Adams Road King Pull Type Grader

By Dan Manning
Published on March 4, 2013
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Christopher Hodges on the back of the restored Adams Road King grader with Franklin, his dad, handling the lines to a seven-up hitch of draft mules owned by Orville Jackson and Charles Buckner.
Christopher Hodges on the back of the restored Adams Road King grader with Franklin, his dad, handling the lines to a seven-up hitch of draft mules owned by Orville Jackson and Charles Buckner.
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Inside the Old Web Hodges blacksmith shop in Fair Grove, Mo., Franklin holds a bent grader brace so Christopher can hammer it back into shape. 
Inside the Old Web Hodges blacksmith shop in Fair Grove, Mo., Franklin holds a bent grader brace so Christopher can hammer it back into shape. 
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The Adams before restoration.
The Adams before restoration.
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Christopher and Franklin Hodges on their 100-year-old Road King.
Christopher and Franklin Hodges on their 100-year-old Road King.
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Christopher with the freshly painted Road King.
Christopher with the freshly painted Road King.
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The Hodges’ Road King has no serial number plate showing year of manufacture. The model was produced from 1896 to the 1930s. 
The Hodges’ Road King has no serial number plate showing year of manufacture. The model was produced from 1896 to the 1930s. 

When Christopher Hodges and
his dad, Franklin, unloaded a 5,000-pound antique at their farm east of Fair Grove, Mo.,
they were very happy; they’d almost lost the piece twice — not off of the
trailer on the way home, but while haggling with two previous owners.

Franklin had first seen the old Adams Road King pull-type grader
sitting beside a scrap-yard in Lebanon,

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