Holly F...ng Branson!!!!!!!

[2515R Dude]

You've had the worst luck with that tractor. I know that your experience isn't the norm, but still, it makes me happy I went Kioti.

Kioti was on my list, actually it was on my list on the first position, but they didn't have Backhoe with no ETA, branson had everything

Tractor, loader, Backhoe, 6' box blade, forks, loaded tires for $26k OTD instead of waiting God knows how long. No one had backhoes then and no ETA but I just bought a 60 acres neglected property and needed a tractor like yesterday. Very tempting.

So far, 5 hours all front lights stopped working, head lights were replaced, 20 hours water pump replaced, 50 hours throw bearing, tractor had to be split. 100 hours the rod. 150 hours a hose on BH blown, 175 hours water hose blew, 200 tractor has to be split again for oil leaks from transmission. 445 hours the boom cracked. Nice record for a good tractor lol...

 

[jyoutz]

Kioti was on my list, actually it was on my list on the first position, but they didn't have Backhoe with no ETA, branson had everything

Tractor, loader, Backhoe, 6' box blade, forks, loaded tires for $26k OTD instead of waiting God knows how long. No one had backhoes then and no ETA but I just bought a 60 acres neglected property and needed a tractor like yesterday. Very tempting.

So far, 5 hours all front lights stopped working, head lights were replaced, 20 hours water pump replaced, 50 hours throw bearing, tractor had to be split. 100 hours the rod. 150 hours a hose on BH blown, 175 hours water hose blew, 200 tractor has to be split again for oil leaks from transmission. 445 hours the boom cracked. Nice record for a good tractor lol...

Wow. It sounds like that machine was built on a Monday after a long holiday weekend.

 

[part-time-Farmer-NC]

Unbelievable bad luck you have had on this tractor.

 

[WinterDeere]

Wow. It sounds like that machine was built on a Monday after a long holiday weekend.

Sure doesn't look like a build quality problem. I mean, weld quality isn't great, but when you see metal tearing and not a broken weld, it's design issue. Material selected was too thin for the task.

The broken cylinder rod is interesting. When heat-treated hard, they fail easily under tension, not so much under compression. But of course the curl operation has them under tension, so I'd guess there must be some pretty critical specifications on the heat treating and annealing process for cylinder rods used in curl positon, and maybe this one did not get manufactured according to that spec? Could also be a design issue, if rod diameter is insufficient, but then you'd be seeing Bransons losing curl cylinder rods all over this forum.

 

[ning]

When heat-treated hard, they fail easily under tension

such as when using the bucket edge as a dozer?

 

[WinterDeere]

such as when using the bucket edge as a dozer?

In theory, yes. But you'd think any manufacturer would recognize that's bound to happen, and design accordingly.

I've used the bucket on most of my tractors for grading and leveling, pushing and pulling every which way you can imagine, with never a failure of this type. I'm sure others put them through even more abuse.

 

[2515R Dude]

Sure doesn't look like a build quality problem. I mean, weld quality isn't great, but when you see metal tearing and not a broken weld, it's design issue. Material selected was too thin for the task.

Exactly what i said in my first post

 

[tradosaurus]

You've had the worst luck with that tractor. I know that your experience isn't the norm, but still, it makes me happy I went Kioti.

And I'm sure you could find owners of the Kioti (or Kubota or etc.) that have had similar issues.

 

[WinterDeere]

And I'm sure you could find owners of the Kioti (or Kubota or etc.) that have had similar issues.

Build quality issues are common to all brands. But design issues are less common month the more premium priced brands. A lot of the hidden cost is in design refinement and optimization.

 

[tradosaurus]

Build quality issues are common to all brands. But design issues are less common month the more premium priced brands. A lot of the hidden cost is in design refinement and optimization.

True to an extent. I don't think price point (premium price) is an indication of quality.
Before I bought a tractor I watched a few Messicks video comparing same size JD to the Kubota. I really wanted the green paint but realized that I was paying for the paint not the quality.