Driving tractors as a kid

This is a repost from the Ford N board about 6 years ago. I remembered it the other day and looked it up.




I was accused of acting like I had been driving tractors for 150 years in a thread below.
No.
Not anywhere close to 150.
But I do remember 55 years ago when I was 8.
Grandpa had an Allis B and I would ride on the drawbar and hang onto the back of the seat. One of my most memorable rides was blowing up a stump with him.
He loved dynamite and had used it in the mines when he was younger.
So one day he had this big stump that was by the lake that was vexing him for some reason and he bought some dynamite in town. It was perfectly legal then.
So he dug a hole under the stump and attached the blasting cap and fuse to the sticks of dynamite.
The fuse was white and looked like clothesline rope. I think he cut it about 10' long.
Then he covered the hole back up and packed the dirt in tight and stamped it down. He cut off a piece of fuse about 2 long and showed me how to light it with his cigar.
That was the same way we lit bottle rockets on the 4th of July with a punk so I understood.
Then he got on the tractor and started it and gave me his cigar which was lit and told me to light the fuse. He had me do it cause the B was tall and hard for him to get up and down on. These little Fords are much easier to get on and off of than that B was.
So I lit the fuse and ran as fast as I could cause he had already started driving away. And I jumped onto the drawbar and we hightailed it out of there. We went about 300 yards away and turned the tractor around so he could watch from the seat. I stood on the ground and kinda peeked around the tire.
I remember wondering why we had to drive away so fast cause we could have walked away that far even if grandpa was old and slow.
And I had started to wonder if he had done things right because it took a long time and maybe it wouldn't blow. Then all of a sudden there was a terrifying crash and the ground shook and a big black cloud of dirt and wood rose up sky high.
And I blinked and ducked behind the tire. When I looked out again the stump was completely gone and there was a big hole in the ground and chunks of wood were still falling down into the lake. But we were far enough that we only got dust on us. Then Grampa asked me what I had done with the cigar.
But in my excitement and running away and getting on the drawbar I must have lost it and he was disappointed but not mad.
And we drove over to see the hole and he was real jolly about it and said he would haul some dirt there to fill it. Then we went up to the house and Grandma made us lunch. We were the best pals that day and he was really glad I got to help him with the blasting.
So was I. The following spring they put me on the tractor and I would drive slowly through woods while the bigger kids and Dad would go out with pails and collect the Maple sap and dump it into a barrels on the trailer. We made a lot of syrup.
Then I had proved I could handle the tractor so I got to drive it to do other things.
When Grandpa died we moved onto the farm and I drove the tractor all the time doing haying and raking and hauling manure in the trailer. Pitch it on and pitch it off in the garden. Ugh.
And hauling trash to the dump from the cabins and launching boats into the lake for the cabin people. I got to pocket the $2 we charged. I used to drive the tractor in the lake with a spike tooth drag to kill the weeds. Had it in the water right up till the fan was just ticking the water. Real slow. Don't make waves.
Later we got a Case DC3 and even later a Massey 35. I rebuilt the Allis B engine in Ag class my senior year of HS.
Just an inframe - rings and rod bearings and a valve job.
It ran a lot better after that.
I drove those tractors a lot as a kid and learned not to be afraid of them.
I'm still not afraid of them but I do respect them a great deal.
Maybe this wasn't so much about driving tractors after all but it is a little.
I hope you all don't mind.

You were a late bloomer. I used to have morning kindergarten and at age 5, I'd come home and haul manure with the Ford 8N in the afternoon. I couldn't have been over 8 the first time Dad stepped off the Oliver 66 to pick up a rock while plowing and told me to take it to the end, turn it around and he'd get back on when I came back by.

I was arouod 6 or 7 when I was driving my grandpa's Ferguson 30

Good story

It will be just a matter of time before someone on this forum claims they drove a tractor to kindergarten.

When I was 7, 8, or 10 years old the kids and I in school bragged about driving a tractor. Fordsons, Hart Parrs, etc. weren't all that easy to drive compared to Allis Cs, Bs, Ford 2Ns, etc.

