Wife operating tractor

billfires · Apr 20, 2002

Anyone have any suggestions on how to get wife interested in operating a tractor? My wife was enthusiastic about my purchasing my tractor but had no interest when looking at buying it. I have had no success even getting her to know how to start it. We are both firefighter/paramedics that will be working different 24 hour shifts and I would at least like her to be able to clear snow from the driveway if we get a heavy snowfall while I'm on my 24 hour shift. She regularly drives a 35000 lb fire engine and occasionally drives the 60000 lb tanker. She has no problem with standard transmissions. Any ideas or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

Bill C

Thomas · Apr 20, 2002

I was in the same boat as you for my better half show no interest in learning,than about a week ago out of the clear blue while removing the sod for her new flower garden,she ask me to teach her the basic. /w3tcompact/icons/shocked.gif

Now she knows how to start the tractor..runs the fel & York rake etc..hey thats cutting into my tractor time. /w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif

Just give her some time and see what happens.

RobS · Apr 20, 2002

Don't do it Bill /w3tcompact/icons/shocked.gif Just kidding, my wife operates our tractor all the time and the only issue is my own lack of seat time. Not sure how to get yours interested, mine was all for it from the beginning. Maybe a two person job where she can do the seat job and you provide the manual labor. We took turns like that picking rocks out of our field. It was a good tractor introduction for her since it was very slow and no implements to worry about.

Here's a delicate question... Is there any aspect of your training methods that she may be un-interested in? I know my wife gets a bit tired of listening to me prattle on when I'm "teaching" her a new skill. If I pull my head out of my a** and realize it we both get a decent laugh then move on. If not, she'll quickly loose interest.

There's always the sink-or-swim method... Toss her the keys and say "Honey, why don't you take the tractor out back and flatten out that high spot you've been complaining about".

Hope everything works out for both of you /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

RobS · Apr 20, 2002

Thomas, you've got a lot of tractor time ahead of you to get that land of yours as flat as ours /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif Or should I be grading mountains out of my flats? Beautiful setting you've got there /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

chim · Apr 20, 2002

If all else fails, she'll develop an interest the first time you're not there to plow the snow.................chim

Thomas · Apr 20, 2002

I would have to trade in my B7100HST w/ all the goodies toward a Cat D8 if I was to agree to let my better half have her way of land scaping /w3tcompact/icons/crazy.gif..thats ain't going to happen. /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

I guess I better finish my coffee and get my butt outside in the 42F air,and continue on the flower garden before the boss shows up shouting words of encouragement. /w3tcompact/icons/eyes.gif

MReeter · Apr 20, 2002

Thomas,beautiful piece of land.Looks like your building a Golf Green!!!

Kelvin · Apr 20, 2002

Billfires,
With two Kubota tractors (B7100/B2150) my wife used to use the Sears 12.5hp/38" riding mower to help me cut the 5 acres. Then one day we were running late and wouldn't get the grass cut in the amount of daylight left so she asked the question "isn't there anyway that we can do this faster?".

So I put her on the B2150 with FEL (since it had HSD and the B7100 is gear drive) and got her going. We got done a lot faster. She admitted that she was afraid of it since it looked "so big", but that after she got used to it she actually liked it.

The key factor in this story is that my wife enjoys mowing grass. If there is a task that your wife enjoys accomplishing that your tractor would help do, then that is the easiest pathway to getting her to use it.

Kelvin

pennwalk · Apr 20, 2002

<font color=blue>my wife enjoys mowing grass</font color=blue>

Guys its a slipery slope for a one tractor family. You know there are stories here of guys who rarely get to use the tractor. I was lucky to dodge the bullet. My wife helped me clear some brush on her day off but fortunatly she decided that the tractor was too loud and smelly. heck, guys like things that are loud and smelly like bars, football and trucks. It's a chance you take when you put your better half up in the seat. You may have to get a second machine./w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

Chris

beenthere · Apr 20, 2002

If she can drive the fire trucks, she can drive the tractor. Wait until it snows and you are on your shift, and she will learn to plow, or sit. There are three things you can't do. 1. Kiss a girl leaning backward, 2. Climb a fence leaning toward you, and 3. help someone who doesn't want to be helped.

Mother of necessity will get the job done, and when it happens, you will wish you never created the 'monster'. Happened to my lawn mowing time on my JD 445 last summer, after I was in for a knee operation. I could still manage to mow, but my lovely wife wanted to help. She liked it so much, I spent a lot of time just watching after that.