Fathers at the controls

Nick Drew · Jun 2, 2007

I notice a lot has been spoken recently about the influence that members Fathers have had on them, I for one will be forever in debt to my late Father and it was he who helped to make me the operator I am today.

Just thought I would start a "Fathers Hall Of Fame" here so members can post photos of their Dads at the controls in years gone by.

So Here are some mine:notworthy

murray83 · Jun 2, 2007

I love those old JCB's

rino1494 · Jun 2, 2007

I work with my dad every day. It is his business and I learned everything I know from him. He is a amazing operator on anything he touches. Here is a pic of him on our 977 stripping topsoil in our shale pit.

Grader4me · Jun 2, 2007

I hear ya Nick. My late father was a trucker and loader operator. They say he was the best loader operator in these parts. My fondest memories are of a couple of gravel jobs that we did and my dad was loading the trucks at the pit, and I was leveling with the grader on the job. All the loads that came in were perfectly centered on the truck and just the right amount. Truckers always would comment on how good he was on the loader. At that time he was in his late 70's

Steve Frazier · Jun 2, 2007

My Dad was never an operator, but grew up farming. At age 4 he had me riding on the tractor with him letting me steer, by age 7 I was running it solo. the closest thing we had to construction equipment was a John Deere A with a manure bucket, chain trip style. He always had me helping repair anything that needed fixing, and I had my own toolbox by age 15. I can't remember anything he couldn't fix and I learned how to make repairs myself by watching him.

I lost him much earlier than I ever anticipated to Alzheimer's. He lived long enough to see my JD 410, but didn't get to see my Cat 248.

thejdman04 · Jun 2, 2007

Nice pics

812harleys · Jun 2, 2007

This is a great thread. My dad was operating engineers, local 12 and he was mostly crane operator and shovel. He told me about the "Walking Monogan" and other machines of his day. I was born in 1959 and he had to quit working soon after I was born but he still gave me my start on an old massey skip-loader with a grading bucket on back at about 5 or 6 years old. I'll try and get some pics.:usa

RollOver Pete · Jun 2, 2007

812harleys said:
This is a great thread. My dad was operating engineers, local 12 and he was mostly crane operator and shovel. He told me about the "Walking Monogan" and other machines of his day. I was born in 1959 and he had to quit working soon after I was born but he still gave me my start on an old massey skip-loader with a grading bucket on back at about 5 or 6 years old. I'll try and get some pics.:usa

Did he ever work in Desert Center?

812harleys · Jun 3, 2007

I'm not sure, I will ask my Mom. He did Davis Dam, Parker dam, and was working for Peter Kewit in 1950 when he met My Mom. Well I just called her and she says she does have some pictures with my Dad on equipment. Well, my :woohoo wife is home and we are going to the Hottub and bed so LATER!!

Nick Drew · Jun 3, 2007

Now were cooking Guys!!

Great storys and pics!! I just love hearing tales about machine men from the past.
Were they just great or what....no servo controls, air con cabs, suspension seats, etc etc they just got out there and got on with it!!:salute

I'm looking forward to many more replies to this one:woohoo

RonG · Jun 3, 2007

This would be my dad and the prime movers of any equipment we ever had where I grew up.The only petroleum products we ever used were axle grease for the wagons and the grease cups on the mowing machine and kerosene for the lantern so we could go milk and feed the livestock.
Dad said that this might be the only time you would see a jackass between two horses so that is how the picture was captioned.Ron G

Nick Drew · Jun 3, 2007

Great photo Ron!:notworthy

2 Horse power there!!! any towed grader on the back then??

Nick

tuney443 · Jun 3, 2007

My Dad ran big iron in his biz---D-8's W cable blades{even when hydraulic was out,he said they were too damn slow

},pans,cranes,shovels.Wish I had pics but don't.He was the best hoe operator I ever saw--never a wasted motion---drilled into me about safety first constantly.Lost him about 4 years ago to those damn smokes--emphysema.

DirectTech · Jun 3, 2007

My Father operated equipment before I was born, but when he did it was cutting wood all hand cutting with my grandfather both with a skidder and a team of horses, after I was born he went to work for a industrial supply company.

812harleys · Jun 3, 2007

My Mom came through with a couple of pictures of the parker dam, pump house where the water got sent to Los Angeles. He was mostly crane and dragline and shovel

812harleys · Jun 3, 2007

Here's one of a dragline and one that shows THIS nut didn't fall very far from the tree

The one of the parker job was 1955, the dragline was taken in 1956, the year my brother was born, and the harley/indian was the year I was born. I have alot of pictures of parker and davis but they are pretty old and these show the equipment the best. I bet none of those had A/C! Some of that old equipment had cabs/engine housing made of wood

CascadeScaper · Jun 4, 2007

My dad and I are two completely different people. The only thing we share is a common knowledge of business tactics, that's it. He's no good with iron even though he has owned 4 pieces at one point. He screws up the simplest of tasks like loading machines and buckets, he just can't make basic operation second nature as much as he tries. It's definately true that talent skips a generation, I'm just like my grandfather and I don't think I'll ever change. My grandfather was a mechanic for 30+ years working on cars, tractors, any type of farm equipment, small dozers, anything and everything with an engine. I learned everything I know, mechanic wise, from him. Since I was about 5 or 6 I was always learning, whether it be wrenching on stuff or getting around the farm on a tractor.

RonG · Jun 4, 2007

Nick Drew said:
Great photo Ron!:notworthy

2 Horse power there!!! any towed grader on the back then??

Nick

Everybody else had engines for power on their mechanical devices.Not my dad.No phone,no car,nothing for a young boy to marvel at and listen to,just farm wagons and hay racks to ride on and listen to the horses pass gas in front of you if the wagon was loaded and hope that the wind was right.Ron G

Grader4me · Jun 4, 2007

812harleys said:
Here's one of a dragline and one that shows THIS nut didn't fall very far from the tree The one of the parker job was 1955, the dragline was taken in 1956, the year my brother was born, and the harley/indian was the year I was born. I have alot of pictures of parker and davis but they are pretty old and these show the equipment the best. I bet none of those had A/C! Some of that old equipment had cabs/engine housing made of wood

Ah...1956..A good year. That was the year my father bought a brand new chevy dump truck. Also the year that I was born. So my mother had her baby and my father had his

Fathers at the controls

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