Branson DPF Emissions Contols

[bigcut]

Since Branson claims to be free of electronics, I'm curious as to how they deal with "Tier 4" Compliance ? I understand that they use DPF and exhaust some how to achieve compliance, but, how does that work ? Do they go thru "Regen" like other brands ? What's the pros and cons of the various methods ?

I was reading under one of the other brands and saw where mechanics were searching for older tractors without the emissions. They said they were buying the ones they could find because they predicted that a day of reckoning was coming, about 10 years down the road, when the new units start to experience expensive problems.

With Utility and Farm tractors used so little in comparison to over the road truckers, I was hoping Trump would roll back the regulations, but, haven't heard anything on that front. Maybe some of you have heard differently.
John

 

[jeff9366]

I was reading under one of the other brands and saw where mechanics were searching for older tractors without the emissions. They said they were buying the ones they could find because they predicted that a day of reckoning was coming, about 10 years down the road, when the new units start to experience expensive problems.

Some posts here claim DPFs will last 5,000 engine hours. More posts claim DPF's will last 10,000 engine hours. No one really knows.....

The average residential tractor is used eighty engine hours per year.
5,000/80 = 62.5 years 10,000/80 = 125 years

How many hours per year do you forecast using your tractor?


Tractors survived Tier I, Tier II anf Tier III emission controls. Tractors will survive Tier IV emission controls.
Tier V standards have been promulgated and tractor producers are working to meet Tier V standards.

I expect electrically powered compact tractors within a few years, which will obviate the need for pollution controls on battery powered tractors.


VIDEO: No need to Panic! DPF's explained. - YouTube

 

[ptsg]

I'm not entirely sure on how Branson manage to meet the Tier 4 Compliance. Although I know that they they lots of research and they are using a Low temp DPF system.

However, on Branson tractors, if it will ever give problems, it is very simple to remove all this DPF crap. You just need to remove the DPF canister, the DPF module. Get a muffler either from an European Branson tractor (We don't have DPF on ours tractors over here) or get an exhaust shop to deal with that and you are good to go. This is one more point in favor of Branson tractors.

 

[jeff9366]

During 1998 offroad engine regulations reducing emissions were structured as a 3-tiered progression. Offroad regulations use the metric system of units, with regulatory limits expressed in grams of pollutant per kWh. Examples of regulated applications include farm tractors, excavators, bulldozers, wheel loaders, backhoe loaders, road graders, diesel lawn tractors, logging equipment, portable generators, skid steer loaders and forklifts.

Each tier involved a phase-in (by engine power) over several years.
Tier 1 standards phased-in from 1996 to 2000.
Tier 2 standards phased-in from 2001 to 2006.
Tier 3 standards phased-in from 2006 to 2008 (Tier 3 standards applied only for engines from 37-560 kW).

Very stringent Tier 4 emission standards, phased-in from 2008 through 2015, require substantial reductions of Particulate Matter above 19 kW power output.


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Every tractor brand includes a model in the 2,600 pound to 2,900 pound (bare tractor) range with 100 cubic inch/24 horsepower engine. Tractors under 19 kW ( 19 KW = 25.4794-horsepower) are presently exempt from stringent Tier IV emission controls which abruptly increase a tractor's cost some $2,000 above the 19 kW power demarcation.

In kubota's product line this is the model L2501.

 

[ericm979]

I wrote a long reply to your identical post in the Owning and Operating section. Maybe a mod will move that thread over here.

Branson is not electronic. It's a Bosch VE mechanical pump, which is a very common one.

I don't know how my 3725's exhaust would be without the DPF. I find unfiltered diesel exhaust annoying. My old Kubota didn't smoke visibly but when I let it idle in the barn while changing implements I'd be gagging by the time I was done. With the 3725 that's not a problem even though it's 3 times the power of the Kubota. I can barely tell there's any exhaust in there and it's not annoying or making me gag. So far I am happy with the Branson's DPF. If it clogs I'll get it cleaned (costs a few hundred).

 

[Slowpoke Slim]

It's an entirely passive system. There is no regen cycle. The dpf works kind of like a catalytic converter on an unleaded car. It gets heated up by the exhaust gas temperature, and there are chemical compounds inside the dpf filter that facilitate the burning or "cooking off" of the diesel exhaust particles. The slang term for this device is called a "soot cooker". There are no controls for this. There is a "data logger" that just looks at the incoming exhaust pressure, and the outgoing exhaust pressure, compares the two, and if they get too far apart (as in the dpf starts to get clogged), then it lights a light on your dashboard.

