24 hp JD tractor for his 10 acres. I was absolutely flabbergasted when he told me what he paid for it. He could have probably bought a 3520h Branson and a mower that would work circles around his green tractor for the same cost (without sacrificing quality). But he felt it was important for his tractor to be green (which obviously means means quality that can't be matched anywhere) and to buy American (He really believes that his little JD is American made). He never even looked at anything else. Amazing is the power of marketing on people's perceptions.

 

[JRTJH]

The only advantage I can see of a smaller tractor is that you can get into smaller places easier. (Cleaning out horse stalls with the FEL, etc.) Other than that, I would advise to get as many horsepower as you can afford, regardless of how many acres you have. The bigger the tractor, the FEL will lift more weight and volume, will lift it higher and dump it further away from the tractor (A huge advantage that you immediately notice when you start using tractors of different sizes). More PTO horsepower makes heavy mowing easier. More horsepower means the tractor has to work less hard to get any job done.

My neighbor just bought a new 24 hp JD tractor for his 10 acres. I was absolutely flabbergasted when he told me what he paid for it. He could have probably bought a 3520h Branson and a mower that would work circles around his green tractor for the same cost (without sacrificing quality). But he felt it was important for his tractor to be green (which obviously means means quality that can't be matched anywhere) and to buy American (He really believes that his little JD is American made). He never even looked at anything else. Amazing is the power of marketing on people's perceptions.

I agree with your assessment of size and the smallest place I go is between some poplars on the edge of a hill behind the house. If I had a bigger tractor, I might have needed to clear a little more, but don't see a significant problem with the small tractor. I don't envision I'd have a problem with the bigger one either. As for "inside operations" I park in the pole barn and that's the smallest inside space I ever operate. For me, it was a matter of getting something that would do the work I needed done at a price that I could justify buying new (I have terrible luck with used equipment) and that I could afford to pay cash without incurring any added debt. At the time, Branson and LS were the two available in our area. Cub Cadet was also available, but I'd heard they were going out of business, so I didn't consider them. Looking at the two "affordable brands" and doing some comparing between the two, I chose Branson. It was more than a color choice, since the dealerships were in opposite directions and about the same distance from where I live. I could have paid almost $8000 more and bought a similar green tractor, but at $12,000 for the tractor/FEL, I felt I just couldn't justify spending $20000 for a color choice. At that time, the Deere dealer just wasn't interested in negotiating. Since then, however, he's been very friendly and has offered a number of times to service my tractor, wants me to consider upgrading and realizes he "lost a sale" by not sitting down with a pen and paper with me. Oh well, if there's ever a next time, I'll give him a shot, but I won't be buying a specific color then either.

I'm extremely happy with my Branson and wouldn't consider it to be anything but an extremely good investment, in work capacity, initial cost and operating expenses.

Yup, as for your neighbor, his "green" built with pride by Yanmar tractor is quite the nice piece of equipment LOL It is a nice tractor, but like you said, at the price of green, he could have bought significantly more tractor with an "off brand". Incidentally, Cummins builds engines that (in my opinion) are just as good as Yanmar, Deere, IH, Ford and yes, even the "venerable orange ones"

 

[Texasmark]

Hi chewnins

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/zetor-century-branson/242683-branson-2800h-bl00-loader-new.html

I'll give the branson/kukje "00" series a thumbs up. If you want to run the larger brush hog you might want to go with the 2800H. It is the same 1.1 L motor as the 2400 but with a turbo added. The 28 HP is conservative, and with these bransons the PTO HP is high in comparison ~ 23 PTO HP for the 2800.

I've only had my 2800H for a month and 20 hours but TBH I have no complaints. You'll not see very much info about the bransons online on forums. (which is a good thing because broken Bransons are not prodding owners to go online for answers or to gripe)

I wanted to stay under 25K for a sub compact but ended up going to the larger size tractor with the 16" rear wheel. The 12" rear wheel on the subcompacts is a little small IMO and equivalent to a garden tractor.

There is a branson dealer in central oregon that seems to have great prices and move a lot of product (even on ebay). I almost ordered through him but chose to stick local and went with a demo unit he had. It was 12K for 2800H with the BL00 loader.

BL00 loader vs. 1200X: I wanted and drooled over a 1200X loader / 6430X BH package for teh 2800H and got a quote for 18K for those from the central oregon guy which my local dealer could not match.

