Confused about Montana tractors ?

   / Confused about Montana tractors ? #1  

Arky217

Silver Member
Joined
May 6, 2009
Messages
224
Location
Hartford, AR
Tractor
Kubota L4200
Hello everyone,

This is my first post, (and I apoligize in advance for it's length) but I've been reading the posts on TBN for several months to educate myself on today's tractors. Though I grew up with a Farmall 140 in the '50s and '60s, that is about the limit of my experience with tractors.
I have 24 wooded acres from which I am doing some personal use logging and milling to build a retirement home. I need a tractor for such general uses as handling slabs and brush, clearing of small trees, moving rocks, leveling, road grading, etc.
Therefore, I have been looking for a good used tractor for some time, but also have been considering new ones as well.

I went to a place today to look at a used JD, but it looked a little too used for me, but found out the place sold new Montanas and McCormicks. I told the owner what I wanted the tractor for and he steered me to the Montana model 545DTC. From the specs on the tractor and the price he gave me, it looks like a real winner.
When I got home, I went to the Montana web site and saw that on the right side of the page, it showed these tractors as the Montana Limited series, but it did not have any information on them. Then I started to read the posts on TBN and becamed confused about these tractors. From the posts, it seems that Montana has bought out Farmtrac ? Is this the case, and are these blue Montanas rebadged Farmtrac tractors ? Of course, that wouldn't mean anything to me anyway since I know little about either brand. This tractor sure looks stout and has just about everything that I think I need in a tractor (except maybe a shuttle shift). I was impressed by the dealer as well; he said that he would cover all transportation costs on warranty work and I live about 50 miles away.
The dealer gave me a one page brochure on the tractor, but didn't have anything on the loader. But he said the loader is a model 5345 (couldn't find it on the Montana web site either) and that it could lift 3100 #. It, like the tractor, looks pretty stout.
Can anyone tell me about this tractor ? Is it a Farmtrac, now a Montana ? And is that good ? bad ? doesn't matter ?
Is that the right lift capacity on the loader ?

There seems to be some posts of dealers dropping off, should I be concerned about this dealer near me being able to do any needed warranty work for the next three years ? And will parts be available in the future ?
This dealer also told me that the warranty was 'bumper to bumper' for 3 years, including the loader. I have not been able to find anything on Montana's web site about the warranty, but I have read in some posts on TBN that the 'bumper to bumper' is only for 1 year ?
Finally (aren't you glad I'm finally stopping :) ), does anyone have this model tractor, and if so, how do you like it ?
What are it's strengths ? And have you noticed any weaknesses ?

And also, what is the country of origin for these tractors, and who makes the engine ?

Thanks much to everyone who replies,
Arky
 
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   / Confused about Montana tractors ? #2  
Arky great questions---read FarmTrac troubles in the other tractor brands thread for a real eye opener-----Who did he say was to supply the parts for warranty work---the dealer????---Montana???? or Escorts----the company that built the Montana Limited Tractors in India---or LS Mtron????----the company that built the small Farmtracs in Korea!!!----cause we have been reading and writing on TBN for awhile now and we can't get the straight answer from anyone-----DOES ANY ONE KNOW THESE ANSWERS----FEEL FREE TO JUMP RIGHT IN WITH THE ANSWERS!!!!
 
   / Confused about Montana tractors ? #3  
Basically from what a local dealer tells me Montana will warranty any tractor they sell regardless of who built it. Warranty on my tractor is 1 year bumper to bumper and 3 years on the drivetrain, engine ect. They may have gone to 3 years bumper to bumper since I bought mine, I did not ask. I have only had 1 minor warranty issue and it was handled promptly, without me having to haul the tractor back to the dealership. I wish I could say as much for my MF tractors. I quit reading the Farmtrac thread months ago because it was just too much BS and wild speculation about not much of nothing.
If the tractor is a good price and you like the way it is set up I would buy it. The dealers near me are still in business and I have not heard a word from any of them about being displeased with Montana at all.
Montana's are now all LS built, as are the smaller Mccormick's. Mine is a Tym built model that was replaced by an LS model this year.

Arky217: I am not familiar with the Greenwood ,AR area dealer, but if you would like the number/locations of 3 Oklahoma dealers let me know and I will email them to you.
 
   / Confused about Montana tractors ? #4  
Warranty is only good while the distributor (Montana, Farmtrac, John Deere, Kubota, etc, etc) is still in business. If the distributor closes out of business(ie GOES BANKRUPT) then there is no warranty. Read the Farmtrac troubles thread for more history and details. Good luck.
 
   / Confused about Montana tractors ? #5  
Montana has a pretty good set of backing from what I understand. They have the stated intent to be a major player in the AG tractor segment and saw Farmtrac as being a step in that direction. That was their orignal intent when the made the first offer for them before the farmtrac bankruptcy. Personally I see it as encouraging that they are still moving that way with the purchase of the assests. Despite all the wild conspiracy theories :rolleyes:and innuendo;) I fiquire Montana has a better shot of staying in than a lot of the other players in the small tractor segment.
 
