Have you ever wondered just how many different models there were of the famous “Chamberlain” tractor? Well I did some research and have come up with the first being put into production in 1949, it was the 40K…. 1950 came the 40KA …In 1952 came the 60DA …which at the time was the most powerful tractor in its class in Australia. 1954 saw the production and sales of the 45KA… the 55KA the 55DA and the Super 70.90. …
1955 heralded the famous Champion series. “Tail end Charlie” being one of the first off the production line… going down in history as a part of the “Redex” trials along with “Gelignite Jack”. 1957 saw the introduction of industrial tractors, many were put to use as the power plants for front end loaders and backhoes. 1958 saw the introduction of the 9G Champion it had 9 speeds whereas the earlier Champion had 6 speeds. Hence the “9”. … The Countryman mk1 also appeared in this year; along with the industrial tractors the “Chieftain” and the “Commander” The Canelander and the Crusader was on sale by 1959. … 1960 saw the Countryman Mk11. and the Mark111 was produced in 1961 … The Champion 306 came out in this year as did the Countryman 6 and the Countryman 345 … The Champion 236 came out with 3 point linkage in 1970. The C456, the Champion C670L and the Countryman C6100 were in production until 1975 …
This was really the end of the REAL Chamberlain tractors…. Many engines were used over the years 1948-1975 amongst those that were not Chamberlains own engines, the company used products mainly from Perkins…but GM diesels were used as was the Meadows… Many Hybrids existed that had other engine…We have about 12 different manuals/books for the early Chamberlain tractors…. a follow up blog on Chamberlain…The sad saga of Australias own tractor. Bob Chamberlain a tractor mechanic , designed a tractor and built a prototype tractor . It became the basis of the 40K model tractor… Australia`s tractor… The first Chamberlain tractor produced was the model 40k which had a 40 horsepower (30 kW) twin-cylinder, horizontally opposed engine. Running on kerosene.year 1949. The 45K and the 45KA were just bigger Hp then the 40K but still running on kerosene. Then around 1955 Chamberlain brought out the last of the Chamberlain engine powered … the 55DA …based on the Kerosene engines, it was not a success due mainly to the engine parts not suited to run under the stresses of diesel. From then on all Chamberlain tractors up to 1970 used Perkins engines , a few exception like the super 90 had a GM 2 stroke diesel engine , the super 70 had a Meadows amongst others. But the rest of the many tractor models from 1956 until 1970 used Perkins engines. JD took over in 1970… this company messed about with the Chamberlain tractor and the Chamberlain name. and produced the C6100 and the c670 which in real were just updated 306 and 354 tractors.. Then then used their own tractors repainted yellow and passed them off as Chamberlain tractors … the 3380 the 4080 the 4280 and 4480… Then JD dropped the yellow colour and used their own green on the 4490 etc… then dumped the name Chamberlain completely.. I might be biased! But why in the world we let a greedy company like John Deere to come in and set out to destroy what was a viable tractor manufacturer … I will never know.
Worth noting for owners etc of the last of the Chamberlain badged tractors such as from the 3380-4080-4280-4480-into the 4290 etc these tractors are rebadged JD tractors and most if not all used the same engines therefor as example a 4290 has the same engine as a 4280 the … as for the rest of the tractor whereas some used a turbo engine others had the engine without the turbo… if a wsm is not available for your particular tractor you could use a wsm of a diferant series and find it very useful when doing repairs etc… Another bit of information… the last of the Chamberlain tractors that had Perkins engines as the Chamberlain C670 and the Chamberlain C6100 are really just rebadged Chamberlain 306 and the Chamberlain 354 and some of the Countryman tractors….so if you want to work on these 2 the C670/C6100 use the wsm for the 306 or the 354…
WORTH NOTING we have a workshop manual just on these engines as fitted to these tractors …
Chamberlain 3380 3380B Tractor with John Deere JD 4-239D Engine
Chamberlain 4080 4080B Tractor with John Deere JD 6-329D Engine
Chamberlain 4090 Tractor with John Deere JD 6-359D Engine
Chamberlain 4280 4280B Tractor with John Deere JD 6-359D Engine
Chamberlain 4290 Tractor with John Deere JD 6-359T Engine
Chamberlain 4480 4480B Tractor with John Deere JD 6-359T Engine
Chamberlain 4490 4690 Tractor with John Deere JD 6-466T Engine
Chamberlain Champion 239 Tractor with John Deere JD 4-239D Engine
Chamberlain Mk4 Industrial Loader Tractor with John Deere JD 4-239D Engine
[continued: It will be posted on September 15, 2021 at 9:29am]
A Sincere Note From Us:
This blog post was written by our late founder, Don. If you would like to read more, click here.
We will add more old posts written by Don in the future as a dedication for him.
