Master Sargent Snowplow: Tackles Snowdrifts With Ease

By Leslie C. Mcmanus
Published on December 8, 2014
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Dick Moody paired his 1930 Cletrac K20 with a completely rebuilt Sargent snow plow.
Dick Moody paired his 1930 Cletrac K20 with a completely rebuilt Sargent snow plow.
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Illustration of a Sargent snow plow.
Illustration of a Sargent snow plow.
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The Cletrac before restoration.
The Cletrac before restoration.
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Dick found the Cletrac and Sargent plow to be a surprisingly powerful team.
Dick found the Cletrac and Sargent plow to be a surprisingly powerful team.
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Dick puts the vintage tractor and plow through their paces.
Dick puts the vintage tractor and plow through their paces.
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The freshly rebuilt Sargent plow mounted on the Cletrac.
The freshly rebuilt Sargent plow mounted on the Cletrac.
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Dick's restored 1930 Cletrac K20.
Dick's restored 1930 Cletrac K20.
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The Sargent snow plow Dick got from a friend was in rough shape when he got it, and the passage of time did little to improve matters.
The Sargent snow plow Dick got from a friend was in rough shape when he got it, and the passage of time did little to improve matters.
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Patent no. 1,519,437: Carrying device for tractor snow plows. Patent granted to Don A. Sargent, Bangor, Maine, assignor to Northern Trailer Co., Bangor, Maine, July 6, 1926. This patent was awarded before Dick's plow was built, so some variations exist between the two.
Patent no. 1,519,437: Carrying device for tractor snow plows. Patent granted to Don A. Sargent, Bangor, Maine, assignor to Northern Trailer Co., Bangor, Maine, July 6, 1926. This patent was awarded before Dick's plow was built, so some variations exist between the two.
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Patent no. 1,519,437: Carrying device for tractor snow plows. Patent granted to Don A. Sargent, Bangor, Maine, assignor to Northern Trailer Co., Bangor, Maine, July 6, 1926. This patent was awarded before Dick's plow was built, so some variations exist between the two.
Patent no. 1,519,437: Carrying device for tractor snow plows. Patent granted to Don A. Sargent, Bangor, Maine, assignor to Northern Trailer Co., Bangor, Maine, July 6, 1926. This patent was awarded before Dick's plow was built, so some variations exist between the two.

In 1985, when Dick Moody got a lead on a 1930 Cletrac K20, plowing snow was the last thing on his mind. But old iron has a funny way of calling the shots. “I didn’t know what a Cletrac was,” he says, “but I had always wanted a crawler, and being young – in my early 40s, and ‘can do anything’ – I went to look at it. It did look pretty sad, very rusty with no paint showing, no tin, gas tank badly dented, engine stuck, no magneto and no carburetor. Still, being young and stupid, I bought it for $450.”

When he got the crawler home, Dick – who lives in New Boston, New Hampshire – poured most of a gallon of WD-40 in the cylinders. “I got the biggest Stillson wrench I could find and a 6-foot pipe and jumped on the handle,” he says, “and nothing.” For three years, every time he walked by the Cletrac, he jumped on the wrench. Finally, one day it moved. After the engine finally turned over, he removed everything he could; then he sandblasted and primed all of it.

Next, he pulled the head, hand-lapped the valves and took shims out of the connecting rods and main bearings. The pistons weren’t broken (“where was I going to get new pistons anyway?”) so he honed the bores, cleaned the pistons and bought new rings.

Improvising as needed

Dick tracked down Cletrac literature, an owner’s manual and a sales data sheet. Photos in that material showed what type of magneto and carburetor he needed. He found a magneto at a Dublin, New Hampshire, engine show but the search for a carburetor took longer. “A year later I found a carburetor that would work,” he says, “but it wasn’t the right Cletrac carburetor, which has a square end. I turned the radiator around to improve the looks of it. It still leaks a little but black pepper keeps it under control. Actually it makes a great conversation starter.  People will ask, ‘Hey, did you know your radiator leaks?’”

At the Dublin show, Dick met Wayne Fisher, who had a Model K in excellent condition. He offered to loan his tin to use in making patterns for duplicate hood and side panels. Dick pounded out the gas tank and filled the dents with body putty. “The whole job was starting to come together and being the optimist I am, I painted the tractor and fired it up,” he says. “Whoops. No clutch.”

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