Driving tractors as a kid

[another.random.guy]

Up north it gets a little too sporty going ACROSS a sideways path on super steep ground to get to another meadow. Constantly feels like the tractor and you will be going down into the crick/creeeeek bottom. Lets see we called one Alli Charmer and it waaaaaaaaaaaaas ancient but once we had a case open and the liquid looked brand new! Weird. Ohter was old olly an Oliver I believe. Anywayzzz goodtimes goodtimes on those things even if we were yelled at as kids to get the BLEEEEEEEEEEEEP off the tractor by gramps. <<< EDIT: Gramps! >

 

[TractorDad3]

Woodbury MN at 4 years old
Nothing better
Remember clipping a fence post with the front tire by myself at 6

 

[SARG]

I also have a bitter memory of being eleven and thinking it would be a good idea to take my father's 49G Brockway ( my avatar ) for a ride while he was working one of his two full time jobs ...... got the wrong gear and ended up hitting a large elm tree .......... smashing the remarkable cast iron grill into bits.
I've regretted it for over fifty years now.

 

[Howard Yoder mc]

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.

Great story

 

[Steven Allen]

2nd Grade, Ford 2n Started by using a rear bucket to move dirt.