Lee Has A Spinner, AKA Necking Knob On His John Deere

[Henry]

Was up at Minors Store earlier and noticed something I haven't seen on a steering wheel since the early 1950s.  We used to call it a "Spinner," however, Marty Minor, who was at the store, said he knew it as a "Necking Knob."  The "Spinner" was used in the 40s to spin the wheel around as you shifted from low to reverse to turn around.  Not an easy task unless you were moving slightly as there was no power steering in those days.  The "Necking Knob," well, Marty tells me that was so you could drive with one hand on the "Spinner" and the other arm around your girl friend - Ah Yes!!!  Certainly some information you should all be aware of if you see your young son coming home with a "Spinner/Necking Knob" on the steering wheel.

I have no idea what Lee's explanation is for the accessory on his John Deere Tractor.

[trussell]

Henry,

When I was at the John Deere Dealership, I remember those being a big seller.  Farmers (especially the older generation) would often buy them for their tractors.  I suspect that it's because one hand is on the baler/kicker controls or something like that.  As far as a lawn tractor goes, I'm sure it's probably just easier to spin the steering wheel!  I can stop by if you wanted to do an upgrade to yours...

-Trevor

[cechinbass]

Trevor, you got to have one of those on there so that your other hand is free to hold your beer

[Henry]

Just read on the Spinner Web Site that these things aren't legal in all states - Didn't realize they had such a variety - Pretty obvious I don't get out much as I thought I had run into a rarity when I saw that on Lee's tractor.

http://www.thehotrodgirl.com/suicideknobs.html

[Mike Raburn]

I TOTALLY read that Topic of the tread WRONG.
Oh well.

"I worked 40 hours on my John Deere."

[mirjo]

Who knew? Seriously Henry, it seems you "get out" many ways these days. Think of how things would be w/o the internet to explore--esp in the winter. And this national cast of characters you have on the forum everyday (that you wouldn't talk to otherwise)!

In this age of information overload with 24 hour news casts, constant news updates on the web, all of the celebrity hype, blogs, Twitter, facebook, myspace and so on, it's not surprising that people have zero attention span, yet there are still things we do not know and you provide those of us on the forum with answers/knowledge/history lessons quite often.

Others  who have information add what they know, there is more community spirit on the forum than in the town itself. You are greatly appreciated and are so humble about the things that you do. I want to thank you again for adding a little more knowledge (or in this case, perhaps useless information ) to my wealth of knowledge!