Dozer on the show Gold Rush Alaska

[caver]

Anyone see this episode Friday on Discovery? Bunch of novices doing modern day gold prospecting. It was an abandoned Cat they started after sitting for several ? years. I found this a bit hard to believe. It was hard to believe someone left that machine up there.

 

[DANOCHEESE]

I can see soemone leaving it. Startign that easy with a jump from a pickup Don;t think so. I think this show is going to turn into a DRAMA.

 

[BruceWard]

Personally I thought the bear hunt was more rediculous. Why would you waste your time and only bear tag on hunting a black bear when you have bears coming into your camp.

 

[ultrarunner]

Neighbors brother worked on the pipeline and said a lot of equipment was abandoned or left for scavengers...

Maybe in a cold climate the diesel didn't support algae growth and all they really needed to do was jump it with starting fluid...

Mine sat 11 months once when I was overseas and started without having to charge or jump the battery.

 

[JoeinTX]

Been watching this show and I think their claim is leased rather than purchased. That being the case, I can see the owner leaving equipment there if it hasn't been needed elsewhere so I don't believe it was abandoned (as the narrator seemed to indicate) so much as simply not moved recently for other use. I got the idea the owner probably told them they could use whatever was on-site as part of the agreement. That's also why, considering Alaska's winters, the rig started with relatively little effort......it's had some attention and maintenance done on it somewhat recently.

OT, but this show in general is something else. I've enjoyed watching it so far but I can't get past the first episode. All of these guys are moping around, living with their in-laws, talking about how bad it is and saying going to Alaska to find gold is their "last hope"............but dear Lord in the Sky how much money did they (or somebody) spend on equipment and guns and transportation???? I heard mention of between $150-$300k spent just to provision and move the whole outfit to Alaska. That's a lot of biscuits and mortgage payments. Is Discovery footing the bill?

That's somewhere between $25-50k per family involved in this expedition before anything got dug out of the ground.

 

[caver]

Sort of what I was thinking JoeinTX. The owner probably said they could use it and had someone doing minimal maintenance on it.

The neighbor had some serious pans of nuggets.
Or was that staged too.

Mods, I put this in Construction since it was about the dozer that had sat for a long period of time in Alaska

 

[DANOCHEESE]

How about when thye went and bought the shaker box and the guy settled for half the money. I think the camera man was waiving cash at him.

The bear shooting was odd. Spring bear don;t taste that good. The preacher is building a house he jsut came along for the ride and the families will show up and the drama will continue they need the massie brothers

 

[dfkrug]

Is Discovery footing the bill?

I watched it, and I will admit when cornered that I have watched some
other "reality" shows, too.

What if it went like this: some guys in OR pitched this show to some
producer, and they ended up paying for it. $300K or $400K can't be
much of the budget for a show like this, no?

(What about those 2 cool excavators? Did they buy them and ship from
Oregon, too?)

 

[EddieWalker]

To call them fools seems like an insult to fools everywhere. Why bring little kids? Why buy a lease that everyone before them has failed at and they don't know what they are doing? Either it's all scripted and they are getting paid no matter the results, and it's not their money that they are throwing away, or they are so stupid as to spend a ton of cash on a huge gamble on somehting that they have never done, in a place they don't know.

While I was impressed that they got the dozer started, especially with a 12 volt battery on a 24 volt diesel engine, what really had my scratching my head was the blade change. At first it was a six way, finish blade. Then it had a straight blade on it. Obviously there was two dozers there, I'm just not sure why they pretended there was just one. I also can't figure out why they have to excavators. That's a heck of a lot of money to spend on machines when the big one will do anything the smaller one will do.

I agree that it's going to ba all about the drama and getting mad at each other. I can't imagine this turning out well for them.

Eddie

 

[beenthere]

Just your (our) typical run of the mill reality show. Best to enjoy the scenery and leave the sound off.
Same as the Axe men, and a gazillion others that wannabe reality....with a producer, a director, numerous retakes, setting the stage for the "accidents", and on and on infinitum.

But some watch and like the afternoon soap operas, get highly involved in who is acting up, needs to be fired, is aggravating, etc.

It's entertainment for some. I enjoy the scenery if I watch at all. Sound off tho.

 

[two_bit_score]

Just your (our) typical run of the mill reality show. Best to enjoy the scenery and leave the sound off.
Same as the Axe men, and a gazillion others that wannabe reality....with a producer, a director, numerous retakes, setting the stage for the "accidents", and on and on infinitum.

