A Model D Worth Waiting For
Farmer and Moline-Universal reunited after a half century
By Oscar H. Will III
I never got to drive it when I was a kid,” Norm Kuper explains, as he proudly wipes a thin layer of South Dakota dust off the engine of his beautifully restored Moline-Universal Model D. “I had to wait 50 years.” Soon after his father brought the tractor home in 1934, this Lennox, S.D., man says he was ever-eager to take the controls, but his father never let him — he was just too young.
“I was 10 when he sold it in 1937, and I thought I was plenty old enough (to drive the tractor), but really I wasn't,” Norm admits.
When first released in 1917, the Moline-Universal Model D was arguably a tractor well ahead of its time. The small, relatively lightweight, 2-bottom plow machine was ideal for farmers who wanted to replace horses, but had no need for the large steam- or petroleum-powered traction engines that still prevailed on the prairie. However, like the larger tractors of the time, the Model D was cumbersome to operate, and was no match for a youngster at the controls. But for the farmer who had been used to using horses, the Model D was a mechanized marvel.
Universal appeal
Norm isn't certain what kind of life the tractor had before his father purchased it; however, it didn't appear to have been abused. “It was already 15 or 16 years old, but the tractor and plow were in good condition as I remember,” Norm says. “Dad used it to move the broiler house around and for some other chores,” Norm says. “But I don't think he plowed much with it.”
In the years that followed, that Model D toiled as the primary tillage tractor for brothers (and bachelor farmers) Wichard and John Ruhaak. “The Ruhaaks used it with the 2-bottom plow to work their ground until the mid-1950s,” Norm says. “They never had indoor plumbing, but they made things last.” That the Model D lasted into the second half of the 20th century as a working tractor is testament to both its robust design and to the care its owners took to maintain it. Eventually, though, the Model D was parked in the shelterbelt.
When the Ruhaaks retired the Model D in about 1955, Norm was busy with his own farm and young family. “It wasn't until quite a few years later that I thought about trying to buy that tractor,” Norm explains. In fact, it was in the mid-1980s, about 30 years after the Ruhaaks had retired it, that Norm and his brother Luverne went to see if the Model D was for sale. “John (Ruhaak) had passed away, and Wichard, who still baked his own bread on a corn cob stove every Friday for the week, told us he didn't need any money,” Norm says. “We were both a little disappointed at first.”
After some thought, Wichard explained he needed a snow-blower, and noted that if the Kuper boys could get him a good one, he would take it in trade for the Moline-Universal. “Luverne and I headed right into Sioux Falls and bought him a top-of-the-line ‘blower,” Norm says looking out the window of the house he and his wife built while still on the farm — the house now comfortably situated on a city lot they purchased in Lennox after retiring. “I bought that ‘blower back at Ruhaak's sale — it comes in handy since we moved the house to town.”
Out of the woods
When Norm and Luverne pulled the old Model D out of Wichard's shelterbelt, they were pleasantly surprised by what they found. The wheels hadn't been rusted through, although they were partially buried, and the drive train wasn't frozen, so it was easy to roll. “The tractor didn't look the greatest, but the engine was still loose,” Norm says. “It didn't run, and the wiring was a mess, but it was all there.” The Kuper brothers hauled the tractor and its original 2-bottom plow and cart to Luverne's shed, and embarked on a project that would take the better part of the next two years. “It didn't take long to get it apart,” Norm says. “But putting it back together was a different matter.”
The Model D's Moline Plow Co.-built 192 cubic-inch displacement engine was in remarkably good shape, although the cast iron pistons were worn enough they really needed replacing. Long absent from the parts shelves of Minneapolis-Moline, White and AGCO dealers, new replacement pistons for the old tractor were not an option. Good used parts are also virtually impossible to find for the Model D, so Norm and his brother turned to another antiquated source for replacements.