I'm Looking for a good row crop tractor 200 to 250 horsepower

We are looking for a replacement for a John Deere 8310 that has a ton of hours. We use it for row crops and have a Trimble RTK system. I just wanted to hear some thoughts on a good 200 to 250 horsepower tractor as a replacement when considering cost as the number one issue and functionality number two and reliability number three. I'm interested in a JD 8230 with 3 thousand hours but dang they are expensive. I can get a New Holland TG 255 locally for about 1/2 the price with less hours but I don't know much about New Holland. I'd also be very interested in a Massey Ferguson as I really like the local dealership service and I hear they are usually the best economically speaking considering overall costs. Please share any opinions you might have. We stepped out of the deere circle to buy a Case MX 270 and dang has that been an awesome deal!! It was about 1/2 the price of a comparable deere at auction and has been more reliable than our deeres. My only beef with the 270 is I don't like the interior controls as I am used to the deere controls which are top notch IMO. I like the deeres but so expensive I don't know if I can justify owning them. Again reliability is not a huge issue as we can easily rent equipment from neighbors if need be as long as it isn't breaking down at a ridiculous rate. I've come to learn that all equipment has it's breakdowns I just don't want a lemon. I dread making repairs to my JD 8310 everything seems to be twice as expensive as it should be. This may seem stupid also but do most row crop tractors now come factory installed plumbed for an RTK autoguidance? We want to keep our trimble RTK setup and I'm wondering if it will pretty much plug and play with a small conversion box on most newer tractors. Right now I'm most interested in hearing about the TG 255 if anyone knows about that tractor.

I think most of the people on this forum are utilty tractor owners and may not be able to help with the RTK system. I watch tractorhouse.com for used equipment in my area and I see LOTS of 200HP+ late model tractors set up for rowcrops. Might be a good place to look.

Talk.newagtalk.com has some owner comments. We have Deere and New Holland in smaller sizes 105 HP to 170 HP. My cousin traded a JD for the New Holland before I got involved in the operation - in a snit with John Deere over a failed clutch and cost to repair. When it came time to replace our 6210 utility tractor with another this year, we went with a 6230. Aren't a lot of the power train parts on the TG255 and equivalent Magnum identical, and don't they go down the same assembly line?

Thanks for the replies. Yeah I was a little worried this site was mostly small tractor owners but I'll still probably continue to visit and post since we have small tractors as well. Yeah I have heard the new holland and case are basically the same but I'm not sure I believe it. There are definitely some major differences between the two.

Holy Horse Power 200 - 250 hp puts my little 32 hp to shame:hissyfit: Good luck in your search !!

We have phased out most of the JD's tractors/combines from our farms for the same reasons, replacement cost & cost of ownership - JD just hasn't kept pace with today's value equation & IMO no longer offers a competitive whole of life proposition to justify their "premium prices".

In our larger current/newer gear for rowcropiing (c.250hp+ ) we run mainly Case & 2x NH's (not TG255's) these have all proven to be equal to/superior to the JD's in (NH :thumbsup:) fuel efficiency , (with the Case's more so in ) productivity/reliability, our experience has been the same in our broadacre operations where we now mainly run Case & have recently purchase 2x low houred NH's (a TJ450 & a T8050 ).

what would you liek to know about the TG?