Branson 6530C seems to be hot under the hood

[Cougsfan]

Wow Dc, your access for cleaning is worse than mine (which looks almost exactly like Slims). And I thought mine was bad and a pain to clean. It was necessary to pull the radiator to clean it on mine. It looks like a nightmare of a job but it really isn't that bad if you just look at it and approach it systematically.

 

[dclt736]

Sorry for the delay in replying.
I have just read the last few post and see that some are doing daily or weekly cleaning.
I have only been doing this based on the work the tractor has done, mainly at cutting and bush hogging operations, with the bush hogging being the most critical as you are always driving into the weeds.
And as i stated before, it is surprising how much trash can get pass all the screens on that tractor.
I notice on some of the very modern tractors, all the rads are on hinges so you can swing them out from one another to all full access for cleaning, very smart idea.
I will be testing the AC in the near future to see how much gas was lost and if they can find the leak, as i would think a normal amount of loss would show such low levels.

 

[Slowpoke Slim]

I mostly blow mine out due to mowing kicking up so much chaff, like we've all seen happen. When I'm moving dirt (or snow in winter) there isn't nearly as much issue with "stuff" getting into the radiator and cooling fins. I've just made it an automatic part of my mowing chores that I have to clean out the fins. When I'm out running the tractor (mowing), I'm constantly watching that temp gauge. Under normal (as in the coolers/radiator are clean) the temp gauge is pretty rock steady and doesn't climb even when the day gets hotter, say comparing mowing in morning, vs. mowing in afternoon. But what I've become accustomed to is if I see that temp gauge suddenly start moving higher, that means the fins are starting to get choked with chaff. I will stop then and blow everything out. Sometimes that takes several hours before I see it change, and sometimes it will be an hour or less. Depends on the field I'm cutting, and how much "junk" is in the air.

I also blow it all out when I stop for lunch (mid day) and anytime I have to stop for fuel refills.

Sometimes you get lucky, depending on the field, little to no seed heads or pollen, and you can go half day or better. Some fields are bad and you're stopping every hour or so. Cattails are bad too, if you're stuck cutting a bunch of those, they are little "chaff-bombs". I really don't like cattails. I'll try to back into those if I can.