I grew up on a 2000 acre farm in New Mexico. My grandfather had an 8000 acre cattle ranch and my uncle had a huge dairy. The tractors that I cut my teeth on were John Deere 3630s all the way up to 8630s.
These days I don't need anything nearly that large. When I was shopping I looked seriously at Kubota, Kioti, LS, TYM, Mahindra and Branson. I chose the Branson and bought a 2015 3520H with the FEL and Backhoe. I got it from a local dealer in Berthoud, Colorado in the spring of 2015. That dealer is no longer in business.
The biggest troubles I have had with it are the instrument cluster and DPF.
Instrument Cluster:
The instrument cluster went out at about 85 hours. As I said I was angry and disappointed that Branson didn't consider the instrument cluster as part of the "drive train" as far as the warranty goes. I still think that's BS, but as I said, I never trust warranties and this just further cemented my opinions on those. That failure ended up costing me about $500. The engine ran fine when the instrument cluster was out, but none of the instruments did so I had no fuel gauge, tach, or idiot lights.
DPF Issue:
The DPF issue: Since I don't drive my tractor full bore for hours at a time, the DPF got a bit clogged to the point where it wouldn't run. I opened up the rescue port so that I could load it onto a trailer and took it to the dealer. The dealer said he could "make it breathe a little better" wink-wink. He cleaned the DPF and then did "that", whatever that was, and it has never given me moment's problem since. I presume he drilled a few holes through the catalyst but haven't taken it apart to look at what he did. It does smoke a little bit, when it didn't at all before the "procedure" but not as much as a non-DPF tractor does. The exhaust blows onto the FEL bucket and did make it a little black, but I had a local muffler shop make me a small extension that bends the exhaust down toward the ground and that solved that.
While the tractor was in the shop for the DPF issue, I had the same local muffler shop make me a regular muffler to replace the DPF with. I chose a muffler for an old Ford tractor and it wasn't enough muffler so the tractor was louder and smokier than I liked with it on; but I figured that if the DPF ever gets clogged again, I can swap it out with the regular muffler and still use it, but I haven't had an issue with the DPF since the dealer did his thing. If you choose to delete your DPF, get a nice, larger turbo muffler so that it won't be loud. The Ford-style muffler I chose is little more than a glass-pack.
With Kukje (ahem TYM)'s engine, the DPF delete is straightforward. The engine isn't computer controlled so it doesn't give a rip if there is a DPF in it or not. There will be a red "DPF" light on the dash that you can either choose to ignore, or turn it off by unplugging the DPF controller- installed next to the battery - which does nothing but illuminate the light if it detects no DPF, or a pressure mis-match between the DPF sensors. it does literally NOTHING ELSE.
The other problems I have had with it are...
- A spring broke that balances the hydrostatic pedals. This made the tractor creep forward instead of stopping when no pedals were being pushed. I removed both springs (the broken one and the still good one) and took them into ... Ace hardware I think but it may have been Tractor Supply. The replacement set were stronger than the originals, but they have been going strong since about 2017.
- A spring inside the FEL control valve broke, and is still broken. This makes the bucket slowly curl up when the engine is running and nobody is tugging on the stick. I haven't fixed it yet, but I did hook a bungee cord to the stick and clipped it into a hole on the glass wing in front of the hydrostatic pedals. That bungee cord has been going strong since 2019; but I do need to take the control valve in and have it fixed properly. The rubber boot on the control valve is all shot to hell as well. Apparently they didn't install a UV resistant boot at the factory.
Hail damage: Not the fault of the manufacturer, but I include it for the purpose of being thorough with EVERYTHING that has gone wrong with my tractor.
- A hailstorm in July 2019 destroyed the upholstery on the backhoe seat. Whenever it got wet, the foam would absorb a bunch of water and make your pants all wet whenever you used the backhoe. I ended up replacing the backhoe seat with an old-school metal tractor seat that I painted red to match the tractor. It works fine, is plenty comfortable and is impervious to the weather.
- The same hailstorm damaged the tractor seat upholstery. It put some hairline cracks in the vinyl but didn't completely expose the foam. After a few years the cracks got a little worse and I eventually needed to put some duct tape on the seat to keep the foam from getting wet. There is an automotive upholstery person near me who can repair it relatively inexpensively, I just haven't taken the time to do that yet.
Other than letting the tractor be outside when a hailstorm came though, I take good care of it. I change the oil at regular intervals. Engine and Hydraulic. I check the front axle oil regularly as well and change it as needed. Usually in the spring, I go through it, inspect it, wash it, and change the fluids and filters.
It has served me well and I look forward to its hairier-chested replacement, but with a cab this time.
I believe the Branson FEL and Backhoe attachments are manufactured by Ansung, painted red and "stickered" by Branson. I know for sure that Branson's BH76 (the one on my 3520H) is Ansung's BH760.
Update:
Oh I forgot. One of the gas cylinders that hold the hood up went out and I had to hold the hood up with a stick. The Branson parts were way expensive and hard to get so I ordered these:
They were about $25 for the set. They were a half inch too long so I had to drill a new set of holes on the lower bracket to which the struts mounted, but it was no big deal. It took me about 30 minutes to install them. They are about 50% stronger than the ones the tractor came with and now the hood goes "whooooop" all the way up very quickly when you open it, and it stays there.
The originals were I think 100lb. struts and these are 150lb. struts.
