Your first piece of equipment owned or operated was?

[BiggerDig]

D4 open cab. think ive still got some of the grit on my teeth

 

[blademan150]

D-4 crawler with Trackson Hi-Shovel, it was a workout for a ten year old but way more fun than the rake and shovel I usually ran!

 

[guswa]

Clark 743 bobcat,brougth 12 years ago second hand still running strong bit hard to start on cold morning tho lol.

 

[Lindsey97]

first machine i ever operated was my mom and dad's 1973 allis chalmers 160 farm tractor. i was 7 years old. 40hp 3 cylinder perkins. that little tractor taught me a lot. dad let me blade the gravel road on our farm. first machine that i owned is a 1992 cat d4c dozer. started out with it in 2002. borrowed dad's 79 1 ton and bought a gooseneck trailer on a credit card. started my business in 2002, working for a farmer that had MS and cancer; he couldnt feel his leg. i had recently broken my leg in an atv accident. so i showed up to my first dirt job on crutches. the old farmer laughed and put me to work diggin' up stumps.
dad passed away in 2008. we currently have 3 10-wheelers and pup trailers, my d4c and a w20c case loader. I also own my own tri axle haul trailer, no credit cardsor bankers involved. i still run the allis spreading gravel and some customers wonder why i dont have a "green" tractor. i just shrug my shoulders and collect my check. dad always said to take care of the tractor and my kids will get to wear it out. i am beginning to think he was right.
"PRIDE IN YOUR RIDE" WWW.SANDHILLDOZER.COM

 

[Andre Grondin]

Hi !

The fisrt machine a operated was a 1976 Cat excavator , but I've been machinery maniac from the day I was born !
so last year I bought a brand old J-D 690B 1980 excavator and 2 months latter a J-D 350 1966 straight dozer , my next buy
is a Mack dumper ! yes Mack

 

[dozerman212]

We had a TD6 dozer. Worked ok when it was working... Wish we had gotten the JD 450c as the first though.

 

[rsherril]

A CAT 920 rear steer loader with a cab and heater. Auto bucket level and float made for smooth operation. A well balance machine that would make loading a 5 yd dump like a waltz. Very nice, well balanced machine that would take a lot of abuse as long as I kept it greased and breathing well. I still see a few around, though not as nice as the one ran.

 

[Sparkie]

Great grandpas TD9. Soon to be restored in his memory

 

[Aussie Leroy]

rsherril;Would that have been a 922 cat with rear wheel steer i drove one at a sand pit in 75. cheers leroy

 

[Bubba]

Yep it was a 922B rear steer no ROPS. GREAT LITTLE LOADER.

 

[grandpa]

I bought a new 922B in the early spring of 1970,,,,, $16,500. Sold it thirty years later for $12,500 only problem experienced in that time span other than normal wear items was a broken bolt in the injection pump drive... no biggie and back to work.

 

[Haddy]

I wanted to leave school and the old man told me I had to get a job first , so I walked across to the neighbours who I had been helping out and asked if I could work for him , got the job , and that was the end of school . That was 1976 and have been driving trucks and operating machinery ever since !!! First payed job was driving Massey Ferguson agriculture tractors , an old 65 ,175 and 185 and 188 , then ended up owning 188 3 -4 years later .

 

[dirty4fun]

The first machine though was a farm tractor, an Oliver 60, and that was over 55 years ago. I couldn't open the gate, so dad would let me drive the tractor and he opened the gate. Ran the tractor on a baler the next year a lot of the summer. First heavy machinery was a D-7 Cat dozer, and have been around heavy equipment ever since.

 

[diggingfish]

A 35A D8 Cat. cable. I bought it when I was 19 (2 years ago) traded it for cash and now have a 17A that Im afraid that the motor might be stuck on and an HD 11 that was thought to be stuck but the starter was out. still feeling like I traded up

 

[D.Echols]

1959 J.D. 440 track loader w/ a 2 cyl 2 stroke detroit, stick steer w/ gears and a direction reverser. It turned right just fine but had to back up to turn left. I thought it was a big tractor till I got a job running a cat 983

 

[EZ TRBO]

First time ever driving was back when i was 5, got to move the 850 John Deere dozer out of the shop. First time operating was pushing some dirt when i was 12 with the TD-15C. Kind of funny, almost 18 years later and will be running that same dozer all day tomorrow.
Trbo

 

[Thedeeredude]

Mine was a BobCat. What a fun little beast.

 

[CaseFan13]

I'm too young to own but I first ran our Case 580 C and 850 C when I was about 6, when the Super M arrived I thought I was in heaven.

 

[NoCrapmatsu]

It was a MF dozer, cant remember if it was 100 or 200 or what, most of the decals/paint were worn and I am not an expert on equipment. the six way had me so screwed and being such a small dozer it was hard for a first machine. Wish I could say I mastered her, but I was tossed off after 2 hours of train tracks. before that I ran tractors on the farm though if they count.

 

[bobcat753owner]

First operated was John Deere 3010, in '01 bought cub cadet 28 HP with loader, that little tracor has been put through stuff a dozer wouldn't do. Used it to clean up 6 acres of beaver dams with, until I got some help with an excavator. . Took a LOOOOOOONNNNNNGGGGG time. Recently bought bobcat 753 SS loader. I love running 'em all, wish I had more to play with.