[AT] Driving tractor

Paul Waugh pwaugh at embarqmail.com
Tue Apr 6 15:48:20 PDT 2010


Time sure gets away from me.  Sunday was a big day for me and my grandson (age 6). He got his first tractor driving lesson.  I chose the JD 420 for the tractor. The Jubilee was at home and has a loader on it.  The 420 is not a bad size for a 6 yr old.  We stated out with me on the seat behind him ... steering, not much new there. I was running in my mind ... how did my uncle find the courage to turn a 6 yr old (me) loose on an Farmall H. Finally I rode on the back where I could reach the kill switch in a hurry.   I had rules and he was following them.  After riding for a while I hopped off, boy was he smiling.
To make a long story shorter, he spent 45 minutes driving. He followed the rules, he kept his eye on me.  He learned to take off smoothly in first, then second. He is big enough to apply the clutch and brakes at the same time, so we worked on a small hill (more like rolling ground) ... stopping and starting. This came easy for him.
At the end of the 45 minutes, after he properly shut it down, I asked him how it was, his reply ..... "Awesome!!!!"    ... to me priceless.
Paul - 46555



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