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If you're talking about putting them in the field with tillage equipment, the M will work the 300 into the dirt. While the 300 is about the same physical size, and is newer, the M has a larger engine, probably weighs more, and may have larger tires. The gear ratios for 2nd, 3rd, and 4th gears are closer on the M than the 300, giving the M somewhat of an advantage on finding the optimum tillage speed. If the 300 has a good TA, that will help, but not enough. By this time, the 300 and the M have likely been overhauled at least once or twice, and have probably received some engine parts that increased the power somewhat. Here again, the M has the advantage, as the overbore kits for the M increased the displacement to 264 cid, a bigger increase than the 300 got from its kit. The 300 Utility came from the factory with the rpms set higher than the row crop units. Within weeks, lots of farmers had turned the row crop tractors up to the same rpm limit as the utility models (about 2100 or so) and got some hp increase. Even that isn't going to put the 300 ahead of the old M, however, as a large percentage of those monsters have had the governor opened up to let them run 2000 rpms or more. (I've got one that's been faster than that since 1964, and I can't see that it's hurt it much!) Factory hp ratings were very close, but some of the old M tractors now push out close to 50 hp, a few even more! The 300 will have better hydraulics, and the live pto found on most models makes it more versatile. On a pto job, a good 300 can come close to holding its own against the M, but by the end of the day, it will have worked harder!
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