No One In Arizona Would Rescue Them… Now I Know Why!

Added: 2026-05-10

[00:00:00]In case you think that this was just gifted to me, I earned it today. I earned this badge. So, we got a call for a Ford cargo van that is stuck in the Grand Canyon National Park. It's been there for a while and nobody could get it out. The park was even making plans to carry it out with a helicopter.

[00:00:16]>> Okay, they'd be like, "We woke up this morning." Okay, yesterday we loaded up the wrecker and this morning we got up bright and early and we drove across the desert over the Cayab National Forest down into Marble Canyon, across Navajo Bridge and into the beautiful painted sculptured canyons of the desert southwest. And that brings us right here.

[00:00:42]Now that you're up to date, we are going to jump back in the truck and drive that way for about 20 minutes, unload, and go get that thing. So, we brought the standard crew today, which is actually the grand crew. First off, we got Colin here. I'm the best boy.

[00:00:58]And then we have Caitlyn.

[00:01:00]>> I'm the lunch lady today.

[00:01:01]>> And we got Kobe.

[00:01:16]Well, Colin, we found ourselves back on the back. This is usually where we end up. It's not a bad spot to be when you got a jacket. It's a little chilly.

[00:01:23]We're learning to whip hop it today.

[00:01:25]Well, I am. So, since we are in a national park, I am unable to fly the drone here, but I have a backup option.

[00:01:34]We have a 10-ft pole with an Insta 360 on it and we're going to try to get drone shots uh from a handheld. We'll see how that goes. You know it's serious when it's got a lightning warning on it.

[00:01:46]You're technically a lightning rod right now.

[00:01:56]They're worried about how tight this trail is down here. I think specifically the trees. So, they may have to clear some trees out for us. I'm not too worried about the wrecker like making it through. It's just they don't want us to make a mess while we're making it through. It is a national park after all. I am feeling a little under the weather, but I wanted to come experience this job today because it's a new area that I've never been in next to the Grand Canyon, and four seems to be the right number of people on these jobs, so I couldn't miss it. Have you ever done a Grand Canyon job?

[00:02:31]Oh, I've been real close on the Arizona strip. That's about it. Look behind you.

[00:02:38]Oh my goodness. It's a Grand Canyon.

[00:02:45]>> Wow. They were dedicated to get a van down there.

[00:02:49]>> This is quite the road.

[00:02:54]Wow.

[00:02:56]Absolutely beautiful views.

[00:02:59]Look at that canyon over there.

[00:03:03]>> Now that's a Grand Canyon.

[00:03:05]>> Colby and I have Oh, getting swatted with branches. So, as you just saw, Colby and I have been getting swatted with branches. So, we have resorted to the lowest spot on the back end of the wreck and it's helping.

[00:03:18]>> This is Jake's spot. I think he had it figured out.

[00:03:21]>> Yeah, this is the spot to be right now.

[00:03:24]So, we're using the Onyx mapping system to get through this. I want to show you something. I'm using Google Maps and it's not letting me get to the pin because it's not an off-road mapping app system. So, if you really want to get out and see this, check out the difference. So, it's clear that the Onyx Off-Road app has a mapping system that's superior to the other mapping systems, especially when you start getting off-road, which is where we are now.

[00:03:52]Seriously off-road. So, not only does Onyx Off-Road have remote trails mapped out, but it also has a number of other features. Onyx has different map layers so you can choose exactly what you want to see. If you want to see the grid lines, you can see the elevation change, if you want to see cell phone coverage, or if you want to see the satellite images. Onyx is also constantly updating and improving their map. Onyx now has a group location sharing feature. That means if you go trailing with all of your friends and you guys get separated, you still know where each other are.

[00:04:22]Yeah. Where were we? So, what you're going to want to do is you're going to want to download the Onyx Off-Road app and use the promo code more at checkout for 20% off your purchase and get out there and find something.

[00:05:03]It's not full of rocks and sand like the other one.

[00:05:08]>> Cut the tie rods.

[00:05:10]>> You say you got a szole?

[00:05:14]>> Yeah, I broke something loose.

[00:05:19]Okay.

[00:05:21]Well, hopefully that frees up the back end. If not, we'll have to work on it some more. All right. So, what I want to do is pick this up and flip this around.

[00:05:33]So, we'll haul it out from the front and then So, we'll get it supposed to grab on the frame.

[00:05:41]>> Yeah, we'll get it picked up.

[00:05:48]Oh, the bumper started to get removed.

[00:05:58]Are >> you warmed up?

[00:06:00]>> I'm trying to clear out my sinuses.

[00:06:02]It's working.

[00:06:04]>> That's good.

[00:06:17]And we're going to need both of the boom lines out, but I think only we only want the driver's one right now.

[00:06:28]Well, I don't know. Yeah, I'll start with the drivers.

[00:06:36]So, this one's going to go over the top bumper around that front frame horn.

[00:06:48]It's not very often we find an abandoned vehicle that doesn't have anything important stolen off of it. So, this is a nice change of pace.

