How did you get your start as an operator?

[Grader4me]

.Today i am the head of all education on construction machinery in the Army.
And beeing one of the guy's with a lot of competence on building military camps around the world...

Wow! Must be terrible to be you I get excited when I go to our nearest city, 100 kms away. I need a life :Banghead

 

[CascadeScaper]

I started out with a fleet of Tonkas, who didn't, right? I'd spend hours and hours playin in the dirt as long as I can possibly remember. Just felt natural to get on the iron when I was going through my teenage years. I was mowing lawns and such since I was 13 and would ocassionally need to rent a Bobcat to do a small job for a customer. Eventually my dad got into hardscaping and I got a little more seat time with our equipment and the rest is history.

 

[phantom]

I got my first job when i was 15 as a farm hand running a case 9270 and a John Deere 9300. After a three year stint in retailointhead I am now a fulltime operator at gypsum mine. Started out on a stripping crew running Cat 657 scrapers and D10-D11 dozers. I am now working at the road rock portion of the plant loading out over the road trucks with a 988H. When people ask me how I like my job, i say, i get paid to drive big tonka toys. I'm livin every 4 year old boys fantasy. I love my job

 

[BrianHay]

Righ on phantom :thumbsup Have you got some pictures of those toys to share with us?

 

[phantom]

Here is a pic of the old D11N with 35,000 hours. Just upgraded to a D11R with 900 hours. I don't have anymore pics anything else yet. I do have some pictures of the farm equipment but i'm going to have to resize it.

 

[phantom]

by the way the D11R we just got was Cat's demo dozer that paul and paulie from American Chopper got to try out...

 

[Tn Bulldog]

How i got into the excavating business?



Family (back to great granddad on dads side ) has been doing site work since the early 1920's )


So i was raised in the business & was on a machine w/ dad & granddad @ age of 2 & was running a 1370 Case tractor & 10 yard pan by age 8 , 225 Cat by the age of 9 by myself loading dump trucks D5B & D6D &td 20 &TD 25 Dozer by 11.




I COULD ON BUT I ANIT GONNA RAMBLE ON MUCH ... YALL have a safeone



Bulldog

 

[itsgottobegreen]

Back many, many years ago, when Tonkas were still made of steel was the start of my career.
With a blade, loader, crane, dozer, excavator and a rock truck, I went to work on the first of many projects.
PVC pipe as my sewer main and sprinkler heads as manholes, I had quite the sub devision in my back yard.
So.....from about the age of 3 I knew that I wanted to be one of those guys who operated those huge yellow tractors.
8 years later I ran my first 2U...and never looked back.
The rest is history.
I never grew up,
I just got a bigger Tonka Toy.
:cool2

That sounds like me almost word for word. I didn't grow up, my sand box just got bigger. I don't get to run big equipment everyday like I would like too. But I slowly working on buying the big toys. I will have a JD 310 SE or SG in the next 12 months. Then a dozer.

 

[RDG]

Starting as an operator

My Dad & uncle were both in the earthingmoving gamein NZ. Started of on me dads little Bristol 22 soon as I could reach the peddles & pull the levers, spent every weekend & school holidays driving something when ever I could. Left school when I was 15 (only went there to eat my lunch) to work for my uncle, driving his dozers which were a TD 9, Allis HD14 & D8-8r whith a cable blade. spent 2yrs there and then moved to a bigger Co in town where I spent the next 25yrs or so running mainly dozers ,20,000hrs in the seat of TD15Cs as well as TD20 C/Es, 25B/C &TD30, D6,7,8,9S. Moved to the land of Oz 14yrs ago and still work as a multi skilled operator on any thing from a bobcat to grader to twin power scrapers ,for the Co I am with now, although seem to be getting steered more into training & supervising when not operating. Been doing it for 40+yrs now & still lovin it.

