Foreign Friday: Chamberlain 4490

In order to cover tractors that come from across the world, I am going to take Friday's post and focus on foreign tractors and companies. Today I am going to focus on the Australian tractor company Chamberlain and in specific the 4490

Background:
Chamberlain Tractor Company was founded by A.W. (Bob) Chamberlain in the 1940's, with encouragement from the Western Australian Government the tractors were produced in a former munitions warehouse in Welshpool. The first tractor to roll off the assembly line was the 40K in 1949. In 1955, the company went from producing tractors that ran on kerosene to those that ran on diesel fuel. To promote this change in the Chamberlain line, they entered a converted tractor in the Redex around Australia rally. They called this tractor "Tail End Charlie."
In 1970, Deere and Co purchased a controlling share in the company. In the 80's Deere bough the remaining shares and thus formed the Chamberlain John Deere Company. By 1986, demand had dwindled and John Deere built the last tractor with the Chamberlain name that year. After that Deere started to import models from the U.S. to Australia and started manufacturing tractors under the John Deere name in the old plant.

Chamberlain 4490:
In a last ditch effort in 1985, the John Deere owned Chamberlain company decided to release a new line of tractors, but this time instead of the standard yellow in the past, they had a familiar paint job of John Deere Green and stickers that resembled the Deere brand in the US.

Chamberlain 4490

You will notice in the picture above that the 4490 shares some of the features of a 4450, like the fenders, decals and the pressurizer roof used on the Sound Gard Body. If you look closely at the engine that is indeed a John Deere 466 c.i. motor also used on the 4450. 

Chamberlain 4490 4x2 Chassis

One of the distinct Chamberlain characteristics that you notice at first is the wider than normal rear tires which are also fairly short for the width, at least compared to those in the United States. Also, the front end sticks out quite far from the front axle, which is different from John Deere's of that era, well unless you have an auxiliary fuel tank on your John Deere. Chamberlains look much like the old Ford TW's of the 80's on how the front end sticks out over the front axle.

Chamberlain 4490 4x4 Chassis

4490 Stats:

MFG: 1985-1986

Location: Welshpool, Australia

Total Built: 250

Weight: 13,779 to 14,319 lbs

Engine: Deere 7.6L (466 c.i) 6 Cyl Diesel

Engine HP: 137

PTO HP: 129

Chassis: 4x2, 4x4

Similar John Deere: 4450