In order to make the system work efficiently, you have to run your engine in the upper power band, which is the green area of the tach, to get the exhaust temp over 1100 F. Persistent running of the engine at low speeds or idling, will cause the dpf light to start flashing, telling you that the dpf cooker is getting too much back pressure. If this happens, you can run the beee-jeeesus out of it, like roading it down the road (what I do), or running a pto attachment hard, like a wood chipper or mower, to get the cooker hot enough to burn out the blockage.

But as ptsg said previously, the "ultimate" solution, is to just remove it entirely, and put a plain old standard tractor muffler in it's place. Done and done. This is the option I plan on going with in the near future.

 

[bigcut]

It's an entirely passive system. There is no regen cycle. The dpf works kind of like a catalytic converter on an unleaded car. It gets heated up by the exhaust gas temperature, and there are chemical compounds inside the dpf filter that facilitate the burning or "cooking off" of the diesel exhaust particles. The slang term for this device is called a "soot cooker". There are no controls for this. There is a "data logger" that just looks at the incoming exhaust pressure, and the outgoing exhaust pressure, compares the two, and if they get too far apart (as in the dpf starts to get clogged), then it lights a light on your dashboard.

In order to make the system work efficiently, you have to run your engine in the upper power band, which is the green area of the tach, to get the exhaust temp over 1100 F. Persistent running of the engine at low speeds or idling, will cause the dpf light to start flashing, telling you that the dpf cooker is getting too much back pressure. If this happens, you can run the beee-jeeesus out of it, like roading it down the road (what I do), or running a pto attachment hard, like a wood chipper or mower, to get the cooker hot enough to burn out the blockage.

But as ptsg said previously, the "ultimate" solution, is to just remove it entirely, and put a plain old standard tractor muffler in it's place. Done and done. This is the option I plan on going with in the near future.

Slow, I saw a post from a NON Branson owner who felt there maybe a problem in starting or running a Branson, do to the "Soot Cooker" in sub-zero temperatures. He did not offer why. Based on your tractor and location, have you experienced any difficulties starting or running in the winter? And, are you aware of others, who may have experienced this problem ?
Thanks,
John

 

[Cougsfan]

Slow, I saw a post from a NON Branson owner who felt there maybe a problem in starting or running a Branson, do to the "Soot Cooker" in sub-zero temperatures. He did not offer why. Based on your tractor and location, have you experienced any difficulties starting or running in the winter? And, are you aware of others, who may have experienced this problem ?
Thanks,
John

I use my Branson quite extensively for snow removal in the winter and have ran it at O-F. I experienced no problems with the DPF. I usually run my tractor at 1500 rpm or more. I have ran it lower than that for extended times without a problem, but I have heard of others having problems. When I bought the tractor, I too had envisioned removing the DPF and installing a muffler, but to date (200+ hrs) I have not seen the real world need to mess with it.

 

[Slowpoke Slim]

Slow, I saw a post from a NON Branson owner who felt there maybe a problem in starting or running a Branson, do to the "Soot Cooker" in sub-zero temperatures. He did not offer why. Based on your tractor and location, have you experienced any difficulties starting or running in the winter? And, are you aware of others, who may have experienced this problem ?
Thanks,
John

I've run my tractor at -40 F (no fake "wind chill" number, that's real air temp, tractors don't know what "wind chill" is, that's a human thing). The issues with starting and running tractors at that temperature have nothing really to do with a soot cooker type filter. You will obviously want an engine block heater, and I highly recommend a heater for both the engine oil pan, and the hydro trans sump. I'm using the stick on pad type heaters, one on the engine oil pan, and one on the bottom of my transmission housing.

The main benefit of doing this is so you can plug in the heaters (I have 3, block, oil pan, trans sump), I use an outdoor timer to turn them all on at once, a few hours before I need the tractor. When I go out to run it, I literally just turn the key, wait for the glow plug light to go out, and hit the starter. It fires right up, and I can move it and use it right away.

Before I added the oil pan and trans sump heater pads, I'd have to start the tractor, idle it for a few minutes, then run the idle up to 1500-ish, and go back in the house. The issue would be that while the tractor started fine, the hydro trans fluid was still cold, and you couldn't move the tractor or FEL until the hydro warmed up. Also, when it's cold (I mean like "up here cold"), you have to run your idle speed up above 1500 rpms and leave it there. Else wise, your "warmed up" tractor will idle cool enough that it's actually losing engine temperature just sitting there idling.

The only difficulty for me running my tractor in winter is I normally don't put any real load on the engine while I'm operating it. I'm not using pto driven attachments in winter. And just pushing snow with FEL and box blade doesn't work the tractor much at all, just putt-putting around shoving mounds of snow and ice. So with little to no load on the engine, my dpf filter will load up with particulates and start flashing the dash light. If I was running a pto driven snow blower, I doubt I would have any issues at all. My current "fix" for this is to road my tractor. I have about a 1.5 mile circuit I can run it on, over gravel roads, and I put it in High range on the trans, and run it at full throttle out and back. I may have to do this a couple times in a row if I've waited too long.

