QUOTE=Arky217;1659037]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[/QUOTE]
i own a 2006 farmtrac 545dtc with loader. its been a good tractor. the only trouble i have had is the 4 wheel drive engegment handle. be careful the handle can be pushed to far down. this has happened to me twice. once this happens you have it repaired to engage the 4 wheel drive.