 

[BrianHay]

Right on welcome to HEF RDG!! After that many years I imagine you got some great stories to share with us

 

[Mkdozerman]

Starting as and Operator

Well first I'm 24 years old I have always loved heavy equipment ever sense I was old enough to say Dozer. My mother can vouch for that. My aunt worked for Caterpillar in Mossville Ill. and would take us to the Power parade's My first one was in 1988 I couldn't get enough of the big equipment when I was little I thought they ran themselves and I wanted to be Buddy's with what ever was moving dirt. Years went by and I never ventured far from home. Home maker Dad was a Carpenter so I didn't get the exposure to equipment that I wanted. One day My dad had a job and a backhoe operator he knew for years came to the house, dad had a transit he wanted to trade so dad told him I need your backhoe at the house for a few hours one evening for the trade. I was in the house when the hoe showed up and out the door I went to greet it I had no Idea dad told the hoe operator I was going to run it I was 12 years old at the time and fascinated yet nervous when I got on the 3 stick case backhoe Dad showed me a paint mark and let me go they sat back and watched as I dug a 10 foot deep hole for a burn pit. As they watched sipping on cold beer the operator asked if I had ever ran a backhoe before and dad said this is his first time! He just about fell over and said well I think I need to put him to work. Not knowing what they were talking about I dug my hole and jumped off the backhoe and asked if that was up to speck. the Hoe operator climbed inside the cab with me and said OK great job now let me show you a trick how to square up your edges. After that it fueled the fire I had for running equipment! Every farmer in 3 counties that had equipment was tired of me asking if I could run there dozer but a few gave in some after school practice you could say. After High school I went to Linn State Tech College in Missouri for 11 months for seat time and some new equipment training. I had some good and bad jobs now I work in Arkansas for A large company doing what I enjoy in life most and keep learning new tricks as I go along. I'm just waiting for the cab A/C and stereo.
Some really great posts here in this thread brings back some good memories. hope to read more .

 

[EZ TRBO]

I was just 8 months old when I took my first dozer ride with dad, on our 850 John Deere. From there it was down to the toys in the sand box or on a pile of dirt out on a job site that dad was on, didn't take much to give me a huge pile of dirt out there. I had roads everywhere. As I got older I spent most of my summer with my dad, grandpa and uncle going around to the many projects we did, roads, dams, building sites, timer removal, etc. I would ride with my dad on the dozer(TD15C) or with grandpa on the scraper(860 John Deere). Grandpa would let me run the elevator lever as i sat behind him. As time progressed I started actually helping out more and more, being grade rod man, gofer, and the dumb end of the tape measure. Dad started me out on a skid loader moving some rock around a job site and soon progressed to being our skid loader operator. I was 15 when he first put me on our newly aquired excavator, him and my uncle ran the dozers, so it was a perfect fit for me to start on the excavator. Out in the middle of an open field, he striped off the black dirt of a large area and he said start digging, we had a pile of junk to bury. Within a year, when I wasn't in school, I was digging footings, tile lines, and installing culverts. It wasn't til just a few years ago, when grandpa finally choose to retire and I was tossed on to the scraper all summer, 4 months solid, hauling fill for a dam, a large freestall and a manure lagoon. So for the most part I was either on a hoe or a scraper. When my dad took over as the Highway Commishiner, and we started to close the business, I was able to really get on a dozer more often, and thankfully I had my uncle, who I will say with out any hesitation(and I know my dad is good on one) that Harvey is one of the best dozer men in the business, and I mean that, any good baldemen around here have said, you want the best get Harv. Harvey, 68, has been on a dozer since he started with my grandpa, his brother in law, at age 18. For me learning it was much better to be working side by side with uncle Harv then my dad, cause dad and I tend to both have short tempers, while Harv as more paitence than anyone I know. He would let me make some mistakes somtimes, come over, fix it for me and then tell me what I did wrong and what I needed to do so I didn't do it again. I am nowhere near the dozer operator as my dad and uncle yet but am working on it. For me though, an excavator fits my style better, but I like most good operators, want to know how to run many different types of equipment. Well thats kinda a short history in a nutshell. Anyone want more info or any questions feel free to ask. I might do a piece on the Company history sometime when I get free.
Jason

 

[Dozer575]

You lucky guys that had dads that were into heavy equipment. I had to start out with Tonka dozers, and backhoes. And didn't get my chance till I met a friend of my ex mother inlaw that had a D155 Komatsu. I rode with his operator for a few days, watching and getting the feel for getting stuck in the mud. I learned on 90,000 plus lb dozer, and that is what I feel comfortable on. The little ones are hood ornaments. I was in my late 20's when that happened.