But I would have this same no load issue in the summer hot weather too. If you don't run your tractor with a load on it, it can cause issues with the filter. I do run a pto driven brush hog in summer time, and it's more than enough load to keep my filter free flowing. The key to a happy filter is to keep the exhaust gas temperatures over 1100 degrees F. That keeps the "cooker" hot, and it can do it's thing.

 

[Hombre]

There is another thread from just a while back about this very thing. Some haven't had any issues with the DPF as you've just seen, others have, including me. Mine started at around 70 hrs. probably because I don't like running the ball sack out of it all the time or taking a "cruise" down the road to clean it out (it's a mile down my driveway to where I could do that anyway). All I did was remove the DPF canister, drill some holes in the "filter" then knocked it out with a chisel and hammer, very easy to do. Put it back together and on the tractor. It looks "stock", but runs better. May be a bit of smoke on start up and on occasion when powering up from time to time. Just like my diesel PU does. Diesel smoke at this level does not bother me (it's very little smoke) but the smell that came from exhaust when the DPF was complete annoyed the heck out of me. Stunk. A real acrid odor, like burn the hair outa your nose bad. At least to me. To my knowledge at this time there are no "regulations" as such, for off road vehicles (as in a tractor) to operate, only for a dealer to sell them so it's not like the air police are going to come and shut you down. If someone has information to the contrary I would like to hear about it so I won't be putting out false information on the subject :ashamed:. You know how the internet is, someone reads something three times, true or not, and it becomes fact. My :2cents:

 

[TractorNH]

It's an entirely passive system. There is no regen cycle. The dpf works kind of like a catalytic converter on an unleaded car. It gets heated up by the exhaust gas temperature, and there are chemical compounds inside the dpf filter that facilitate the burning or "cooking off" of the diesel exhaust particles. The slang term for this device is called a "soot cooker". There are no controls for this. There is a "data logger" that just looks at the incoming exhaust pressure, and the outgoing exhaust pressure, compares the two, and if they get too far apart (as in the dpf starts to get clogged), then it lights a light on your dashboard.

So is it actually a DPF or does it use a DOC like Mahindra? A DOC (Diesel Oxidation Catalyst) is what is like a catalytic converter used with a gas engine, constantly burning off the particles through temperature and the catalyst. A DPF (Diesel Particulate Filter) actually captures the particles and then the regen burns them off, sometimes by directly injecting diesel fuel into the filter as well.

 

[ericm979]

They call it a DPF. The regen process is constant, and at a lower internal temp than the 1100 degrees cited earlier. Like half that. The Branson DPF may be a different design than DPFs that are subject to regen. The difference between a DPF and a DOC is that the DPF has a filter. It may or may not also have a catalyst section. The filter-only DPFs need high temp active regen. The catalyst can be used to turn nitrogen oxide into nitrogen dioxide which can oxidize soot using a different chemical reaction than it used in the high temp regen.

Here's that paper (actually it's slides) again:
https://www.energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2014/03/f9/2004_deer_chatterjee.pdf
slide3 shows a DPF cross section.

here's more on how DPFs work: Diesel Filter Regeneration
(dieselnet has a lot of good technical info)

So from this I think we can guess that the Branson DPF with its catalyst is more expensive than a regular non catalyst DPF, which may be why the low temp regen is not more popular. My dealer did tell me that the 25 series has more catalyst than the 20s.

Even in the parts of California with strict emissions testing, tractors are not tested. Makes sense as it's tough to get them to a test station and most are run for only a fraction of the time that the average road vehicle is run.

 

[ning]

the smell that came from exhaust when the DPF was complete annoyed the heck out of me. Stunk. A real acrid odor, like burn the hair outa your nose bad

I wonder what this was, because my 3520 with an intact DPF doesn't have much of a smell at all, and I'd've smelled it when I put it in or take it out of my container if there was a smell. I've run it hard doing heavy work, and I've had hours when it was not in the green range, and only once have I seen anything interesting - one day I kept the throttle around 2000 and I saw a bunch of gray smoke for a bit and realized it was probably hot enough to be cooking the DPF of the soot that had accumulated in the last couple days of light low-throttle work, but that passed after about 15 seconds. I didn't smell anything out of sorts then, and I've got a very sensitive nose.

 

[Hombre]

I wonder what this was, because my 3520 with an intact DPF doesn't have much of a smell at all, and I'd've smelled it when I put it in or take it out of my container if there was a smell. I've run it hard doing heavy work, and I've had hours when it was not in the green range, and only once have I seen anything interesting - one day I kept the throttle around 2000 and I saw a bunch of gray smoke for a bit and realized it was probably hot enough to be cooking the DPF of the soot that had accumulated in the last couple days of light low-throttle work, but that passed after about 15 seconds. I didn't smell anything out of sorts then, and I've got a very sensitive nose.

