Branson 6530C seems to be hot under the hood

[Slowpoke Slim]

Just want to throw out there that after mowing and using my cabbed tractor with A/C, you really have to blow out your radiator and coolers every time you mow.

And if you're mowing all day, or several days in a row, you should plan on stopping a couple of times a day and blow everything out. Any new tractor I look at has a "modern" radiator and coolers, which means the rows and fins are *much* tighter spacing than tractors of yesteryear. They will absolutely fill in with chaff as you mow.

This was after only a couple of hours of mowing (and it started off clean).

When I mowed at home, I would pull up to the shop and use my big shop compressor and a handy air wand. When I'm mowing out at a remote site, I take along a pancake compressor and generator. The little pancake takes longer, as it can't keep up with the air demand from the wand, but it has to be done. Else wise you have overheating issues that can pop a radiator and cause your A/C to blow warm/hot due to poor heat exchange.

 

[Cougsfan]

You are right on about keeping it all clean, Slim. I have looked at several late model cabbed tractors and they are all pretty much the same stacked, close coupled design. Even with blowing my radiator/oil cooler / condenser out regularly, I finally had to take everything apart, remove the radiator and clean everything with a high pressure sprayer (Being very carefully as to not bend the fins). This fixed the tractor occasionally overheating. Also, my ac condenser was not clogged, but after cleaning the radiator the ac none the less worked a whole lot better due to improved airflow through all three units. Now I pay attention to not mow anything that has gone to seed.

Just a note: some of the earlier cabbed Bransons came with no dryer in the AC unit. Mine is one of them. With no dryer it means that when servicing the AC you have to be especially careful to pull a good vacuum and hold it for a long time prior to charging with R134 to get the moisture out. Seems to work fine though, even without a dryer.

 

[dclt736]

Just want to throw out there that after mowing and using my cabbed tractor with A/C, you really have to blow out your radiator and coolers every time you mow.

And if you're mowing all day, or several days in a row, you should plan on stopping a couple of times a day and blow everything out. Any new tractor I look at has a "modern" radiator and coolers, which means the rows and fins are *much* tighter spacing than tractors of yesteryear. They will absolutely fill in with chaff as you mow.

View attachment 705974

This was after only a couple of hours of mowing (and it started off clean).

When I mowed at home, I would pull up to the shop and use my big shop compressor and a handy air wand. When I'm mowing out at a remote site, I take along a pancake compressor and generator. The little pancake takes longer, as it can't keep up with the air demand from the wand, but it has to be done. Else wise you have overheating issues that can pop a radiator and cause your A/C to blow warm/hot due to poor heat exchange.

Hi Slim, I wish my tractor had the access yours does. For one to even get the front grill off, you have to remove the metal grill guard first, as you cannot lift the grill up, but have to remove it forward. Second, your battery is dropped down into a box, where the 6530C has it on a plate at the same level as the bottom of the rads. and then everything i behind screens. I will post a photo of this once the tractor is back home. It is to be looked at today to see if the AC system has any leaks.

 

[Slowpoke Slim]

That does sound awkward. I also get good results by blowing compressed air from the back side of the radiator forwards. I have an air wand that's a couple of feet long with a right angle hood on it. I can reach in behind the radiator and get between the fan and the fan shroud and blow the junk forward, which I've always thought was good to "push" the junk back out the way it came in, instead of blowing it from the front side and trying to blow it the rest of the way into and through the radiator.

This is the exact same set of wands that I use:

Amazon.com: Radiator Genie - Water & Air Cleaning Wands for High Efficiency Cooling Systems and Radiators - Blow Out / Wash Out Kit: Home Improvement

Perhaps you could reach in through the top, sides and back with a wand similar to these?

 

[dclt736]

Those look interesting, I have not seen anything like them in my travels but will look on Amazon here. I picked up the tractor today after the AC was looked into. Seems I must have a very slow leak, as there was only 6 oz of gas in the system and it should be almost 3 lbs. They pumped the system down to dry it and test for leaks, but the system showed none, so it must be very small. They put in the dye and refilled, so it is a wait and check in the near future to see if the dye shows up the leak.
Here are some images of the front of my unit, and you can see that it is not at all easy to get to any part of the system to clean, not without doing a fair amount of disassembly.
I will also have to watch the relays and fuse to see if they act up again.

 

[Branson Bob]

Slim, is that yellowish stuff pollen or is it just dust?

 

[redman135]

When blowing your radiator out it is better to blow from the back , as you get more out.
Also expect to clean the radiator screen at least daily in "seed" season

 

[5030]

Every ac system will leak refrigerant, some more than others. I think it's a 'make work' for technicians. My 2004 cab M9, finally lost enough R134 to require a recharge which my dealer did at the farm (farm call 100 bucks plus refrigerant). If the system just needs topping off, no need to pull it down so long as you use the proper charging tools and carefully not allow any air to get in the charge line.

I own a vacuum pump so I can pull it down if necessary on the vehicles and I do but I never add any PAG oil because even if you pull it down, the lubricant will stay in the components. Only time you need to add lubricant is if you replace major parts like a compressor or Heat exchangers because the oil coats the existing parts. replacing them requires additional oil. Only time.

One thing I did to increase air flow through the condenser (under hood) is, I added a 12 volt automobile rad fan blowing through it wired to the compressor clutch via a relay, so when the mag clutch on the compressor is activated, the fan blows a lot of ambient air through the HX because the mechanical fan (especially at an idle) is not moving enough air to affect proper heat transfer.

 

[5030]

When blowing your radiator out it is better to blow from the back , as you get more out.
Also expect to clean the radiator screen at least daily in "seed" season

Every day for me when I'm in the field before dinner the rad and auxiliary HX's get washed out, first with an extendable blow gun and then a radiator Genie and cold water, and I mean EVERY DAY. cabin pre filters get blown out and air filters blown out ever week too. A diesel is quite capable of sucking a clogged air filter delivery hoses off, if the air filter is clogged. My units have filter minders on them but they never get in the red (clogged) zone. Diesels will create tremendous vacuum. Of course the fueling rate will go way up too.

 

[Slowpoke Slim]

Slim, is that yellowish stuff pollen or is it just dust?

That was all pollen. There were some seeds clinging to the lower area of the condenser, and a bunch of seeds clinging to the outside of the grill, but those blow out easily.