 

[FRodriguez]

I am hopefully getting my start through the Union and I hope to learn and get to play in the dirt . The way i see it the union at this point in times seems to be strong in my area and I have little ones to feed

 

[cbhfour]

I am new here, but this thread had me going down memory lane. Like several of you, I had a huge project in my backyard with the Tonkas. I had the 1/2" and 3/4" conduit for storm drain, with 4" PVC catch basins. My family was in the road building business in Columbus, GA, so whenever I was with my father riding the jobs(which was as much as I could be) I was able to bring some sort of material back home. The best days were when they were paving and if I could find a metal 5 gallon bucket, asphalt was coming home with us! I also had the Diecast type John Deere paddle wheel, a 762 if I remember, but as previously stated the scale was wrong with the Tonkas. WE had alot of older equipment so my first machine to run was a 944A rubber tire loader. For those who don't know, the 944 did not articulate, the rear wheels steered the machine. The 944 became "my" machine during the summers I worked. I also cut my teeth on a D-8 14A series (cable operated, direct drive) and a D7E also with a direct drive transmission. Other machines of my youth were the Case 980B track hoe(lots of pedals), 12F motor grader, 950 Loader, JD 310 Rubber tire backhoe and my favorite of all, the 613 paddle wheel. I was 15 or so and loved the speed of that machine. It got hotter than hades during those GA summers, I had to wear gloves to run that thing.

Well skip a few years, went to college, family got out of construction business and I got a regular job and moved to a suburb of Atlanta where my wife is from. I met a great friend at Church who was a GC and told him of my past love of construction. Well he encouraged me to do what I want and now in the third year of my own sitework company. I still lease most of the equipment I need for jobs (mostly 1-3 acre commercial, banks, restaurants) but I did purchase a new Komatsu D37-PX this year and love it. I grew up Cat, but the Komatsu dealer here is easy to work with!

Sorry for the running on so long, I like this forum and think there are more that a few who would appreciate my story. And to CM1995....War Eagle(class of 97)

 

[Countryboy]

Welcome to HEF cbhfour! :drinkup

 

[CM1995]

Welcome to the forums cbhfour and a big War Eagle! (BSC95):drinkup :drinkup
The season is upon us!

 

[JimBruce42]

Like a lot of the other guys here, I started with my own small fleet before I could even walk of Tonka's. Still got them at my parents house too. Unlike a lot of you guys, I didn't get into the business through a relative who was already there. In fact most of my family have to put on a "business attire" to go to work, involves a tie?:beatsme That being said, I figured for the longest time, I'll never be able to run them, but they are still cool, so my miniature fleet grew as it still does (it's a hobby now). I went to College for, first chemistry ed, then switched majors to math. Somewhere late in my sophomore year, they started to work on a new parking garage, literally straight across the street from my then girlfriend's room... I spent a lot of time there (usually for her, really ). I think she could see how much more enjoyment I got from watching an excavator tear up asphalt then from parabolic equations. I thank her a lot for giving me the confidence to make my decision (now junior year) to talk to my parents and to make a life decision. I had no real experience (tried to get summer jobs with companies around home with no luck), so I knew I had to get experience, fast.

SO I transferred to Penn College, who has a Heavy equipment operations program, though you have to take a lot of different courses, some that do and some that do not involve equipment. The rep. from the school is what got my summer internship with Allen Myers, there I worked as hard as I could, even though I spent a lot of it flagging or marching around the woods with the treespade crew, because I knew then and still now, that the school got me in the door, it wasn't gonna keep me there, I had to do that. After I graduated, I came down and now work for Allen A. Myers full time as an operator. I think I've impressed a few of the older guys there, with how quickly I can pick up operating a machine (especially those awesome excavators:notworthy ), but I know my limits, and dozers are a curse for me:Banghead I've been on everything from rollers and discs, to D6's and 345's, but most of the time I've been on A30 Volvo's and other off road trucks. Any chance I get to continue learning I take because I know there is a lot left to learn:usa

Sorry, long winded, but I think it accurately describes what I do and how I got here, oh and that girlfriend I had in college that helped me so much, she's my fiancee now:notworthy :drinkup :woohoo .

 

[BrianHay]

Right on! Great stories, no appologies necessary for the length of them :scool keep them comming and take up a whole page if you want to. Come back and add more to your storries to if you want to.

How about some of you truck drivers and wrenchbenders? Maybe I shouldnt have called it 'how did you get your start as an operator'. I would like to here everyones story.

 

[mikef87]

My father and uncle both worked for a big utility company and got me a job as a laborer, then operator and truck driver. I bought a 1961 Mack B61 and a dynahoe 190 backhoe and started doing driveways and water services. All it takes is practice. When I had nothing to do I go practice on the crane. Learning to clamshell and piledrive.