The flip side to all of this is our neighbor who thought his 13 year old son was ready to solo with a John Deere 4020 and a 20' disc. He wasn't. The kit is forever 13 years old.

I was in kindergarten when I started driving our Ford jubilee. I remember clearly because that fall while my mother, my little brother and I were picking up kissed corn on the field I drove over my little brother's head with the wagon we were pulling. Don't worry, it didn't hurt him a bit, just pushed his head in the mud.

I was in 4th. grade so maybe 9 or 10 when I was plowing on my own with the Case 700 and 4-14 plow.

I was 5 when my Dad got off the Case DC to open the gate. I would push the hand clutch in to drive it through then he would close it and jump back on to take over. That was the start of my tractor diving. The hand clutch made it easier at a young age starting out.

Nice and fun story, Ultra Dog. Thanks for sharing it, My first farm tractor driving duty was driving a 1948 R Minneapolis Moline pulling a John Deere steel wheel side-delivery rake to make winrows for baling small square bales. The hay had been cut by my Father using the same R tractor with a John Deere #5 sickle mower. #5 sickle mower would get removed, and then R would get hooked up to the side delivery rake. And then we baled with New Holland baler, when the hay was ready.

What a great story! I have great memories of my childhood too. Thanks for sharing.

My dad was a logger and Sawyer. I cracked the sprocket on the JD 40C in the woods just before he traded two in for a 1010C. I was eight years old and was told I should have felt that rock when I turned and knew better. I don't know exactly how old I was when I started, he used to let me putter around in the field before the woods.

I remember driving a tractor. Dad and I were put up fence. He would pull the barbed wire tight with grandfathers 8n and I would stand on the brake till the next strand. When we finished dad said I think you can drive this home. I did about a half mile I was 8.
Ron

I would drive our 240 utility when I was 5 years old while we picked up hay. I couldn't press the brake and the clutch at the same time. I would press the clutch and my brother walking along side would press the brake down and hook it. When it was time to go again he'd unhook the brake and I'd let the clutch out. Then everyone on the wagon yelled at me for jerking the load.

Great story and memories!! I was around 6 or 7 when I started soloing on an 8N. Little jobs at first but worked up from there. This photo is from around 1981 or 82. I would have been around 9 or 10 at the time. Lucky enough to still have the tractor too!

I was 5 or 6 and Dad needed to get the big case and the TO30 to the hayfield. So I drove the TO30. We made it OK.

Great story!

First time I drove a tractor I showed up to watch a neighbor that was clearing trees and brush. I was probably about 10.

After a while of helping him chain and drag downed trees to the burn pile, he asked if I knew how to drive the tractor.

'Sure I do!' I replied without even thinking about it being a little bit of a lie!

But within a few seconds I had the little N Ford in gear and on my way, having the time of my life!

The first I drove at 7 or 8 was a 601 Workmaster my dad bought new in 1958. It's sittin in the shed.

I know I talked dad into letting me take the To 20 on a drive around the farm. He said first gear only,and I did that on Sunday afternoon a lot after that. That would have been the summer of the 3 grade. By the fifth grade I would go to dads in the summer and do field prep while he went to work for the state.

I started when I was 5. Dad would get the IH 460 hooked up to the baler, and head out to the field. He would get everything turning and the tractor moving then I would sit in the seat and steer while he stacked on the wagon. Later in 2nd grade we did the same with the Case 800.
We got out of farming for a while but by the time I was 13 we were back in the game and I pretty much did everything but plant, dad preferred to do that.

My earliest tractor memorys are rideing on the fender of Dad's 8N. then of the old F20 with homemade cable operated loader.I got to drive the 8N starting about age 8.And I remember driveing a big JohnDeere 830 pulling a pull type combine. We moved to Colorado when I was 12,didnt get to drive tractors again till I was a teenager. And I havent stopped since.