BL00 loader:

The BL00 loader is made by Ansen, a sister company to Kukje in south korea. In addition to the below I was happy to see that Ansen makes the big loaders for even the 8050 series tractor (the BIG one). You can see the Ansen sticker on the 8050 in the branson calendar if you look closely

At the time of purchase, I hesitantly went with the BL00 setup he had (because I wanted the 1200X with more load capacity listed and the quick attach bucket) on the lot but honestly I like the little loader a lot. It digs and lifts an overfilled pile of wet dirt with no problem. It seems like it will almost want to tip the back wheels up if too much load were lifted even with water in the tires and a 5" box scraper attached. The BL00 loader is BEEFY - check out the 1" plate around the frame area. Sure it isn't one of those nice hydroformed curved loaders etc. like the 1200X but that is OK. One thing I was surprised about was that the valve doesn't let you use two hydro circuits at once unless one is going down, of course. But you can't do the 7 oclock position tilt and lift. No problem though, it doesn't slow me down much at all and I've gotten fast at digging up the dirt piles from the box scraper and filling the bucket with no issue.

The 3point hitch works GREAT, no issue with jumpyness etc. and I was happy to see the position control on the 2800 series.

Motor:

Kukje makes rebadged JD (6000 series I believe)

Kukje is contracted to make the cummins A series motors as well, which is what is in the 00 series. It *is* an unbadged cummins A series 1.1L. I am a big cummins fan and have had numerous dodge diesels over the years that I have restored bought/sold etc. I was very happy to see a fleetguard filter on the little motor when I first popped the hood. The turbo is a great feature that adds power and gains fuel economy. All diesels should be married to a turbo IMO... That feature alone (cummins turbo diesel) puts branson ahead of the rest. I know yanmar and kubota are good but they have mastered the econo-engineering at this point whereas the Kukje/cummins 1.1 A series is a true industrial motor with hardened valve seats, forged steel crank and camshafts that are made to last.

I was a hardcore JD green dyed in the wool lover for as long as I could remember and I really assumed that I'd get one some day. But the smallest "True" JD (besides the new 1 series subcompact with a yanmar) is the 4120 with the JD powertech. If I'm going to buy a japanese motored Japanese tractor I might as well consider all makes/models.

I did ALL of my homework and visited ALL of the dealers within a 100 mile radius of me and branson got my business.

If you want stories from my other brand experiences and what made me NOT choose them we can go there as well. But this is way too long as it is (guess that is what happens when you are flying across the country with nothing else to do)

I have Cummins licensed engines in both my Bransons and was the final kick that made me buy the 6530. The B 3.3 NA was built by Komatsu heavy equipment in Japan and by the time the 2400 came into my corral, Kukje had a license for themselves from Cummins. Cummins is a world wide engine producer with over a million engines to it's credit. I had a rock bucket with a 800+ cu in, 400 hp turbo charged Big Cam Cummins with over a million miles on it with one in frame overhaul.

If you pull up the Kukje www, you will see a rainbow of colors around their facility....yes some are green and yellow.

Kukje uses a lot of steel in their equipment. Especially in the smaller tractors, "weight matters".

I have a 5' mower for my 2400 and it handles it just fine.

I have a beef with small tractors on their harsh ride. I think I have mine solved after a lot of work.

All my lawn mowers are hydros but tractors are stick shift due to the applications and usage. My 2400 is bottom of the production line so some things are left out that others may add to their low end. I don't have synchronized shifting which I'd like to have and my PTO is transmission driven like early Ford and Massey Ferguson tractors. Neither one were show stoppers, just "I would have liked"....but not bad enough to buy something else. I bought this tractor for a light duty helping hand for chores around the place, not mainstream ag work necessarily, but it gets used for that too. On the bright side, I have more power than I need, the 00 loader is very fast, the steering is very fast and smooth and fuel economy is excellent. I have the fast change Bobcat implement hookup on the 6530 since I use it with skid forks, hay forks, hay spikes and with nothing. The 2400 doesn't have that option because I bought it for it's loader capabilities (in my odd jobs around the place)

 

[Texasmark]

Hi chewnins

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/zetor-century-branson/242683-branson-2800h-bl00-loader-new.html

I'll give the branson/kukje "00" series a thumbs up. If you want to run the larger brush hog you might want to go with the 2800H. It is the same 1.1 L motor as the 2400 but with a turbo added. The 28 HP is conservative, and with these bransons the PTO HP is high in comparison ~ 23 PTO HP for the 2800.

I've only had my 2800H for a month and 20 hours but TBH I have no complaints. You'll not see very much info about the bransons online on forums. (which is a good thing because broken Bransons are not prodding owners to go online for answers or to gripe)

I wanted to stay under 25K for a sub compact but ended up going to the larger size tractor with the 16" rear wheel. The 12" rear wheel on the subcompacts is a little small IMO and equivalent to a garden tractor.

There is a branson dealer in central oregon that seems to have great prices and move a lot of product (even on ebay). I almost ordered through him but chose to stick local and went with a demo unit he had. It was 12K for 2800H with the BL00 loader.