As do I (the nose thing) however as in most things I'm sure some of the things that may smell bad to me perhaps smell o.k. to you. Like diesel for one. I like the smell of a warm horse, cows stink, I think Hoppes #9 smells better than most after shave but my wife can't stand it, leather goods (as in saddles and tack) smell great to me, canvas not so much. My wife thinks Lilys smell wonderful, I think they smell horrible, they almost gag me. So, evidently our "smellers" are all different as to what we like/can stand or don't......my tractor with the DPF working stunk to high heaven to me, not constantly, but every once in a while I'd get a whiff and I'd have to cover my nose.......:drink: Now without the DPF everything is good, I get a bit of "diesel smoke" when it's starts up in the shop but that just smells like a good working motor to me.

 

[Cougsfan]

All I did was remove the DPF canister, drill some holes in the "filter" then knocked it out with a chisel and hammer, very easy to do. :

That is my current plan if I ever have a problem, but as I said, I have never had a problem yet, even in the winter.

 

[Kentuckyfarmer]

As do I (the nose thing) however as in most things I'm sure some of the things that may smell bad to me perhaps smell o.k. to you. Like diesel for one. I like the smell of a warm horse, cows stink, I think Hoppes #9 smells better than most after shave but my wife can't stand it, leather goods (as in saddles and tack) smell great to me, canvas not so much. My wife thinks Lilys smell wonderful, I think they smell horrible, they almost gag me. So, evidently our "smellers" are all different as to what we like/can stand or don't......my tractor with the DPF working stunk to high heaven to me, not constantly, but every once in a while I'd get a whiff and I'd have to cover my nose.......:drink: Now without the DPF everything is good, I get a bit of "diesel smoke" when it's starts up in the shop but that just smells like a good working motor to me.

I'm with you. Mine stunk to high heaven with the soot cooker on it. Yeah I think cow crap doesn't stink either and I could sit in a leather shop all day.

 

[Aaron L]

Some posts here claim DPFs will last 5,000 engine hours. More posts claim DPF's will last 10,000 engine hours. No one really knows.....

The average residential tractor is used eighty engine hours per year.
5,000/80 = 62.5 years 10,000/80 = 125 years

How many hours per year do you forecast using your tractor?


Tractors survived Tier I, Tier II anf Tier III emission controls. Tractors will survive Tier IV emission controls.
Tier V standards have been promulgated and tractor producers are working to meet Tier V standards.

I expect electrically powered compact tractors within a few years, which will obviate the need for pollution controls on battery powered tractors.


VIDEO: No need to Panic! DPF's explained. - YouTube

Tier-V emissions standards for off road diesels are a solution to a problem that doesn't exist. Tier-IV tractors are clean enough.
The idea of electric tractors has come up several times over the decades. Look up the Allis Chalmers fuel cell tractor. Battery powered electric vehicles are hardly zero-emissions vehicles, despite what people say. Production and eventual disposal of the batteries make more of a real environmental impact than the emissions of a modern fossil fuel (or biofuel) powered vehicle. Then there's the generation of the electricity that's used to charge those batteries. All electrical generation causes some degree of environmental impact. There's no such thing as a free lunch...

 

[Kentuckyfarmer]

Tier-V emissions standards for off road diesels are a solution to a problem that doesn't exist. Tier-IV tractors are clean enough.
The idea of electric tractors has come up several times over the decades. Look up the Allis Chalmers fuel cell tractor. Battery powered electric vehicles are hardly zero-emissions vehicles, despite what people say. Production and eventual disposal of the batteries make more of a real environmental impact than the emissions of a modern fossil fuel (or biofuel) powered vehicle. Then there's the generation of the electricity that's used to charge those batteries. All electrical generation causes some degree of environmental impact. There's no such thing as a free lunch...

Yep people think that that plug is clean energy but they don't see that coal power plant 200 miles away puking out the emission to produce it. And agree on the batteries disposal too. Lots of info about it just have to look for it. Doesn't matter even if you went back to plowing with a horse. Still emissions envolved in the rear end of the beast. Matter of fact I have a few emissions I let loose everyday myself. No free lunch here.

 

[LouNY]

But it is easier for big brother to control that single point instead of many individuals.
For any all reasons.

 

[Bama67]

Battery technology needs to get a whole lot better before I would consider an electric tractor.

That said I only have 22 hours on my turbo Branson 4015, seems to run exceptionally clean.
I don't rev it high as I'm supposed to.
If DPF becomes an issue, the emmissions will be like my old Dodge and mysteriously disappear.