We have an 8300T and as well as 8100 tire and have had other 8000 series plus we have a Challenger 45 that we bought used several years ago when Cat was getting out of the ag business and their finance department was selling out the lease machines at auctions (had two for a while - nephew has the second one now).

I think catdriver sums it up pretty well - JD has superior cab and hydraulics but the CH tractor rides a little better. We had two CH45's for a while, pretty much identical except for the tracks. The one with 30" tracks with 70-80% tread ride on the road was a thousand percent better than the identical tractor but with worn out (20% tread) 24" tracks. The one with the worn out belts on a washboard road that had a crown would literally vibrate sideways towards the ditch when roading at the wrong speed (really, I'm not kidding). When Nephew bought it he put on new belts. Best roadability comes when the tracks are new and degrades as the belts wear out - that rubber cushion is all you have on the Deere and almost all you have on the 35-45-55 series Challengers so when half of it wears away and the rubber road hardens it makes a big difference. The CH45 with the worn out belts rode much worse on the road than the 8300T with the new belts did (8300T had 200 hrs when I bought it as a demonstrator) - so unless you are comparing tractors with similar belt tread depth it is not a fair comparison.

Our CH45 is pretty much a grain buggy tractor - I would guess it gets 400 or so hours a year on it. We put it on a disc or harrow once in a while but it is pretty small for all our equipment so only use it in a pinch. The 8300T is our planter tractor and this fall it drilled wheat. It has been on tillage a few times but like the CH45 it is kind of small and slow on what we have to put behind it so operators tire of it pretty quickly.

I think the CH45 has 3500 or so hours and I'd guess the 8300T 2500 or so. Mechanical wise I think they both are pretty reliable with both having some minor weak points. Driving in the field I perfer the JD but everything else we have is 8000/9000 JD so that probably more reflects what I am used to and am more comfortable being in. Deere hands down has superior steering and low engine speed performance. The JD can be throttled back and operated - the CH pretty well has to stay at full throttle and use the power shift or it either is not going to steer or the engine poops and dies. Keep the revs up it does fine. We have had the 8300T on the grain buggy and everyone that drove it pretty well made it clear they liked the CH45 much better in that application (better ride and transmission instant shifting). However I have never heard my operator that does most of the planting ever say he wished the 8300T was off the planter and the CH45 was on it. He has said he wished a JD8000 series MFWD was there instead of the track machine. I think if he had a MFWD for a while he would find some disadvantages with it, just as there are with the track tractor (nothing is perfect). His biggest beef with the track macine on the planter is terrible roadability (we do a lot of roading) and certain size/shape/angle terraces are a pain in the butt with it. Other than those issues the track tractor I would consider superior to a tire tractor on the planter. Berming is not really a significant issue with a wider planter (40' or wider).

Both tractors will do an honest days work. The Challengers were really cheap for awhile when Cat was liquidating (except for at the dealers where they stayed high priced). Now I think the bargains are going to be where you can find them, either with the JD or the CH. If you can find a "T" at a sale or on a dealers lot in an area where they are not popular you might find a bargain or if you can find a CH on a NON-Cat dealers lot maybe. Otherwise CH on a Cat lot or JD on a JD lot they are still pretty proud of them. The reason I have the 8300T is it was a two year old demonstrator with narrow gauge that nobody wanted (wide gauge tractors had been introduced) and both Deere and the dealer was dieing to get rid of. I paid less for it that what it was going to cost me to buy out the lease at the end on an 8200 MFWD I had with a lot more than 200 hours on it.

Maybe more than you wanted to know? Didn't mean to write a novel.

John