Who do you let drive your tractor (unsupervised)?

bambam31

Member

Equipment
L3800HST 4x4,R1,FEL, 6'disc, 5'bush hog,piranhaTB,6'grader,6'rake, 48"forks
Apr 3, 2014
316
26
23
Mobile, AL
Old man I know told me don't ever let anyone drive your tractor...they will tear it up.
 

bmblank

Well-known member

Equipment
2020 L3901HST, LA525 Loader, 66" Q/A Bucket, PFL2042 Forks, Meteor SB68PT Blower
Mar 4, 2015
663
294
63
Cadillac, MI
I would let my wife drive. Though if she doesn't know something about it she won't just guess. If let my dad and brother drive too, they both have their own orange tractors though.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
 

Tooljunkie

Well-known member
Lifetime Member

Equipment
L1501,home built carry all, mini plow blade.
May 13, 2014
4,150
33
48
60
Lac Du Bonnet, Manitoba,Canada
I would rather nobody used my tractor. Son cuts grass with it. Best friend's daughter cuts grass for me, he wanted her to run kubota, i said no. Why? Because its mine!
She can run my other shade of orange lawn tractor.
 

GEPM64

Member

Equipment
B2601 with FEL, Box Scraper, rotary mower, 3pt snowblower and Sovema Tiller
Sep 15, 2014
78
0
6
Hazelridge, Manitoba, Canada
Nobody but me, the wife or daughter (rarely). I figure if it's going to get beat on or broken then I'll be the one to do it.

It's my toy...ERRR.......TOOL!
 

85Hokie

Moderator
Staff member
Lifetime Member

Equipment
BX-25D ,PTB. Under Armor, '90&'92-B7100HST's, '06 BX1850 FEL
Jul 13, 2013
10,746
2,551
113
Bedford - VA
Old man I know told me don't ever let anyone drive your tractor...they will tear it up.

I was once told :

never let anyone borrow your tools, chainsaw or wife......
no particular order.....

I guess I would place my kubota(s) in the chain saw category! :eek:;):)

wife has "driven" it - son moved some stone, and even my best friends wife....
she moved a few small logs....

I was always within key reach!!!!:rolleyes:
 

dfh1977

New member
Jun 3, 2013
198
0
0
east ky
No one. I have let my mother drive it but I stayed within site of it. But because of how it drives. She now has a cub cadet lawn mower that drives the same as my BX.
 

mickeyd

Active member
Lifetime Member

Equipment
2014 L3200 DT w/LA524 FEL, 2019 Kubota Z121S w/ 48" Pro Dec, TG1860G w/RCK54TG
Mar 21, 2014
1,192
18
38
Guin, AL
Just me until today. Today I let the wife drive it around back since I need her help with it tomorrow. I am hoping that she will want to use it a lot more now so she will let me get a new one.
 

PHPaul

Well-known member

Equipment
B2650, Pronovost snow blower, Landpride rotary mower, Howard tiller, box blade
Apr 2, 2015
1,027
983
113
Downeast Maine
www.eastovershoe.com
Fortunately, there's no one around my operation that's the least bit interested. I did let one or another of my sons-in-law drive my John Deere when doing work around their places, but even then they'd rather I did it myself.

Which is fine with me!
 

skeets

Well-known member

Equipment
BX 2360 /B2601
Oct 2, 2009
14,562
3,317
113
SW Pa
The OL but then I have to let her drive it unsupervised,,, cause she wont listen to me anyway,,lol
 

CaveCreekRay

Well-known member
Lifetime Member

Equipment
L3800 HST, KingKutter box scraper, KingKutter 66" rake, County Pride Subsoiler
Jul 11, 2014
2,631
100
48
Cave Creek, AZ
The wife!

Because it's (wink-wink) "her" tractor.