But some watch and like the afternoon soap operas, get highly involved in who is acting up, needs to be fired, is aggravating, etc.

It's entertainment for some. I enjoy the scenery if I watch at all. Sound off tho.

I would start to worry if those shows became too entertaining to me. I will admit to watching Ax Men more than any other but never really became a fan of it. TV is in a sad state these days.

 

[tony Cecil]

Well I`m enjoying it for what it is worth....but in real life ,just yesterday, I went to start the tractor, and `nothing`....I`m having trouble with the `safety ground`, and there was no year layover from the last time I started it..only a few hours ...

..

I can`t imagine they all would go off on such an adventure without serious compensation, and further just `bird shot` out of shotgun may have scarred off the black bear...If not then shoot it...a grizzly would be a true hunt ....Cheers Tony

 

[IH3444]

Had a diesel car start right up after sitting for 7 years outside, only installed a freshly charged battery. I was surprised. Also read on another tractor/heavy equipment forum of a son who inherited his father's dozer, shed kept, sat for 20 years. Changed filters, drained fuel, and replaced that. New batteries. Started right up he said. He was also surprised.

 

[arsenix2001]

That show is so funny, its focal point is about slightly slow closeminded hicks arguing and fighting and worrying about bears every 5 minutes. The gold is just a sidebar. Days of our lives - unqualified equipment operators edition.

 

[tommu56]

There is another forum I am on one guy lives up there and he said that they moth ball equipment up there all the time.
One of the main things is to cover up the exaust pipe with plastic and a bucket to keep the snow out of it in the winter.


Its no worse than letting a combine sit in Minnesota for 5 months once its cold its cold in my opinion.

tom

 

[captaincrab55]

With all the injuries on these shows with Discovery, has anyone seen an OSHA report filled out or even talked about????

 

[Cat_Driver]

Don't call BS on starting that CAT. I left my Kubota in the heat of the desert 120 plus degrees for 15 years with weeds grown up throughout the engine and seat etc. I had to cut it out of the weeds. I filled the tires, put in a new battery and never checked any fluids and it started right up. After me and the five guys standing around with our jaws on the ground stopped scratching our heads I shut her down and checked the fluids.

I topped everything off all fluids were fine except for the hydraulics and I got in and plowed a field for the next five hours.

The last oil change was 15 years ago, I may get around to changing the oil this year, maybe next.

 

[EddieWalker]

I watched the reruns of it the other day and there are two dozers. A D6H which is the old one and has the straight blade, and a D6N that has a six way blade. The H is the one they were working on and got started with the old batteries in it.

The episode with the bears is really annoying, but in the other episodes that i've seen are a bit better. Todd, the fat guy with the chin beard comes across as a hot head, but I wonder if there's something about red head that we're not seeing. Everyone doesn't like that guy and he is really bad with power tools. I'm wondering if it's all they can take not to kick him out and not lose it with him.

Editing is everything and after American Choppers success, I think all those shows want to create conflict and drama.

While it's annoying, I am learning things about gold and gold mining that I never new. Not that I want to mine gold, but I do like reality shows for exposing me to new ideas.

Eddie

 

[tommu56]

I agree any more drama and it will be moved to the noon to 3 window for soaps.
Like you I watch it for the tech stuff I've tried 3 or 4 things that the survivor shows people did had success with some but in a pinch I could get them to work if needed.


tom

 

[AKwelder]

i live in Alaska, have for 20 years, work up and down the haul road that ice road truckers is filmed on, and used to work for gold miners when times were tight and they had work.

They add A LOT of drama to these shows! I am amazed they haven't been sued. Remember that the original ice road trucker show was kicked out of the canadian area, they made it appear so dangerous that the client refused to use any driver that was on the show. The first year in alaska they ran into the back of one of the trucks they were filming, and people had to med evac the film crew. I was welding pipe for the "italian oil company" on the ocean. All 12 feet deep and frozen to the bottom. There is NO water under the ice. AND THE ROAD IS PAVED OVER 50% OF THE WAY. It is disgusting what they do!

Wow, sorry about the rant!

The gold mines are very remote and sometimes they need a permit to walk equipment in and out, so it is not uncommon to find dozers and equipment in the middle of no where. But it is someones property, and we are a polite society, we are well armed.

As for bears? we say welcome to Alaska, step out into the food chain