Started driving the SC Case when I was 4 steering it while Dad threw off bales of hay for the cows...he would point at a fence post and tell me to steer towards it, he would step up and pull the clutch. When I was 6 I drove the SC discing corn stalks while Dad and Grandpa plowed them under.

I cannot remember how old i was. i remember i wanted to drive the tractor as bad as anything.

plenty of time sitting in the seat practicing dad would let us ride. one of us on the tool box on the left fender of the WD45 and the other on the hitch or on the plow (mounted) so got to watch how he did things (drove)

1st time driving was with my cousins on my uncles Oliver 770 what a thrill was in an open hay field I would guess maybe 8 or 10???

i do remember the 1st time driving by myself. i would guess maybe 9 or 11?? it was on the neighbors WD. dad would only let me drive using the hand clutch and in maybe 1st or 2nd gear, across open corn ground in the spring.

I was probably 10 or 11 when I first started driving tractor. It was a 40 Cockshutt. This summer I still have several Cockshutts and this summer my oldest grandson who is 10 made his first trip down the pulling track on my puller. It won't be his last time. Proud Grandpa moment!

Minnie Mo Z fall of 63. 4 years old. Turned 5 the next Feb. I am the oldest so got to do things a little sooner than some. RB

John Deere B before I was 10

6 years old, Ford 2N.

Dad needed a tractor driver, the rest of the kids were in school, so I was the only choice. Needed me to drive the Case VAC, pulling a steel wheeled grain drill, up the road about a half a mile. He followed in the 52 Dodge pick up loaded with wheat. All went well til I turned off the road into the field. The drills wheel caught the gate post but the hedge post and wheel just bounced off each other and no damage done. I looked in terror back at my dad and he was laughing. Good job for a 5 year old.

Great story! Ron MN

John Deere B at age seven raking hay with a steel wheeled New Idea side delivery rake. Loved that old two popper. Grandpa had me starting it by age ten. At the time I was not real fond of that petcock compression release. Some good memories out on the home farm!

Some mostly good ,some not so !
I liked haying with the C!

Dad blew up a rock when I was a kid. Cant remember if it was 4 or 5 sticks. Put the sticks on top, put wet firm cement over them to help the blast go down into the rock.

I was under 10.

We took the Oliver, parked it a long ways away. Dad took the Oliver because it had solid rear wheel rims.

He lit the fuse and said run!

I was at a strong jog, but dad was getting away from me, fastest I ever saw him move! I had to hustle up to keep up. We ducked down under the far rear wheel away from the stone. Was kind of a long wait then.

Boom!

I wanted to see so moved out, dad pulled me back said wait for the fragments to finish falling.

Was pretty neat day.


I started driving tractor when I was 7, little stuff around the yard with someone very near. I was riding along when I was maybe 5 picking rock. Maybe only an hour or two, but dad took me along on the worst spots harrowing.

Was doing my own tractor driving for real when I was 8. Plowing a few hours a day with the IHC 300 and a 2 bottom trip Oliver plow.

Been driving them ever since.

Cant get dynamite any more tho.

Paul

It seems like there was hardly a time when I was not on a tractor. I'm the oldest and went everywhere with my Dad, especially on a tractor- I was always sitting on his lap, so I knew what each control did-each lever and pedal. He would put it in first gear idling along, get off while it was moving, and he and my uncle would load square bales onto the trailer. This was when I was 3-4 years old. By age 6 I actually drove on the road, pulling a manure spreader, but that became common by age 8. I still have one of those tractors, an IH300 utility. Mark.

I was 5 been riding with dad everyday would ride standing on the axel holding the cultivator lever. would drive when going straight setting on his lap. Was headed to the house and stopped to open the gate and dad said you drive it thru and then stop. Was my first time alone.

3 years and 2-1/2 months baling small square bales of straw with a wagon on behind the baler . Tractor was a Deere 60 . Valet was a 14T .

I started on Dad's Allis B hauling feed and water to 2,000 chickens on pasture at age 6. There were a couple of water pails and feed troughs that didn't survive, but I learned eventually.