BL00 loader vs. 1200X: I wanted and drooled over a 1200X loader / 6430X BH package for teh 2800H and got a quote for 18K for those from the central oregon guy which my local dealer could not match.

BL00 loader:

The BL00 loader is made by Ansen, a sister company to Kukje in south korea. In addition to the below I was happy to see that Ansen makes the big loaders for even the 8050 series tractor (the BIG one). You can see the Ansen sticker on the 8050 in the branson calendar if you look closely

At the time of purchase, I hesitantly went with the BL00 setup he had (because I wanted the 1200X with more load capacity listed and the quick attach bucket) on the lot but honestly I like the little loader a lot. It digs and lifts an overfilled pile of wet dirt with no problem. It seems like it will almost want to tip the back wheels up if too much load were lifted even with water in the tires and a 5" box scraper attached. The BL00 loader is BEEFY - check out the 1" plate around the frame area. Sure it isn't one of those nice hydroformed curved loaders etc. like the 1200X but that is OK. One thing I was surprised about was that the valve doesn't let you use two hydro circuits at once unless one is going down, of course. But you can't do the 7 oclock position tilt and lift. No problem though, it doesn't slow me down much at all and I've gotten fast at digging up the dirt piles from the box scraper and filling the bucket with no issue.

The 3point hitch works GREAT, no issue with jumpyness etc. and I was happy to see the position control on the 2800 series.

Motor:

Kukje makes rebadged JD (6000 series I believe)

Kukje is contracted to make the cummins A series motors as well, which is what is in the 00 series. It *is* an unbadged cummins A series 1.1L. I am a big cummins fan and have had numerous dodge diesels over the years that I have restored bought/sold etc. I was very happy to see a fleetguard filter on the little motor when I first popped the hood. The turbo is a great feature that adds power and gains fuel economy. All diesels should be married to a turbo IMO... That feature alone (cummins turbo diesel) puts branson ahead of the rest. I know yanmar and kubota are good but they have mastered the econo-engineering at this point whereas the Kukje/cummins 1.1 A series is a true industrial motor with hardened valve seats, forged steel crank and camshafts that are made to last.

I was a hardcore JD green dyed in the wool lover for as long as I could remember and I really assumed that I'd get one some day. But the smallest "True" JD (besides the new 1 series subcompact with a yanmar) is the 4120 with the JD powertech. If I'm going to buy a japanese motored Japanese tractor I might as well consider all makes/models.

I did ALL of my homework and visited ALL of the dealers within a 100 mile radius of me and branson got my business.

If you want stories from my other brand experiences and what made me NOT choose them we can go there as well. But this is way too long as it is (guess that is what happens when you are flying across the country with nothing else to do)

I have Cummins licensed engines in both my Bransons and was the final kick that made me buy the 6530. The B 3.3 NA was built by Komatsu heavy equipment in Japan and by the time the 2400 came into my corral, Kukje had a license for themselves from Cummins which covered the A1100N in it. Cummins is a world wide engine producer with over a million engines to it's credit. I had a rock bucket with a 800+ cu in, 400 hp turbo charged Big Cam Cummins with over a million miles on it with one in frame overhaul.

If you pull up the Kukje www, you will see a rainbow of colors around their facility....yes some are green and yellow.

Kukje uses a lot of steel in their equipment. Especially in the smaller tractors, "weight matters".

I have a 5' mower for my 2400 and it handles it just fine.

I have a beef with small tractors on their harsh ride. I think I have mine solved after a lot of work.

All my lawn mowers are hydros but tractors are stick shift due to the applications and usage. My 2400 is bottom of the production line so some things are left out that others may add to their low end. I don't have synchronized shifting which I'd like to have and my PTO is transmission driven like early Ford and Massey Ferguson tractors. Neither one were show stoppers, just "I would have liked"....but not bad enough to buy something else.

I bought this tractor for a light duty helping hand for chores around the place, not mainstream ag work necessarily, but it gets used for that too. On the bright side, I have more power than I need, the 00 loader is very fast, the steering is very fast and smooth and fuel economy is excellent. I have the fast change Bobcat implement hookup on the 6530 since I use it with skid forks, hay forks, bucket, and with nothing. The 2400 doesn't have that option because I bought it for it's bucket capabilities (in my odd jobs around the place).

 

[LincTex]

I feel like probably no more than I would use it for, it should be plenty. The rest of the issues maybe once or twice, and then keeping it maintained, so it doesn't get that bad again. I'm thinking the 24 or 28 horsepower would be plenty, even on 10 acres. Although it is super hard to downsize after driving that Branson 3520 h.

Is it WORTH your time, money, fuel, tires, grease, "wear & tear" - - just to cut some grass?

Maybe you can fence it and run a few cows - that way you can get an ag exemption at the tax office.