What information do you guys have on Champion Graders? I have never seen or heard of one until today.
-Agent-, Champion is one of the oldest names in motor graders. They actually built horse drawn pull type graders back in 1886 followed bu the first hydraulically powered grader in 1936. Check out http://www.championantiquegraderclub.ca for more information about where Champion started. In 1997, Volvo Construction Equipment bought the Champion Motor Grader line which consisted of a factory in Goderich, Ontario that built the large 700 Series as shown in your pic and a factory in Charlotte, NC that built smaller compact size graders. In 2004 Volvo divested the compact grader line and my Dad bought the company and the Champion trademark. My and my Dad's roots run a little deeper than just 2004 and you can get the whole story at www.championmotorgraders.us . We still build Champion graders today that range from 13,000 lbs to 24,000 lbs. The 700 Series Graders built in Goderich, Ontario would be rebranded Volvo in 2000 and model numbers changed to the G900 Series. The G900 Series graders are going through some major changes as far as production. They have shut down the factory in Canada and a new addition in an existing Volvo plant in Penn. is in process where the plan is to move production. In the intrim production is being covered from an existing plant in Brazil. I've given you a very small look into the history of the Champion graders. Its a long and exciting history at least for us grader lovers anyway! If you are looking for more information on larger graders over 24,000 lbs then go to www.volvoce.com and if something smaller is what you need try www.championmotorgraders.us for a complete line up of compact and production class graders. I hope this helps!
-Agent- . You can reed the book (Everything for the Road Maker ) about what Champion has made .see the pictures of the book .
i can say that a champion is comfy as hell and pushes snow like a locomotive.
Simple and straight forward. Not very plush but will go forever and is easy and economical to repair when needed. It's a components machine. Champion didn't build any parts themselves save for the frame and cab.
I've operated D600's, 562's, 710's, 740's, 760's and an old pull type behind a John Deere D. Each generation of Champ got better for the operator. The Cummins equipped graders had lots of power and torque at low revs which was important when finishing. Some had Detroits which weren't as good as they needed so many revs to generate torque and are slow getting up to speed. Still weren't bad. Early models were short on hydraulic capacity as well but that too improved over the years. Some 700 series had weak front axles that would beak for no apparent reason. However as time went on they became a decent grader. In Canada they were a very common machine, probably second only to Cat although I'm just speculating on that. As qball says, with their weight and power they could really move snow! Lately I've only been involved with Cat and JD so not familiar with the Volvo machines. Glad to see the name is kept alive by Motor Grader. I believe the second largest grader ever built was a Champion, the 100 T. http://www.vannattabros.com/road4.html That machine looks like a 710 or 720. Good finishing machine.
yes the champion are good graders on the snow plowing. buddy barry has a 1983 740 champion with a 6-71 detroit and we can plow snow with that machine. the highways department has the brand new volvos which are always broken due to computer problems. so the non computer 740 has been filling in. we start plowing and when it gets close to 12 hours plowing that is when we are looking for the fuel truck. i just did 31 hours straight last week and right on the 12 hours mark since i left the shop, buddy barry was there to fuel me up at 2 am in the morning. these are great machine and easy to fix, we deal with jade in edmonton which is 1800kms away for parts because these guys get the right parts the first time around. thansk KoO Published Author
Thanks for all the info guys. I'll try to get more pics when I go up there tomorrow.
Hi KoO..you guys should rig up a front plow for the grader. Sooo much better for plowing..
How much better is a front blade? Hi KoO..you guys should rig up a front plow for the grader. Sooo much better for plowing.. __________________ Hi Grader4me So I want to know the advantages of a front blade? I have an old state Hwy blade, it is 11' and is designed to angle only to the right but it will swing even to the left. So I've been trying to figure out, 1) should I set it up to angle? 2) angle with hyd cylinder or pin? 3) put/make sometype of end plate to be able to make a bucket pusher out of it. 4) put skid wheels on it for when plowing gravel roads. Any recomedations will be great. Paul
If you can explain exactly what type of plow that you have, maybe I could help you out a little more.
thansk guys, a front plow would be nice but our roads up here are narrow and we usually do first pass on the way out and on the way home cut it down for the finished product. we don't get the wind that causes the snow to drift in and make it hard so plowing is easy. for the first time, buddy barry had to buy tire chains for the grader because of the first snow and rains this year. these chains will last over 10 years because they will hang on the grader untill we need them which might be in 10 years, LOL. reason for the tire chains. http://kingofobsolete.ca/kinoosao_rally_road_WEBPAGE.htm thansk KoO Published Author
Not sure I follow this statement about Champion not building any parts themselves. Sorry if I misunderstood but basically the entire grader was built for decades in Goderich, Ontario with very little out sourcing. The 8400 transmission was built by Champion also. I spent a great deal of time in the factory from 1993 until they had the auction to shut it down last month.
