My son was 4 when I put him in the seat of a 4440 JD to drive across an open pasture as I took another tractor across. I put it in low gear and when he got there stepped up on the tractor to stop it. He loved it and went home and told Mom. When he was 10, I had his mother raking hay as he rode with her. He was telling her exactly how to do it. He is now 27 and a wonderful son.
He’ll always remember that. Good memories.
Early October 1963. I’m 9, walking out of the grade school in Viola, IL. But instead of riding the bus home, my mom was waiting for me in the 56 BelAir sedan. She said, “we are going to Aledo (7 miles west) to get something and then go home.” We went to the John Deere dealer. They told us they would meet us outside of town.
I’m perplexed, asking mom what’s going on. She said, “you’ll see in a little bit”. So we waited at the first gravel road outside of town. Shortly, a brand new 1964 JD4020d pulls up behind us. Mom said, “you’re driving it home!”
The mechanic said to me, “Your dad said 6th gear and no higher!” I didn’t care. It was an 11 mile drive and I wanted it to last as long as possible.
A few nights later I was doing a routine after school chore; hauling water to hogs out in the hay pasture, about a half mile from home. It was dark, so after emptying the wagon. I wheeled out on the gravel road in 6th, and already familiar with the syncro range tranny, flipped it into 8th. Opened the throttle, and for about a quarter mile let it go. I thought the neighbors place that I drove by would just think that it was dad.
The next night, at the supper table, my dad said to me, “I told you that you were not to drive that tractor above 6th gear!” I was about to try to deny, when dad said, “Jim (neighbor farmer) saw you go by lickety split”. He finished by saying, “6th gear, until I say otherwise!”
I don’t think Jim knew that I was breaking a rule driving that fast. But I couldn’t figure out how he knew it was me. It was after seeing my dad put the tractor away a few nights later, that I realized that just because the seat is behind the lights, the back glow was sufficient to see the driver.
About a week later I was allowed to use 7th gear.