My Dad made me learn 34 years ago on the jerkiest,ungainly,unbalanced machine on the planet--an old '67 AC I600 TLB.He said if I could run that,I could run anything better.He was so right.He also used to say before a man could run a hoe,he had to be able to run a shovel{the 1 with a wood handle},and before an engineer could design a job,he had to know how to operate a hoe.[QUOTE TURNEY]
Bellboy from South Africa. Hi.
My dad says exactly the same.
TLBs might be 'dying' in Americe, but they certainly aren't in SA. there are at least four guys in our little village of Hilton, that own a TLB, New Holland, Cat and JCB. all sideshift (predominant in SA). the tlb is quite popular, but i reckon that it is a bit of a 'surfboard on the roof' status symbol thing.
Operators are dying breed, so many of the guys operating are way past 65 (African) and have been operating since at least 16 or 18 years of age.