My New Montana 5740C Arrived -Initial Impression

   / My New Montana 5740C Arrived -Initial Impression #1  

Unclebuck257

Platinum Member
Joined
Feb 13, 2005
Messages
516
Location
Decatur, Texas
Tractor
2005 Montana 5740C
I waited at the dealer's on Friday, March 4th, for my Montana 5740C to arrive from the factory. I watched as it was unloaded off the 18 wheeler, kind of like being in the delivery room! You see, I had ordered it without ever seeing one physically, and having only seen pictures and read specs on one!! I was up and in it, in a heartbeat, as soon as it hit the ground, just generally looking and taking it all in.

By the time it arrived, it was 430PM CDT, but the dealer said they would stay until "O dark thirty" getting it ready, and he promised that it would be delivered to my place, about 45 minutes away, later that Friday Night!! I then left and came home.

About 730-8PM that night, my dealer, Cody Armstrong, of A- Tractor Shop in Springtown, Texas came down our private road and pulled into my place with our 5740C on his trailer! It was dark out, so we just unloaded it, and put it in the barn for the night at that point.

It was Saturday morning before I got a real chance to spend any time driving it and while I'll admit that so far, I've only put about 5 hours on it total, I wanted to give you my impression of this very FINE tractor! I used mine to move 6X6 round bales around in the hay bale storage area, carrying some out to the cows in the pastures and generally riding in my pastures for this initial test riding.

Keep in mind that I had been shopping tractors with cabs in the major market brands before I decided on the Montana 5740C. I had driven one with a cab and about the equiviliant hp to this Montana 5740C in Kubota, Case, New Holland, and JD. I owned a Kubota prior to buying this Montana also, but in a smaller hp rating and with no cab. I ordered my Montana 5740C with a FEL too.

Here's my impression so far!

The Engine..

That 4 Cylinder Mitsubishi Diesel engine is as nice as it gets. It's smooth, not noisy and just kind of purs, even brand new! This was just one of the stats that impressed me when making my decision to buy. The other major brands all had 3 cylinder diesels, that I knew were somewhat noisy.

Steering..

You could steer this 5740C with your pinky finger, the steering is so easy. There is no lag in response from the steering and it's solid and crisp.

Transmission..

The Montana 5740C has easy clutch shifting with your H or L lever on the immediate left of the driver, and your actual gear shift on the right. Both are very convenient to get to and use. From where both are in relation to the seat, there's no crowding, but very comfortable to use.

Of course your forward, reverse, and neutral lever is on the dash, to the left of the steering wheel. It was smooth to operate when going from forward to reverse, and what else can I say about that?

Cab and platform..

The platform of this Montana 5740C is plenty big inside, with a very comfortable seat for the operator. It's big enough inside for our 1 year old Catahoola pup to sit there, to my left by the door, and either ride sitting up and looking out, or lay down and still allow me to operate the tractor perfectly, with both of us being comfortable. She had to ride with me all day yesterday checking it out too!! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

The cab doors close tightly and securely, with a "solid" sound when they do close. No rattling from the doors of any kind, and it almost appears "air tight" when they close.

When inside the cab, with the engine running, and operating this Montana 5740C, you can only hear about 30%, or less, of the actual engine sound. if that much!! When in the cab, with the engine off, you cannot hear someone outside talking to you, or for that matter, hollaring at you, as my wife did when she tried to get my attention yesterday! Turn on the radio to a good FM Country station and you'll NEVER hear the wife!!! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

The A/C and heat controls, along with the radio and a fuse box, and the A/C vents are located above you on the right and left, in the roof. My A/C blows pure ice cold, which to me is important here in Texas!!

The tractor light controls are on your right and up by the roof too. This tractor comes standard with a "sun roof" and I checked it out completely. It appears to open easily and shut back closed, very tightly. The seals around it appear to be tight and solid too.

The dash is laid out so it's very easy to read, and would be best described as plain and simple, but very functional. You also have a height adjustable steering wheel for comfort, and a driver's seat that adjusts for "load cushion" and backwards and forwards for operator comfort too.

The frame of this Montana 5740C is solid and feels solid too as you are operating it on rough pastures and rock roads. This provides a very good ride from my Montana 5740C too, with a stability you can feel as I drove it up and down hills and sideways on slopes..

Engine Compartment..

The hood of the engine compartment is opened by moving one lever on the lower left side of the engine compartment . The entire hood raises up, via two hood lifts, giving you easy access to the entire engine, for whatever work you might need to do.

There is also a hard metal framed, easily removable, screen that slides in and out, directly in front of the radiator, that can be cleaned off or blown off easily, and then reinstalled easily too. That'll be very handy for me when mowing my pastures, with all the grass pieces that tend to get blown up and into the radiator area.

The PTO..

I haven't used the PTO yet for any work, with the exception of just checking out that the electronic PTO worked from the dash lever. I can't therefore comment on it further at this point.

Tractor Weight..

I believe that Montana advertises this tractor at a weight of 5555 lbs. I'm not sure if that's with, or without, the FEL. Regardless, I saw my tractor at work, using it's FEL when it was delivered to the dealer and it didn't take a front end dive in ANY WAY, under a very heavy load!!

My tractor was the last to be delivered that day. As a result, it was all the way up by the cab of the 18 wheeler, on the trailer. The 18 wheeler driver lowered the rear section of his trailer so my tractor could be driven off his trailer, but when he went to raise up that 8-10 foot steel section of his trailer again, his battery was dead and it wouldn't go back up. The edge of my FEL was used to lift up that steel section of his trailer so he could then lock it back in place. I watched closely for several reasons, but I did notice that even under that very heavy load, my FEL didn't strain a bit, and there was no lunge of the front end of my 5740C, or raising of the rear end. Although, I would have preferred that they had used a fork lift instead, that situation did give me an opportunity to observe what my 5740C was capable of.