Engines were Detroit or Cummins and I'm sure others were used. They used Clark transmissions and rear ends for a time and the hydraulic system I forget the name. I will admit I'm not that familiar with newer ones so maybe by the end they were building more of their own parts. Nowadays its really only Cat Deere, Komatsu, and Volvo etc who don't use a lot of off the shelf components. How was it working for Champion? I always heard it was a good family run business atmosphere.
I see what your saying now. True, up until around 1990'ish Champion would install any engine. Somewhere in that time era they standardized on Cummins. Now that the larger graders are owned by Volvo its a Volvo engine only. I think if you peek into the guts of a CAT, Deere, Volvo, Case, etc it may appear that the manufacturer is building more components such as hydraulic pumps and motors. Typically its still a pump/motor manufacturer doing private labeling for them. Its especially common on a part that they use alot of.
thansk motor grader. the champion grader is very popular in the great white north with about 20 machines in the area where i live but not all in working order. the detroit engine is the most popular engine that is in the machines. the champion is easy to work on and has no computers that will shut the machine down. i did 31 hours straight last week plowing snow and then check the 740 over in the shop. the machine has to be ready for when we get the call from the highways department saying the computer is acting up again on the fancy new machine.with the help of the BB, we have made numerous improvements to the machine to make it better. also $1500.00 cnd money for 2 tire chains came to today for the 740 champion. now with these diamond pattern chains i can climb those hills now, LOL thansk KoO Published Author
antique champion graders we recently purchased a very old 600 series Champion grader (without a manual) with a 671 Detroit diesel. I beleive it is a 1960's vintage. It runs very well still however we are now encountering some steering problems. It has a Sheppard steering box Model 514 I beleive, which we are having trouble finding any info on. THe grader has trouble steering to the right - to the left is not a problem. ANy sugguestions on what might be the cause or any info on a website that we can trouble shoot the the inner workings of the Sheppard sterring box? Thanks Coltur
antique champion graders we recently purchased a very old 600 series Champion grader (without a manual) with a 671 Detroit diesel. I beleive it is a 1960's vintage. It runs very well still however we are now encountering some steering problems. It has a Sheppard steering box Model 514 I beleive, which we are having trouble finding any info on. THe grader has trouble steering to the right - to the left is not a problem. ANy sugguestions on what might be the cause or any info on a website that we can trouble shoot the the inner workings of the Sheppard sterring box? Thanks Coltur
Coltur, You should try Jade Equipment - http://www.jadeequipment.com/pages/default.aspx They are about the only people that have made it their business to keep these older Champion graders running.
thanks I will try Jade. Coltur
Hi all,I'm new to the forum .i would like to say i have imported a 726a 3 from the states to wales uk it had done 5000 hrs ex goverment .It was taken apart then put in a 40 ft container and shipped over (i have never done this before,my nerves were a jangling) but it turned up and 3 of us got to work puting it together which took one and a half days. It started first time (cummings) and everything looked good.the only thing not working was the front wheel drive (oh Sh** !!) ,we needed to get the machine to work so went off grading all was fine ,we were still trying to sort out the problem,yippee it was the switch on the brakes that had gone so would not turn the front drive on it took us a while to get the wireing diagrames but at leased we are now sorted the part cost £120 ouch . anyhow great machine love it,ihope it is reliable . Can anyone tell me what to look out for on the machine as in its weak spots. Thanks all great forum ,i will post some pics when allowed .
In my dealings Jade has always been terribly expensive and service not always good. Whenever possible I deal CW Enterprises http://www.cwenterprises.ca/ or there was a wrecker I dealt with out of Ontario but the name slips me.
I recently bought a 700 Champion with a 6cyl detroit. Only has 1500 hours. It was used for mixing asphalt for a small state highway department district. They went to contractor supplied asphalt and idled the grader. Every hydraulic cylinder needs rebuilding, but it runs and operates great. We will start rebuilding it next month for sale. I have an old mechanical 112 Cat for grading my work.
I've got an old 562 with the sheppard box. THere's relief valves in the box. I had trouble with mine, figured out the pump was bad. Changed the pump last spring, wound up splitting the box wide open becuase someone had been messing with the relief valves trying ot "fix" it. Updated to cylinder steering like the newer ones. Used a 2 1/2" X 10" cylinder from Princess auto and a control valve off a massey 300 combine. Took about half a day to do. Works better than it ever did before, spent about 300 bucks and any idiot can fix it.
Same experience here.
