FarmTrac Troubles

[gamble77]

Well, we have been hearing for the past year or two about possible mergers or buy-outs concerning FarmTrac, the article below was in the Tarboro, NC paper on Friday (the 18th)...not looking good...

The Daily Southerner, Tarboro, NC - Farmtrac tries to regroup

[Suburban600]

The economy slowdown may be at fault? Here in Swansboro, south of Tarboro where Farmtrac is headquartered, the Hatteras Yacht plant is shutting down with a loss of about 200 jobs.

As for tractors, would be nice to see the the depreciation tax incentive back on the books in full force like it was in 03. Might make a difference for the smaller equipment companies like Farmtrac.

[Slacker]

All manufacturing is stopped until further notice. Employee's working for free on a "voluntary" basis. Dang it. I knew I should have went with Orange.

[NewToy]

Originally Posted by Slacker

All manufacturing is stopped until further notice. Employee's working for free on a "voluntary" basis. Dang it. I knew I should have went with Orange.

Slacker, Does your tractor have a counterpart in the Montana line? I think my 270DTC is the same as a Montana 2740 with a few minor differences. Might make for quite an exciting look as the green parts mix with our blue ones. Hopefully, the guy's down there working for free will save the day. That's my happy thought anyhow. When my local dealer went belly up, I bought all his parts he had for my 270. I ended up with 6 or 8 oil filters, a couple of hydraulic filters and some glo-plugs. Gave him 50 bucks for the whole box, I should be OK for awhile. Oh yeah, 2 or 3 fuel filters in the box as well. I had purchased a case of air filters for it right after I bought it. I believe they were Donaldson filters, got them from some big fleet service outlet in St. Louis for $8.00 or so each.

John

[bluechip]

This may or may not be the end. As I understand it, Escorts does not have 100 percent ownership of Farmtrac NA. Ive heard that they have invested a lot of money in the North American company. I'm wondering if this is not a means for Escorts to bury this company and start a wholly owned subsidiary to distribute their tractors. If employees are willing to volunteer, they must see a future that may not be apparent to the rest of us.

Hopefully, no ones tractors will end up totally orphaned, including the 8 I have in stock! We have suspended our retail sales or Farmtrac tractors until we know the complete story (especially warranty status). As a dealer, I have received no offical notice from the company concerning their status or plans.

LG/LS tractors are being sold by Montana and McCormick currently so those tractors will likely have parts support regardless of what Farmtrac does in the US. Also since this lay off seems to affect the US operation only. Parts should be no problem for the Escorts (Ford style) tractors as they remain in production in India.

My main concern is warranty support for my customers at this point. I think well know a lot more in a couple weeks. This could be really good news in the long run (no pun intended). Time will tell

[rustyanchor]

I am not happy to hear Farmtrac is having problems, I have 65 hours on my 360 and have no complaints. It seems to be a well designed and well built tractor with many standard features (2 rear remotes, trailer wiring, QD bucket etc.) that seem to be options on the big name tractors.

Just hope they resolve their issues and stay in the CUT market.

I'll go talk to my dealer this week and see if he has any insight.

Mark

[Tim C.]

First, dealers don't know any more than the average person, at least for now.

The 360DTC is an exact match for the LG3840 from Montana.

The only problems matching the LG/LS series with be the 450 and 550 on some parts. I am sure that with a little research we will be able to match those as well. Plus, we have two companies with access to the LS parts network.

Dealers are waiting word on the warranty question. Any thing you hear now are rumors and assumptions. They should be treated as such.

Tim

[Slacker]

The Backhoe and FEL that are on my 360 are made in Tarboro, no cross over to the Montana/Mctractor lines. I don't know what to think....dealers suspending sales, current warranty status unknown...those two things alone are enough to make me cringe. All before the tractor is even paid off.

Originally Posted by Tim C.

The 360DTC is an exact match for the LG3840 from Montana.
The only problems matching the LG/LS series with be the 450 and 550 on some parts. I am sure that with a little research we will be able to match those as well. Plus, we have two companies with access to the LS parts network.
Dealers are waiting word on the warranty question. Any thing you hear now are rumors and assumptions. They should be treated as such.
Tim

[Tim C.]

No need to cross over the loader and backhoe. Any local hyd. shop can take care of the lines and cyns. Local welding shop can cover the metal.

All is not lost.

Let's just wait and see. Things are going on behind closed doors that could make everything better. If those talks fail, we can start to worry.

Still two players in the game. First, all Farmtrac tractors are dealer floor planned by Textron. They have taken over a few companies in the past. E Z Go golf carts is one. Second, top level Farmtrac people are talking to LS this week.

In the mean time, you have a great little tractor with the best loader/backhoe ever put on an LS tractor.

Please feel free to email (trcook@hughes.net) any concerns or parts needs. I would be happy to help.

Tim

[gamble77]

Is Escorts not doing anything about this situation to save their NA distribution company?