Of the major brands I previously test drove, I think the Case weighed a little more, but the Kubota and New Holland weighed the same. I forget what weight the JD had, but it was in the same general area. So again, the Montana 5740C was equal to those other major players.

General Comments..

As I said, I had driven the Case, Kubota, JD and New Holland cab tractors, of equivilant hp, prior to deciding on the Montana 5740C. I am VERY PLEASED I made the decision I made to buy the Montana 5740C.

The Montana has a bigger cab and larger platform than all those others, except I think maybe the Case, which might be almost as large as the Montana.

The interior of the Montana cab, and how it's set up, meets or exceeds any of those other major tractor brands for comfort, and functionality.

The overall "looks" of the Montana meets and/or exceeds any of those other brands, depending on how well you like a darker green color with silver lettering!! I do, so it's real fine for me.

The engine of the Montana to me is definitely a quieter, and I think better engine, and with this 4 cylinder Mitsubishi diesel, I know we'll all be hearing good things about the Montana 5740C for years to come.

Of course, I'll know more after I use my Montana 5740C more hours to mow pastures and move and stack round bales, when the time comes.

Keep in mind here please that I'm actually comparing apples to oranges when it comes to price of these tractors too!! All of those other major brands I'm comparing my Montana 5740C to, had a retail list cost of SEVERAL THOUSANDS of dollars more that my Montana retail list price, but gave me NOTHING for those extra thousands, compared to the Montana, except their brand name! I truly believe so far that my Montana 5740C is an equal product to several of those other brands too, if not superior to them in some ways.

Truthfully, if I said there was no difference at all in those other four major brands and my Montana 5740C, I'd be lying!! The Case, for example, had a molded in cup holder on the seat arm and my Montana has a not too stout, or large, cup holder that folds into the frame, to the left of the driver seat. Also, my Montana has the brass nuts, openly showing, that hold down my "forward, reverse and neutral" lever and my speed setting lever to the left of the steering wheel. The Case, and I believe two of those other brands have little plastic covers over the nuts holding down those levers on their equivilant tractors, so those nuts themselves don't actually show.

I priced those two little plastic nut covers, if I wanted to get them, at 59 cents each. I priced a heavy duty cup holder, if I wanted one of them, at about $19.99. That's a $21.17 dollar additional expense for me to save those extra thousands for minor appearance sake and their brand name. Let's see, several THOUSANDS of Dollars minus $21.17, equals me WAY AHEAD, with my Montana 5740C!!! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

As I use my 5740C more, I'll post more, but I wanted to post my initial impression of this tractor ASAP. Many folks were asking questions about them in here and the only guys in here who really have any knowledge about Montanas are mostly dealers. They were not kidding either about Montana's quality or performance but my NOT being a dealer should answer some questions for other "ordinary" folks, I hope.

Anyone in the North Texas area interested in looking at, or purchasing, a Montana tractor might want to call Cody Armstrong at "A Tractor Shop" in Springtown, Texas. I've found him to be an honest, forthright, young man, who believes that his word is his bond. That's not easy to find in this world anymore either!

I'd also like to say Thank You to both Dancee and Maka, members of this site, and Montana dealers in their own sections of the US, who answered my initial questions in this forum about Montana tractors! It was really appreciated!
 
   / My New Montana 5740C Arrived -Initial Impression #2  
Very good review!
 
   / My New Montana 5740C Arrived -Initial Impression #3  
Enjoy your new purchase. Im sure youll enjoy it for many years to come . Great post ! I believe thats the first to report on the 5740 on this site.You described the machine better than the manufacture describes it on there site /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
   / My New Montana 5740C Arrived -Initial Impression #4  
Great review. Please post some pictures.
 
   / My New Montana 5740C Arrived -Initial Impression #5  
Jim,

Thanks for taking the time to post an excellent review.

I enjoyed talking to you about tractors and attachments----sorry I missed the order---but am glad ,for your sake, that another Montana dealer popped up in your neck of the woods,--especially a good one.

dancce
 
   / My New Montana 5740C Arrived -Initial Impression #6  
Hey Jim,

I am happy for you. Very nice tractor. The 5555lbs is without the loader. Please take some pictures and share.

Best Regards,
Maka
 
   / My New Montana 5740C Arrived -Initial Impression #7  
Great choice, just bought one W/ loader $26,499.00. w/ free delivery. Very impressed. Unless they go under, but hopefully There are enough common parts to cross.from the research i've done it looks that way.
 
   / My New Montana 5740C Arrived -Initial Impression
  • Thread Starter
#8  
ozarkian1,

CONGRADULATIONS!! I've had more time to check out my Montana 5740C since my initial post and it continues to impress me. I'm sure you'll be just as impresed and pleased as I am.

I'll be posting some pics of me and mine, as soon as I can get the wife to post them for me, from our digital camera. They're in there, and I've just got to get them in here!! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

I doubt seriously from all I've read and heard, and all the people I've talked to that have bought Montanas, or are using Montanas, that this company "will go under" as you put it. Too much quality in these Montana tractors, at a very good price, compared to the so called "name brand" tractors, with less or equal quality, for that to ever happen in my opinion.

Man!!! I love my Montana 5740C!!! /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
 
   / My New Montana 5740C Arrived -Initial Impression #9  
I feel that sofar it doesn't play second fiddle to any other Mfg. i also have been a Case Int. tech for the last 12 Yrs.. and we've never owned anything but red paint in the past. I bought mine after the neighbor bought his & he's had his for about a year i guess, has had know trouble.
 
   / My New Montana 5740C Arrived -Initial Impression #10  
Congrats, I enjoyed your review.
 
 
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