Does Branson Offer Auto Bucket Leveling ? How Important Is It ?

[Cougsfan]

Probably people don't ask about them that often is that they don't even know the option exists! (me)

 

[bigcut]

Probably people don't ask about them that often is that they don't even know the option exists! (me)

Cougsfan,
I think you're right.....Sometimes it difficult to ask for something that you never knew existed or was possible.

 

[ruffdog]

Deere has the loaders that have 4 electronically saved positions so you just hit the number and the loader goes to that position. This also includes a electronic auto level bucket. Now we are talking high tech loaders!

The John Deere R-Series Frontloaders - ESL and RTP - YouTube

 

[bigcut]

Deere has the loaders that have 4 electronically saved positions so you just hit the number and the loader goes to that position. This also includes a electronic auto level bucket. Now we are talking high tech loaders!

The John Deere R-Series Frontloaders - ESL and RTP - YouTube

Ruff,
I wonder if there is such a thing as displaying the weight (content) in the bucket to the operator. Don't know how often it would get used but it could help avoid some of the needless failures by overloading. There are a few on here that were light on the ballast and snapped a front axle. Although, I don't know that displaying the weight would have influenced their decision. I guess it could also be viewed as another thing to go wrong or fail.

 

[Cougsfan]

Seems like if you measured the static pressure of the main lift ram (when it is hydraulically isolated and not lifting or lowering), that should correlate fairly linear with the load in the bucket (with some error based on the load being concentrated in the front or the rear of the bucket).

 

[Branson Bob]

Branson's mechanical self-leveling FEL bucket (at around 2:00):

Three New Innovations That May Be Coming to Small Tractors - YouTube

The video also includes nice innovations from the green and the orange brands.

 

[DavesTractor]

Branson's mechanical self-leveling FEL bucket (at around 2:00):

Three New Innovations That May Be Coming to Small Tractors - YouTube

The video also includes nice innovations from the green and the orange brands.

Looks like we will be rolling out the self leveling option on most models in the next 6-12 months. I looked at them at the Branson dealer meeting, and they have done a fine job on these loaders. On most of the models, the self leveling arms are nicely formed and follow the curved shape of the loader and look very integrated. As someone mentioned above, the reason people don't ask for this option may be related to the fact that they do not know it exists. I think we will stock a mixture of normal and self-leveling. I am guessing the price difference somewhere around $500 for the smaller tractors. It will save a lot of hoods, as that is where the spillage normally happens on the non-self levelers.

The smallest tractors are often bought by folks with no tractor experience. We can all benefit from the extra safety of a self leveling loader, but even more so for a new user. Yet that size tractor is a really price driven size where a $500 option may make a tractor seem too expensive so it is nice that buyers will have a choice.

Reminder...I am just guessing on the $500. Don't hold me to it.

 

[ericm979]

I'd probably have paid $500 more for self levelling. I certainly would knowing what I know now (no I haven't dropped anything on the hood but there's a couple times I could have). I like how they designed the self-levelling linkage rod to look like the loader arm. It looks cleaner that way. Do you know if it reduces the curl travel?

The Deere PTO shaft thing looks cool too, though on my 3725 if I shift the PTO into neutral the PTO shaft on the tractor can turn by hand so it's not hard to get the splines to line up.

 

[DavesTractor]

I'd probably have paid $500 more for self levelling. I certainly would knowing what I know now (no I haven't dropped anything on the hood but there's a couple times I could have). I like how they designed the self-levelling linkage rod to look like the loader arm. It looks cleaner that way. Do you know if it reduces the curl travel?

The Deere PTO shaft thing looks cool too, though on my 3725 if I shift the PTO into neutral the PTO shaft on the tractor can turn by hand so it's not hard to get the splines to line up.

Eric, the new design is nice, but I think the last one to get the re-design will be the 20/25 series. Which is a bummer as we sell a ton of that series. Looks like they might still be the exposed rod style. Not nearly as nice looking.

As for the reduced rollback, that was a real problem with the Branson self levelers from a few years back. You lost a huge amount of ROM with the bucket cylinders. These new ones are much better. Some loss, but not much, still very acceptable.

 

[LouNY]

I have the self leveling on my 8050,
bye and bye I like occasionally I don't.
Loading out of a pile of fluffy material it's hard to get a full bucket.
When I have it over at the farm, if we try to load silage out of the ag bags you can't as easily get a full rounded bucket as we can with the non-self leveling loader tractors.
Most people would not have that issue but when you are putting say 8 rounded buckets of corn silage and 6 rounded bucket loads of haylage in a feed wagon it is harder to get uniform bucket fills and you can't curl back and see how full it is.
So I would expect that any fluffy material would be the same and also if you wish to keep track of how much material you are moving or loading not being able to curl back enough to see how full your bucket is could be a problem.