Branson hydraulics question

[Marty Weatherup]

I've had my Branson 3725 for a little over a year now and really like it. I use it a lot with the sawmill, especially now since I retired last fall. I bought a three point hitch snow blower for it and want to hook up to the cylinder that turns the chute. I plan to add a simple valve and mount it to the fender but am unsure where to bring the hydraulic line from on the tractor. I'm pretty mechanically inclined but have never messed with hydraulics much. Looking at the box in the pictures, it appears I could come off those two plugged spots. One on top and the other on the side and bring lines up to the valve and then to the cylinder.

I thought about teeing off the bucket roll but would rather have the chute independent of the bucket and don't know if it would run both at the same time anyway.

Please excuse my hydraulics ignorance but after trying unsuccessfully to get through to Branson via their web site to get some advice, I thought I would have better luck here. Thanks in advance for any assistance.

 

[oldnslo]

Marty,
You will have to either look closely at the current valve to see if the ports or labeled or trace the lines from the valve. One of the lines will be pressure and may connect direct to the pump.
One of the lines will go back and feed the three point hitch. This is the power beyond line that you are needing to identify. You would connect this valve to the in port of the valve that you are adding. Make sure the new valve also has power beyond feature. Connect the power beyond to the 3PH connection on the tractor.

Third line goes to tank.
Tee tank line of new valve into tank line of old valve.

 

[ericm979]

Branson's web site is terrible and even if your message went to someone, Branson corporate does not want to deal with end users. They want people to go to a dealer instead. If your dealer is not helpful you can try Dave's Tractor in Red Bluff CA.

My 3725 came from Dave's with a dealer added additional rear remote, and the two factory remotes that came on the 25 series (at least from Dave's- that may have been something they added to help differentiate the 25s from the 20s where the remotes are an option). If you don't have the factory remotes, you might consider adding them. They integrate into the tractor well and last time I checked the Branson kit was a lot less expensive than the factory remotes from other manufacturers. That would give you two remotes.

The third remote Dave's added may also be available as a kit from Dave's. You can get it with more than the one valve I got.

The loader valve has seven connections- four for the loader circuits, an input from the pump, an output to tank, and power beyond output. The PB goes to the next set of valves in the chain. (open center hydraulics are all in series). If you don't have any remotes, the next valve will be the 3pt which is inside the back of the transmission housing. If you have factory remotes, they're the next valve and they bolt on to the rear top of the transmission housing where the input to the 3pt is. On mine, the 3rd remote is plumbed in before the factory remotes. When I get a chance I'll take some pics.

The Branson section of this web site has a number of helpful people including folks who work for Branson dealers.