LOL you bought a champ with a Cummins LOL I also agree jade is a expensive outfit to deal with I had an older gentlmen that I was working for and we wanted a newer second grader well we basicly gave up dealing with jade on the purchase and bought a 143 from cat with much less hassle for less money. SO I think that says it all I just wish they could have been delt with Champ graders are my fav
There is lot's of Champion graders up here in New Brunswick too. The gov of New Brunswick run's lot's of them too. Kyle
Yup..they sure do...
I lived in Goderich for many yrs and have alot of friends whom were employed by Champion. I believe Champion started at the airport in Goderich, which now is home to Sky Harbour Aircraft Refinishing. The building in Goderich I believe has been sold to locale fabricator whom builds cabs for Hitachi. It was a shame to see Champion sell to Volvo, they built an exelent grader there. My company ProTek Sandblasting & Painting was started just outside of Goderich. I remember donating our services to the antique club. I believe it was a late 1800s horse drawn, donated to them by the Muskoka Airport. Definately some history there. Bryan I remember when your family purchased the smaller grader line. You got a great machine, and there is alot of ppl whom are glad to know that the Champion name is still in the industry. I have a friend here in Ontario that owns one of your machines and he loves it.
Jade makes a lot of their own parts for Champions and in my experience they build them way to cheap, then they overcharge for them.
Thanks proteksandblast, I miss the old Champion days so much. Things were going so good right up to Volvo coming in. I have alot of good friends in Goderich. Dad and I went up for the auction just before they shut the plant down. I'm glad we were able to get the compact grader back from Volvo. Not sure if you knew or not but my Grandfather and Dad started building the compact graders back in 1980. We sold out to Champion in 1993 and went to work for them. We continued on when it became Volvo. They never purchased our building and just paid us rent. So buying it back from them made sense. Nothing to move. We are still here today. Been building compact graders for 30 years. I do miss going to Goderich though. Used to be up there all the time.
I am looking at a 1980 740 A with a 671 Detroit. What was your fuel consumption on your 31 hr. I have been running a 720 A with the 6 cyl Cummings. I get about 3 gallons per hr @ 2000 rpm and 5 gallons per hr @ 2500 rpm.
Dimensions of a Champion 730A Good morning: Does anyone have the dimensions of a 730A mortorgrader?
Here is a online brochure from the Champion 730A: http://www.volvoce.com/SiteCollecti...eries IV/Ch 730-730A-736A IV 21 730E(9411.pdf On the last sites you find the dates.
What year/ series are you looking at? All of them had 8.3 Cummins engines- really good engine, only issue I seen was head gaskets. Midway through the series 3 they upgraded the clutches on the 8400 transmission, I doubt there's any of the earlier transmissions that haven't been rebuilt with the morfe aggressive frictions. Partway through the series 3's (around serial #24000) they changed to a "slip-fit" wheel bearing and 24 volt electrical. The slip fit wheel bearings are not so good. I'm not sure what the change up was there but it wasn't until the tail end of the series 4's that they figured out a fix. We rebuilt many sprockets. Starting with the series 4 was variable displacement hydraulics, valves were moved to the frame before the cab and the front frame was redesigned with "Moveable Blade Control System" (Cat style center pin), and a slight cosmetic change to the front of the frame with the toolbox moving to the passenger side tandem. Series 5 got the cab painted black and a "joystick" gear shifter. And series 6 got a new pinstripe and the air conditioning moved from the cab roof to under the seat. And I think with every redesign they invented new places to stick grease zerks- had they come up with a series 7 I'd probably be spending all my Saturdays greasing . Best machine I ever ran was a pre 24 volt series 3 (although it was a 740).
I should rephrase that. All of them after 1984 had Cummins 8.3's.
Does anyone have specs on a Champion D-560HD, such as year produced, power plant, etc.? Thanks
Probably has a Detroit or International engine. Manual Transmission. I think they started making them in the 50s. Probably a 12 foot moldboard. Before my time.
Thanks, I’m looking at a CL posted D-560HD whose owner is stating it’s an 1980ish rig which doesn’t sound right. I’ve got a serial number just no where to reference it.
Not all of them. I have a 1990 740 with an L10 and a 99 with an M11. Regarding the 560 there was also a 562 and a 565. Not sure what the difference was though.
They started making them in the 50s, not sure when they stopped. I doubt Volvo would be any help. You could try Jade equipment, I think they sell parts for Champion. I know that by the 80s you would be into the 700 series, and there was also a 600 series before that. A member up farther in this thread Motor Grader. Used to be involved with Champion, but I have not seen him on here in a long time.
I guess the question is for how long were the 500 series continuing to be produced after commencing in the 50’s. It has the 471.
I would suggest starting a new thread posting the serial number and what it's for, and asking if anyone can date it. This thread is quite old. Maybe post some pictures if you have any.
Yes- but he was referring to 730’s. They all had 8.3’s after 84.