What Makes a Great Equipment Operator? 40+ Years of Insight

Emil LaFave has taught heavy equipment at North Country for 23 years. He ran his first machine at about 15, a backhoe hooked onto the back of a front-end loader on his family's farm, and he's been moving dirt and fixing whatever broke ever since.Before he taught, he spent 43 years in trucking. Before that, he hauled logs out of the woods with a team of horses and prayed for cold nights so the swamp roads would freeze.We got into what makes a good operator, why every exercise he runs is built off a real job, and the kind of mistakes you only have to make once.WHAT WE GET INTOThe first thing he notices about a student, before they ever touch a leverWhy he sometimes lets students dig it their way, even when he knows where the dirt pile is going to end upThe blueberry farmer who was about to buy a bigger tractor, and what Emil told him to do with a backhoe insteadA tractor rattle the owner was ready to haul 50 miles to the dealer, and what was actually wrongThe hill, the power divider, and the gear a driver kept breaking, and why that driver asked to help fix itThe dragline bucket he built out of an old iron tractor wheel, and the boom he never could afford to patent ABOUT EMILEmil grew up on a farm with nine brothers and sisters, putting in septic tanks and drain fields for the neighbors and logging with horses and sleighs. He and his wife Linda ran a trucking business for 43 years. Linda drove for 15 of them. They hauled pulpwood and saw logs to mills across the region, and they overhauled their own engines, rear ends, and transmissions because that's how you kept trucks running.He took drafting in school, and he still draws a plan before he cuts any steel. He's spent 23 years teaching at North Country Electrical and Heavy Equipment School in Escanaba, Michigan. He spends his winters in Florida, where he still ends up fixing the neighbors' tractors.TIMESTAMPS00:00 — Who we're talking to01:52 — His first machine, around age 1502:28 — 43 years in trucking03:37 — Horses, sleighs, and a homemade log jammer04:56 — Praying for a cold night06:13 — Hauling for the paper mills09:17 — Iron mules and winter logging11:33 — When a U.P. winter shuts everything down16:35 — What's changed in 20 years, and what hasn't19:50 — What makes a good operator20:10 — Why the paperwork comes first22:15 — Why every exercise is a real job23:07 — Letting students do it their way24:46 — Why one machine isn't enough25:11 — The six-inch trench25:36 — A blueberry farm in Florida29:20 — The rattle that didn't need a dealer32:37 — The hill, the power divider, and the broken gear34:42 — "It's life, and you don't forget it"36:24 — A squeak that wasn't about grease37:24 — Loading trucks in third gear38:27 — Why patience is the job39:23 — Bringing home a cable machine on a semi41:58 — Crosscut saws and chest-high stumps44:21 — What he's proudest of46:39 — Farm life and the heel of the bread49:50 — The dragline bucket he built from a tractor wheel52:28 — Draw the plan first53:05 — The boom he couldn't afford to patent🔗 LINKSListen wherever your get your podcasts: https://built-in-the-midwest.captivate.fm/listenMidwest Truck Driving School: midwesttruckdrivingschool.com North Country Heavy Equipment & Electrical Line School: https://ncheschool.com/Submit your Questions: https://webforms.pipedrive.com/f/6WfGT9X1zlYC6WvssJqfWxOOkvVa1AjzqgnAIIHOq70WWiNo5czEWXpBMqxVTW7UST 💬 CONNECT Email: marketing@midwesttruckdrivingschool.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CDLMidwest Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/midwesttruckdrivingschool/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@midwesttruckdrivingskool