Dewayne Rhodig - 1918 Moline Universal Tractor

by John Lange

I had the opportunity to visit with Dewayne and Maxine Rhodig. The intent was to get a close look at Dewayne’s Moline Universal tractor. As typical during my visits with FRAPA members, my visit expanded well beyond a discussion about the tractor. Dewayne not only has a very unique tractor, he a large and varied collection ranging from hit and miss engines to cars. Dewayne was born in Stanford Nebraska on a farm. Starting at 12 or so he began doing carpentry work, mainly associated with the farm. This progressed to painting bridges. In the early 50’s he worked on the ammunition depot in Hastings Nebraska. He started as a laborer but quickly moved up to become a carpenter and managed a crew. Though still very young, his experience doing carpentry on the farm and his bridge work paid off. In 1952 he married Maxine and shortly after moved to Morrison Colorado. Throughout his career he was a subcontractor and involved in building the Music Institute, the Bidwell, and Viking II in Aspen; the Georgetown Motel in Georgetown; the Tomichi Village in Gunnison; and close to 2000 homes. In the late 80’s he began subcontracting for the city of Morrison then became a full-time employee. In 1987, the construction of C-470 and the Morrison water treatment facility forced a log cabin built in 1941 to be moved or torn down. Dewayne was given one week to move the structure. He hired a house moving company and started digging a hole for the foundation. The building was placed in position ten feet in the air while Dewayne built the lower story and foundation under it. The building was then lowered onto the foundation. It is now the Morrison Natural History Museum. The Museum focuses on local paleontology, recent finds include a baby Stegosaurus fossils and baby Sauropod tracks. The Moline Universal was built by the Moline Plow Company, Moline Illinois in 1918. Dewayne bought the tractor in 1994. When I visited it had not run in two years. After checking the battery and a making sure it had fuel, DeWayne engaged the electric starter and it fired up after turning over just a few times. Dewayne was a little disappointed, it usually starts in less than a full turn of the crankshaft. Sounded great! The Moline Universal tractor was based around the idea of providing a farmer with a flexible tractor and implement system. The Universal concept allowed for the easy switching of implements, and Moline had a full range available. Two-row cultivator, two-bottom plow, disc/harrows, grain drills, a corn planter and a 10-foot grain binder to name a few. The tractor is a Model D rated at 18hp on the belt and 9 hp on the drawbar. In the 1919 Ohio tractor power tests, the Model D produced 18.72hp on the drawbar and 28.7hp on the belt, significantly higher than its published ratings. It is powered by a 4-cylinder, 4 Cycle Stevens engine. It has some unique and very interesting features. It has a Remy (before Delco Remy) Governor, Generator, Ignition, Electric Starting (1st tractor to come with factory standard electric start) and Lights, locking differential and leveling device. It weighs 3380 lbs and has a 17’ turning radius. The tractor is articulated. Steering being achieved through a large bull gear on the front half and a small pinion on the back half. To change implements, the tractor is turned to a 90degree angle and the desired implement pushed under and attached with a simple pin mechanism. The engine governor is electrically controlled. The control box is next to the driver position and contains a simple 10 position rheostat that allows for 10 RPM settings ranging from 400 to 1600 RPM. The rheostat controls the “field” winding of the generator / governor. The field housing / winding is free to rotate 30 degrees and is spring loaded, this assembly is then attached to the throttle. As the rheostat position is changed the magnetic field in the field windings increases or decreases rotating the field housing against the spring and changing the throttle position, thus setting the base engine RPM. Variations in load are compensated for by a similar action, as the engine speeds up the magnetic field in the windings increases in force, the housing rotates and closes the throttle. As the engine slows the opposite happens, the magnetic field decreases and the throttle is opened. The governor response was claimed to be very quick and sensitive to very slight changes in speed, giving a very steady and accurate RPM across a wide range of loads. The Engine is mounted to one side of the tractor, to get equal weight distribution, the wheel on the opposite side of the engine has a large concrete disc poured in place. Another unique feature was a leveling device. This device was necessary to give the most efficient traction when one wheel was running in the furrow. To keep both wheels flat on the ground, the other wheel must be raised up about the depth of the furrow. This was a manual adjustment, so I am guessing the wheel height was typically set based on the days anticipated work. Dewayne also has in his collection a 1930 Willys-Knight automobile. In 1908, John Willys bought the Overland Automotive Division of Standard Wheel Company and in 1912 renamed it Willys–Overland Motor Company. From 1912 to 1918, Willys was the secondlargest producer of automobiles in the United States after Ford Motor Company. In 1913, Willys acquired a license to build the Charles Knight's sleeve-valve engine which it used in cars bearing the Willys–Knight nameplate. The Willys-Knight automobile was manufactured from 1914 to 1933. The engine in Dewayne’s car is the Knight 6-cylinder sleeve valve engine. The car was a “family” restoration project and is in immaculate condition. Dewayne drives it frequently in the summer. As a side note, Willys-Overland Company purchased a majority interest in the Moline Plow Company in 1918. Dewayne has to many hit & miss engines to list. I only took pictures of a few.