What have you done to your Branson today?

[Hombre]

Waiting till Monday to get a couple hydraulic fittings so I can finish up my third function valve. The fitting ON the tractor for the power beyond is a different thread than every thing else, it's not pipe thread or JIF (or whatever that alphabet size is) that also means the tractor valve for that spot is also different, very strange. Local shop that makes up the hoses had to order a male and female end for the new hoses between the valves. Admittedly I've been pretty lax about getting this done but I don't need it right now. The only thing that's difficult about this process is determining where to put the 3rd function valve then figuring out how to make everything else fit in that space. I have seen this kit with the valve installed on the FEL cross piece out front and it comes with enough wire to install it there. I didn't want it out there but it sure would have been a lot easier to do...

 

[ptsg]

It's BSP. Most likely to be 1/2" BSP. Pretty standard on this side of the pond.

 

[Hombre]

It's BSP. Most likely to be 1/2" BSP. Pretty standard on this side of the pond.

You are probably correct. It is a 1/2" fitting and brass. The only brass fitting on the valve. So is BSP a metric size?

 

[ptsg]

It might be yellow but it's definitely not brass. It's just an anti-corrosion coating but it's still made of steel to handle high pressures.

It's imperial size. BSP means British Standard Pipe thread or some times called BSPP = British Standard Parallel Pipe thread. It's almost the same as NPT but with straight threads instead of tapered ones.

These fittings will seal either with a copper washer or a steel washer with an o-ring glued on the inside diameter.

 

[Slowpoke Slim]

Weather was decent enough today to get a little work done on the Branson. I took the data logger off, after figuring out the retaining clip on the connector. Sadly, the mounting plate is welded to the battery hold down bracket. I was hoping to take that off as well. But, the data logger and it's mounting screws are sitting in a bag, on a shelf, right next to my dpf filter. I spent some time trying to figure out how to get the logger's wiring harness off. Unfortunately, it is actually woven into the main engine harness, and I just didn't feel like cutting the whole harness apart to remove the logger and sensor lines. So I wrapped the connector plug in plastic and taped it up. Hopefully it will stay clean in the plug.

Getting set up to work, FEL up and blocked...



This is the connector plug for the data logger...



This is the retaining clip. I have the screwdriver underneath it, and just have to press in and (carefully) pull away...



Once the clip is released, then the hasp (?) is just rotated towards the front of the tractor...



Now the connector can be pulled away from the data logger.




I also pulled out the air cleaner element for inspection and cleaning. The Branson uses a 2 part element, and inner and an outer element. The inner one was clean as a whistle, showing me that nothing is getting past the outer element. The outer element was pretty dusty. So I blew it out, from the inside to the outside, with low pressure compressed air (about 30 psi). Got a whole bunch of dirt out of the outer element.

Since I had the air cleaner element off anyway, I pulled the screen out from in front of the radiator and gave it a cleaning as well. It doesn't trap much back there, as usually between the hydro cooler and the air conditioner condenser, they seem to trap all the chaff before it can get to the radiator screen.

Also topped off the coolant overflow tank, as it was a skosh low.

All done now, tractor fired right up, idiot light for dpf stayed off on startup and running it back around to it's parking spot.

What did you guys do today?

 

[Branson Bob]

What did you guys do today?

Hey Slim.

I broke down and bought a riding mower for the meadow (I refuse to call something I can lift off the ground a lawn "tractor"). It was needed but I hated to spend the money due to the fact that we only use it maybe 4 times in the spring before everything turns brown and stops growing. At any rate it's a 2-year old (100 hours) Cub Cadet XT1 and I got a killer deal... just $850... about half or less of a brand new one. One benefit beyond just mowing is that I have a small dump trailer that the Cub pulls for those jobs where the FEL is overkill and a wheelbarrow is not enough.

 

[Slowpoke Slim]

Hey Slim.

I broke down and bought a riding mower for the meadow (I refuse to call something I can lift off the ground a lawn "tractor"). It was needed but I hated to spend the money due to the fact that we only use it maybe 4 times in the spring before everything turns brown and stops growing. At any rate it's a 2-year old (100 hours) Cub Cadet XT1 and I got a killer deal... just $850... about half or less of a brand new one. One benefit beyond just mowing is that I have a small dump trailer that the Cub pulls for those jobs where the FEL is overkill and a wheelbarrow is not enough.

Nothing wrong with that Bob. I use my little dump cart behind my riding mower all season long. Very handy tool to have around.

 

[Branson Bob]

Nothing wrong with that Bob. I use my little dump cart behind my riding mower all season long. Very handy tool to have around.

Here are the pics, Slim. I won't show you the cart... the rust might be contagious.

 

[Slowpoke Slim]

Hooked up the brush hog last night after work and started mowing some weeds down in my pasture. We've had a bunch of rain recently, and more coming this week, so wanted to get some of it done in the narrow window of time I had. Got some of the weed patch down, then hit some brush I wanted gone. One of the bushes hit back and I sheared my pin on the pto shaft. By the time I found my replacement pins and got one in it, it was supper time. Rain is supposed to start this evening and go through Friday morning. Oh well, maybe weekend after next...

 

[ptsg]

Had an interesting project this weekend that ended up taking all of my machinery.

First had to use my homemade backhoe to dig a 25+ years old pine tree stump that had the roots pinching the water supply line for the orchard irrigation system. Ended up breaking the swing cylinder mount, not once but twice. At least now I added enough steel to prevent this from happening again. But got the stump out anyway. It's massive, most likely to be over 1800 lbs.



Then I had to use the tractor with a 5/8" steel rope to pull the stump out of the garden, up to the driveway, so I could finally use the electric forklift to move it to the resting place where I'll cut it with the chainsaw eventually. No pictures of the tractor pulling the stump though.