Sorry couldn't resist my little boy is learning the trade!!
he can reach both controls so id say hes good haha
yea as long as he can reach the pedals
Man if that pic don't bring back memories, being 4 years old and dad letting me drive the dozer about a mile back in a field road. Had to decel using the throtle lever but didn't go very fast in the first place. It was either me drive it or the truck or dad and I each were going to have a long walk. Start em young. Trbo
He's got a big seat to fill. But he might be in competition with this little tyke: http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=9X59Peg0NgY&feature=related
Iv seen that video before and that kid is pretty good. He will be a great operator i think.
Never To Young! I think it's great your teaching your son. I wish I had a chance when I was young! If I have a son, I'll teach him as much as possible! Keep on going man, thats our (operator's) future generation.
Dang....all I had was Tonka toys............. As long as you teach him safety and responsibility I can't see a reason not to have him learn young.
Age No such thing as too young. I was 5 when I learn to run equipment. When I started my own company a neighbor kid always was with me and I taught him to run equipment at age 6. He now works for a major Construction company doing their trouble jobs. He makes a good living and makes more than I do in a year???
Thats about the age when I started... I was on a 220 size machine I have to ask.. what is that you have strapped on the two boom cylinders??? Homemade guard to protect the cylinders?
those guards are probably bacause the machine has a hammer or pulverizer on it. i bet the kid works cheaper than the morons i got working for me and requires the same amount of supervision. bet he never shows up for work hungover to.
Way to start him out young :drinkup
stumper That made my day I think everyone has someone that works for them like that. I don't know why I put up with it sometimes.
Those 2 x 4's look like they would protect the cylinders from the teeth on the bucket from having another close rendezvous.
If your bucket is hitting your boom cylinders then you have got problems a 2x4 wont solve.
You can use the 2 x 4 to smack some sense into the operator!!
Thanks guys, We run a BTI 3000# hammer. The Guy I work for has 3 machines all have quick connects so we can go from hammer to bucket in less than a minute. Those are highway markers protecting the cylinders. They work really good to My son has been sitting on my lap since he was about 18 months old. I don't let him run the machine by him self like the video guy did. I would NEVER let a little one run anythin he wasn't belted into. I kinda cringed watching the video. That kid obviously has been worked with and his pappy done good with him too. But I would never forgive myself if my kid accidentally hit the swing to hard or something else and was thrown from the cab.... or worse. I know a guy in town that was almost killed when he acidentally hit the swing lever with his leg when he was looking out of the cab going into the shop, it pinched his head between the cab and the shop door and it was awful. There is no reason he is still alive. I can't teach my boys to be doctors and such, but I do pass on to them what I know.
Neat pic, cute kid. Does Ma know he was in there??
Oh yeah, mama is all for it. She's quite the hand her self!!
Didnt even lay eyes on a piece of equipment til i was around ten. And after that my head never stopped turning while passing it on the road. Hope he loves it as much as his father does. -Michael-
if you realy want to freak out his teachers in a few years teach him how to read a set of plans and read grades this way he can bring in a laser or a total station for show in tell. i usually tell people who want to run equiptment first learn to run a grease gun than ill show you how to run a excavator. but in his case he probably cant reach the upper dipper fitting so show him in a few years:usa
My son & I volunteered at the local tourist railroad. We (mom & dad) got a call one day from one of his elementary school teachers who said "we" need to discuss telling the truth with him. She said he's telling all the kids he's running a locomotive on Saturday. I had the pleasure of telling her, "he does". The engineers would let him run the locomotive in either yard switching or work train service. They told me he was the best, very patient, careful and content to wait for orders unlike some of the others. I liked having him in the cab, I knew he couldn't get hurt there He started operating at 10. One of our friends owned his own excavating business. We saw him downtown one Saturday evening. He needed to move all his equipment off the job site and the bobcat wouldn't fit on the trailer with all the rest of his stuff. He asked my son, do you want to run this? He said YES!!!. Tom gave him a few pointers in the lot and had him turn it around twice. He then said keep to the right along the curb and dad, you follow him with your 4 ways flashiing. My son roaded it about 1.5 miles to the yard. Talk about happy as a pig in mud cool: From then on, there was no stopping him. The MOW guys at the RR put him on a tie crane with a couple joys sticks and he was their best operator. One of the guys brought a CAT 416 to use to load a hi rail ballast truck and after an hour you would have thought he had run it for months. You'll have lots of good memories of their younger years.
Youth vs Experience! Yes! never too young! - here's my wee fella Christian at 18 months trying his hand at an Hitachi EX100. Anytime he sees something big and hydraulic, out come the words "brumm brumm digga" - makes your heart melt! I have a lot of prized scale models which I used to worship but when he points and wants to play with one I just can't help but give in - (better than wanting to try his mums high heels on ea?):bouncegri :bouncegri
Cute kid, way better than high heels. Oh yeah my models are all broken too!!!
Welcome to Heavy Equipment Forums Raildudes dad! :drinkup
lol i bet he is already wondering when he will graduate out of gray market machines
I was in the seat of a backhoe when i was 6, all the best operators started young you know lol.
Brings back memories, i was on top of the world at ten years old in a 580K. I think its great to learn young as long as safety is stressed.
my son's son, isaac....and my daughter's daughter ella...the parents are holding them in our 544G deere loader.
Good looking kids! Getting them started out right I see. I kinda miss having a baby around, mine are all grown up now... 2 and 4!
I drove a 320 when I was 6ish. 13 and still doing it. Looks like they could just kick the levers instead of reaching the pedals.
My son just turned 5 and he has been running the skid loader & mini for close to 2 years now. He loves going to clear fence rows with just so he can dig the trash holes. I was 5 when I started running dad's dozer. I want my son to not be afraid but yet respect the equipment so starting them young is great. My son wanted me to bring the mini to show and tell at pre-school but I didn't think the teacher would like a big hole in the side yard.
Here I'm giving my Grand daughter, Chloe, some seat time in my CAT E70. Every time she comes over it's....."I wanna ride in the exkaavator". hugs, Brandi