Anybody Remember Back When?

[CobyRupert]

When we explored the Red Light district we recovered two fist sized blobs of rust - they were pistols. We found loads of hollow green glass tubes - about an inch in diameter and eight inches long - the women on our adventure finally broke down and politely informed us men what they were.

Don't leave us hanging......what were they??!!

 

[oosik]

Ah - I was hoping some woman TBNer would step forward. Coby - they were douche tubes. A quite necessary item in a Red Light district.

 

[Thomas]

Yes sir sure do remember.
Cat D8 cable lift straight blade pony motor and as you said good 20 mins warm up time if not longer on cold day,but most of also uncomfortable seat.

 

[Thomas]

4get gto
And think we bixch today if our block heaters don't work..
To listen from guys that worked on or operated the equipment from 50+ years ago really make you appreciate what we have today.
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You hit the nail on the head with that post!!! :thumbsup:

 

[2LaneCruzer]

My Dad was a construction Superintendent of some sort all of his life; mainly finding, quarrying and processing limestone, sand and gravel. He started out loading trucks by hand, with rocks from the quarry destined for the crusher.

I remember the old dozers with the pony motors, but the old cable operated equipment was pretty much gone by the 50's when I first have memories of such things. Dad could operate just about anything with wheels and a motor, and fix most of them too. I remember him driving a portable unit of some kind, maybe a portable crusher or conveyor across the state on the highway. It was so big that we had to stop traffic at the two lane bridges so he could get across. I remember it looked like the Eiffel Tower on wheels. Ah, those were the days.

Thank goodness we don't have that kind of cold weather here.

 

[bunyip]

in the 80 we saw graders with pre heat motors, i believe the exhaust went into the manifold to warm it before starting, seen a few cable dozers quietly rusting away in paddocks.

 

[LouNY]

And don't forget the start on gas run on diesels of IH.
I didn't mind the pony engine start once the pony got started, sometimes that would be a nightmare.

 

[turnkey4099]

I was a gleam in my dad's eye in 1954.. so while I have seen them on video, No, I haven't operated any of those....

That was the RDxx seriers, there was a prior version that you started by sticking a long bar in a hole in the fly wheel and cranked it that way. I can't recall what that series name was. I only have seen that at the antique tractor shows.

Landlord bought an RD6 bulldozer. I didnt' get to operate that one, my dad's last tractor was a huge McComick Deering T40. That was a diesel engine that started on gas and they changed over. Hand crank. If one was man enough to pull it over top twice it wouild always fire on the 2nd pull. Don't even try to start it after it was warm though. We would park it on a slope if we had to shut it down for awhile and start by coasting.

 

[Thomas]

turnkey4099
We would park it on a slope if we had to shut it down for awhile and start by coasting.
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Steeper slopes if you had iron wheels.

 

[Birdhunter1]

My Grandpa was a union Operator out of Michigan then later down here, in the early 70's a large lake was built down in Southern Illinois and he said the standard operating procedure was to check all the fluids at the end of the day and grease everything so that next morning you could start the pony motor and run and jump in your truck while the rattlesnakes crawled out of the machines.