Your first piece of equipment owned or operated was?

[Serv]

1999 1845C. Bought it new


we still use it on a daily basis. great machine

 

[Wolf]

CAT mini excavator, on a tight, mini site.

I loved it and have been hooked ever since.

 

[WabcoMan]

1954 International TD-18 towing a sheepsfoot roller.
The foreman wouldn't let me near anything else until I could back the thing in a straight line.
As I improved I got to run other, more interesting stuff

 

[Dominion 410]

First wheel loader-a Euclid 72-40,3.5yd bucket,6v53 Detroit power(and it had lots of that) loading in a pit.Sixteen years old on my summer school holidays.
1972 John Deere 510 backhoe-80h.p.,8 speed powershift transmission.Front end was a pig to get used to,but the backhoe was alright.
Both were good learning experiences.

Dominion

 

[RocksnRoses]

The first piece of earthmoving equipment I operated at the age of 12, was a 1949 McCormick Deering (International) W9 tractor, petrol/kero engine, fitted with a cable lift front end loader, with a one cubic yard mechanical trip bucket. I was digging out drift sand, that had drifted from our paddocks onto the side of the road and loading it on to our truck. It took all the strength I had to push the clutch and brake pedals and pull the lever to operate the winch of the loader, which was driven from the belt pulley of the tractor. Power steering had not been invented, either.

Rn'R.

 

[brynbaily]

This is me in 1981 lol....I think this is my dads D5 (maybe someone can correct me if I'm wrong) he used to let me pull the levers in his lap I thought I was the coolest. Check out the ROPS

 

[Turbo21835]

The first piece I ever ran was a 3020 John Deere tractor. Dad would sit on the fender and I would stand up to steer it down the field pulling a 4 bottom plow. I was mabey 5 at the time.

I started the same way, but on a 4020 gasser. One day at the age of 7, the old man hopped off the tractor and him and grandpa headed for the house. After that I was on my own, and had to be damn sure I kept them furrows straight :beatsme

Next I was on to a Case 580B. Spent many summers cleaning up around the farm, cutting ditches, building roads and moving dirt.

First machine I ran for pay was a Skytrack 6036 when I was a carpenter. It quickly became my full time job. All the carpenters I was working with knew I wanted to be an operator, and pushed me away from carpentry, and into operating full time

 

[BigIron25]

Caterpillar D7G in the Marines :usa

 

[bill onthehill]

John Deere B with petcocks and a hand flywheel you spun to start it. Hand clutch and narrow front. That was in 1959. First dirt mover was an old Oliver dozer on a ski slope. Old massey ferguson backhoe digging water and air lines for snowmaking. Back in 1967 they were already old.

 

[boaterri]

Mine was a IH Farmall Cub tractor harrowing fields at age 15.

The next was a JD 850 dozer.

Rick

 

[dieseldave]

This is me in 1981 lol....I think this is my dads D5 (maybe someone can correct me if I'm wrong) he used to let me pull the levers in his lap I thought I was the coolest. Check out the ROPS

That's a pony-start D6 9U, built sometime in the '50's. Nice pic, BTW:drinkup

 

[nzpatch]

my first drive was my grandads d6d, first job driving a 312b/320a, first machine to own was a pc 40-7. it gets in your blood eh!!

 

[CAT D9H]

First one to operate was a Cat 966C loaded a truck when I was 7 that loader is still around doing what it does , just not as much

 

[CAT_D-8N]

lets see 1st peace to run and own well own now was and is a 1978 jd 310A 2wd still have it and as i have been told i was about 5 6 years old at that time

 

[rpm]

Good question...mine is an International 340 crawler with narrow tracks. We have become good friends over the years. Still in daily use around the farm.

 

[special tool]

Kubota B8200.
It was a huge powerhouse that shook the earth when digging.

 

[tippatone]

Back in the day when I used to go to Jamaica, we had a quarry where I was a go-for (meaning I had to go-for everything that was asked) I got to operate a 87 Case 580C. It seemed easy enough, although it was for like 30-45 min a day that was one of the best life experiences I have had.

 

[amunderdog]

Back in the day when I used to go to Jamaica, we had a quarry where I was a go-for (meaning I had to go-for everything that was asked) I got to operate a 87 Case 580C. It seemed easy enough, although it was for like 30-45 min a day that was one of the best life experiences I have had.

It is amazing how some memories stay with you
I was in the fourth grade. We had a small farm going. A family friend had a Dozer business. Probably a 450 John Deere it was about 1969 and the Dozer was very new, He pulled it with a 4x4 ford pickup.
Anyway he came over to the farm to dig a pond for us. Took him several days to get the job done, pushing it out bigger and deeper until we hit water.
I would go out there and watch.
Then he would stop and wave me over.
I would climb up there and set in front of him on a little piece of the seat cushion.
That was the greatest thing ever; riding that Dozer with my big friend.
I can still remember it like it was yesterday.

 

[dozer dave]

My first time alone in the seat was Dad's RD 4 trackrolling the area he had disked up around the outbuilding to kill the weeds. I was 5 or 6 years old. First payday was a 60 Cat pulling a harvester. I wasn't strong enough to start it so the sack sewer did that for me. I was 13 or 14 years old. I joined O.E. Local 3 in 1957 and ran a 14A feeding a crusher. $3.33 an hour.

 

[stevec9696]

The first is the best - I guess!

My first piece of equipment was a new Ford 445 rubber tire TLB. I started out on the loader and it was a champ. Then I bid my first backhoe job.
It was to correct errosion scars on a retainment pond. Looked great. Looked easy. Well after 3 hours, I called the client and asked him to call in some one to correct my mess and I would pay the bill.
I got lucky - he said "You could not make it worse. Forget it." I got that TLB out of there as fast as I could. I got home and for 12 days straight used the hoe. Finally, when I got to where I could talk and add up numbers while digging, I found I was good enough to use the hoe.