She runs it while I do other stuff. I loaded the bucket with 22,000 lbs of floor tile and she hauled it to the dumpster while I got busy loading the wheelbarrow again. Saved me a bunch of time. She hauled in the concrete collars and manhole flanges and lids while I vectored her and set them right where they needed to go -her first big lifting job. (Hard to screw up in low range and high idle. :) ) We picked up 48 500lb + boulders and with many of them she did the lifting and hauling while I did the slinging. "Take it over there." I'd walk over and direct her and get blocking underneath the boulder for easy pick-up later.

By getting her that friendly with the machine and kidding her by calling it "her" machine, she made comments to me like, "Make sure you have all the filters and fluids and parts that thing ever needs. I want to take care of it."

YES DEAR!!! See how easy that was?

Seriously, I tried this once with a tractor she would not drive. I did the lifting and she caught the boulders. Not good. Trading roles is safer and gets more done faster and easier. That is what HST did for me.

Nobody else gets to drive it except my neighbor who is thinking of trading his Chickenese tractor in for an Orange one. He has tractor envy, I can tell.
 

D2Cat

Well-known member
Lifetime Member

Equipment
L305DT, B7100HST, TG1860, TG1860D, L4240
Mar 27, 2014
13,829
5,580
113
40 miles south of Kansas City
My wife won't let me operate her Grasshopper! I don't have 5 minutes of seat time. I'm just Mr. Fixit. And no one else operates it either!!

But to answer the original question: No one (excluding wife) has ever operated one of my Kubotas, but no one has ever asked either. The answer would be, "I'll operate it, you supervise." And if there was further conversation with someone wanting to use it, my answer, "When you are willing to purchase parts and service....."
 

TripleR

Active member

Equipment
BX2200, BX2660, L5740 HSTC, M8540HDC and some other tractors and equipment
Sep 16, 2011
1,911
8
38
SE Missouri
Both my grown sons and brother drive mine, they were all raised operating farm equipment. My wife uses our BXs and 1025R to mow and can move the 5740 out of the way, but doesn't work with it.
 

Kingcreek

Member

Equipment
Grand L3010 GST 4wd, LA481FEL, various attachments and accessories
Aug 3, 2011
457
2
18
NW Illinois
My neighbor.
He put the first 900 hours on it and I bought it from him 6 years ago. Once in a while he borrows it just to dress his drive with the box blade because its easier than using his M and big leveler/scraper.
 

olthumpa

Active member
Lifetime Member

Equipment
L275
May 25, 2011
1,501
3
38
Maine
http://www.orangetractortalks.com/forums/showthread.php?p=151144#post151144



form - Post #22
There are four people that I will lend something to:
My son, - He has driven it around to try it but does not have a use for it. He also jokes that he will not play with my 27.5 hp it I do not play with his 10,000hp
One of my cousins, - He has a L3830 gear and I use his.
One of my brothers, - He does not have a use for it.
One of my brother in-laws. - He does not have a use for it.

If they damage something or brake it, they will fix it, (and let me know what happened), or return a new one. Can't ask for better than that.
 

ShaunRH

New member
Lifetime Member

Equipment
L3200
May 14, 2014
1,414
6
0
Atascadero, CA
My father, my brother, either of my neighbors. They are all experienced operators. One of my neighbors owns a BX25D.
 

meackerman

New member
Dec 1, 2014
74
0
0
Northern California
My son has mowed the pastures with it.

My FIL is using the backhoe today and I'm not even home...but I know if he breaks it, it'll be fixed by the time I get home upto and including a new tractor if he broke it beyond repair...but he knows more about operating a tractor than I do so I'm not worried about.
 

Burt

New member

Equipment
L3700SU, box blade, 6 foot rhino blade, 1 bottom plow, 3 point receiver hitch.
Mar 24, 2012
337
1
0
Goldendale, WA USA
My wife, My neighbor ( owned tractors and farmed all his life ). My Grandson after many lessons.

Burt
 

RDL

New member
Jun 10, 2015
39
0
0
Lowell,AR
Only my son. Guess I raised him right about taking care of things. You take care of you equipment and most will last a life time or close to it. Case in point I still have my first chain saw I bought 30 + years ago and have cut hundreds rick of wood with it and still running strong.