   / Confused about Montana tractors ? #6  
montana owner here and i would not hesitate at purchasing a montana. the limited series are in fact farmtracs. montana will honor the warranty since their name is on the side of the hood. alot of these farmtracs are built buy the same supplier as montana. ls cable has stated that they will honor warranty of certain farmtracs the one's that say farmtrac depending on either sale date of year of manufacter. not sure of the exact details but read some posts it out there. i know alot of users feel that since montana hasn't been in business very long that they are most likely going to fail in this economy and be just like farmtrac? personally and remember this is just my opinion they aren't going anywhere. in fact i questioned my dealer about the presence of ls cable in our tractor market and how it will effect montana and if i bought a collectors item. now this is a good guy who is an auto dealer(most of the contract tractor dealers are) who is trying to become a tractor only dealer, and he tells me that there is plenty of money behind this company with multiple owners pulling the strings. do some research read some posts talk to a couple of dealers. the company name suppling the tractors is LS CABLE out of s korea. this company has been building tractors for some time they have switched names several times. do a wikipedia search on ls it's some good reading. that being said i have not meet a tractor i haven't liked, i have run several brands and i do not come on here saying my brand is the only one worth buying i just don't care for people that use every opportunity to trash another brand. and unfortunately montana now is assaciated with farmtrac and i drawing even more attention. even though they had nothing to do with the failure of farmtrac. feel free to pm me if you have questions regarding this post.
 
   / Confused about Montana tractors ? #7  
I like all the brands. Ive never had a tractor but my Montana grader blade is an excelent little tool. Im only 13, implements were my first choice since they are cheaper but now I am saving for a tractor. Im not sure which one though. Good luck. Are you getting agg tires?
 
   / Confused about Montana tractors ? #8  
I've been a Montana owner since Feb 2005, and bought one of the initial 5740C's with the "squared" FEL they came out with the first year. I can't even remember the name of the FEL manuf. right now. The dealer I bought mine from no longer is a Montana dealer and hasn't been for about a year now. As far as I know, there are no Montana dealers within a reasonable distance from me. By reasonable, I mean within a hour to an hour and a half's drive from me.

Ok, I am VERY pleased with my 5740C tractor and I am still very pleased with the price I originally paid for it, compared to a "name brand" tractor with the same equipment on it.

Like with all brands, there are good dealers and bad dealers, but I have found that Montana dealers realize their dealer network is "thin" in some places and the active dealers I have talked with on the phone are VERY willing to help any Montana owner in any way they can to get parts ordered or however their help is needed.

That having been said, the Montana factory techs themselves can be hot or cold, depending on who you get on the phone when you call the factory for help or information. As a result, I have basically tried to do any repairs myself. An example of this is the fuel tank design on the original 5740Cs. The tank is plastic and does rip out from the screw holes leaving you with a large spot of diesel fuel on the barn floor. When that happened to me, I didn't even bother with Montana factory reps or techs and I just did the repairs with my buddy. Actually, I figure our repair procedure was better anyway and will definitely last.

I guess what I'm saying is that IF you have a dealer close by your home, you can figure the warranty means something, but if you don't and you're not real handy or have a buddy with a machine shop who is a wizzard at making parts from scratch like my buddy is, you may be in for some real problems.

Just my opinion, but the tractor itself is a workhorse and mine was well worth what I paid for it. I would not buy ANY tractor in the future if there wasn't a dealer close by for warranty problems to be handled. "Close by" is a relative term and it's definition is different to each of us.
 
   / Confused about Montana tractors ? #9  
[ I quit reading the Farmtrac thread months ago because it was just too much BS and wild speculation about not much of nothing.


You are 110% correct with your statement!!!!
 
   / Confused about Montana tractors ? #10  
I did make it up to talk to the dealer and the Montana factory rep today. The dealer is still happier with his relationship with Montana than his dealings with MF/Agco for the most part.
According to the rep: Montana will warranty and is committed to sell parts for any tractor they sell for the "forseable future". Montana believes that there is a good market for them to sell the parts for the Escort and LS manufactured tractors that Farmtrac sold, but, of course, they are not involved in any Farmtrac warranty issues. They belive that they are uniquely placed to fill that niche. They do have in place agreements to sell Escort parts, but do not intend to import Escort tractors to sell under the Montana name.

One of his more interesting statements"There are too many companies out there that can build a quality tractor to our specs for us to have to deal with Escorts for anything but parts."

I did not ask if the parts agreements went beyond anything that did not have parts commonality with tractors currently produced.

The dealer did not have any of the "Limited" tractors on his lot today, but said that they were readily available. He did have 2 Montana tractors built by another Indian company that would fall into the smaller side of the "utility" category and where very sturdy looking tractors.
 
 
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