[00:07:08]So, the way we're pulling is going to pull up on the boom. And the boom is held down by gravity and not a lot of it. So, this is just holding the boom in place, stabilize it, making sure that when we get pulling, nothing nothing goes too weird.

[00:07:25]>> So, Caitlyn, we're going to be watching.

[00:07:27]We're going to be watching to see if those back wheels roll.

[00:07:29]>> Okay.

[00:07:32]>> All right.

[00:07:48]It's just dragging.

[00:07:56]This wheel's rolling.

[00:08:02]>> Is the drive shaft spinning, Colin?

[00:08:09]Yeah, it's spinning.

[00:08:10]>> We got one tire spinning and the other one's just dragging.

[00:08:13]>> Good. Well, the drive shaft's spinning.

[00:08:15]That's what's important.

[00:08:25]>> Has that other tire started rolling yet?

[00:08:27]>> Not yet.

[00:08:28]>> It's going to be packed with grit.

[00:08:39]Big Holland, >> I'm going to need you to drive the truck forward like towards the cooler.

[00:08:52]Put it in neutral.

[00:09:06]Okay, pull forward just a little.

[00:09:20]Okay, back up.

[00:09:24]Get in a better position.

[00:09:27]Could you drive out from there? No.

[00:09:36]>> Okay, just turn your rear steering off and leave it right there. Stop.

[00:09:57]Okay, drive forward.

[00:10:02]>> Okay, Colin, rear steer this way.

[00:10:39]Get the whole thing more to the right a little. Yep.

[00:10:46]Can you rear steer uphill a little? Not much. Yeah, like that.

[00:10:59]Okay, stop for a second. Back up.

[00:11:04]Wow.

[00:11:07]>> Yeah.

[00:11:10]Let me look at this.

[00:11:14]This folded tire. Oh, it doesn't look nearly as bad on that side.

[00:11:19]>> Okay, Colin. I'm thinking I want your front wheel right here.

[00:11:30]>> Okay. See if you can crab walk downhill.

[00:11:47]Okay, that's good. Stop.

[00:11:51]Um, yeah. Go go go a little further.

[00:11:57]That's where we want to be. Leave your rear rear wheel right there.

[00:12:03]Don't Don't stop.

[00:12:06]Turn your front wheel to the right.

[00:12:10]You're on your brake too hard.

[00:12:17]Okay. Steer the other way quick. Back wheel.

[00:12:29]Okay. Stop.

[00:12:35]Okay. Roll nice and slow.

[00:12:39]That wheel still dragging.

[00:12:40]>> Yeah.

[00:12:53]We got to figure that out.

[00:13:12]Straighten your rear wheels out.

[00:13:34]All right, man. Okay, call and stop.

[00:13:43]This one's all all locked up.

[00:13:51]Man, they were working this van to get it here. Look at those tires. Those are burnt.

[00:13:56]We got to pull this wheel and chip all this stuff out of it.

[00:13:59]>> Okay, we're going to take the tire off.

[00:14:01]And luckily, we've got Matt's tools to help us do it.

[00:14:07]>> In case you were wondering, you can get your own at mattforreovery.com.

[00:14:11]And they're on sale right now.

[00:14:24]>> This is the one thing they did not strip.

[00:14:27]>> Luckily, we need it.

[00:14:33]>> Okay, so how did this get out here?

[00:14:36]>> What's the story? There's a long there's a long story and a short story. Short story is um a guy borrowed his friend's van >> and decided to go on a week-long adventure and um came down here in his van and obviously got it stuck.

[00:15:00]>> So So it's a rental?

[00:15:01]>> Uh it's a borrow?

[00:15:03]>> No, it's his friend's work truck. This was a a plumber's truck. like it had a full roof rack. It had interior shelving. It was customized out. It had like a whole cage and everything.

[00:15:14]>> Um, so he came out here for a couple days and realized he was stuck. He stayed in this van for a couple days just living in it and then walked out, walked the whatever it is, four or five miles >> out to the road and >> uphill.

[00:15:32]>> Uphill.

[00:15:33]>> And how long ago was this?

[00:15:34]>> Five years ago.

[00:15:36]co times.

[00:15:37]>> Wow.

[00:15:38]>> Yeah. And so the original thought was once we found the van and located the whole deal is that >> we were going to get it extracted with a helicopter.

[00:15:46]>> Mhm.

[00:15:46]>> Um but judging by the amount of customization that had been done to this van and um all the stuff that was in the interior plus the exterior for the holding a heavier weight.

[00:15:58]>> Yeah.

[00:15:59]>> We stripped everything out of it and uh then we lost the money. I couldn't get the money for the helicopter. So, we were looking at other options like >> chopping it up and taking it out one small piece at a time over the years or just taking out the frame and leaving the chassis for the most part. And then uh we heard about you guys. We called you guys. You guys were gracious enough to come help us out.

[00:16:24]>> Yeah, we're grateful we're able to be part of it.

[00:16:26]>> We really appreciate it. This is a large piece of litter. Someone was in the Grand Canyon.

[00:16:34]We just got to get all that sand out of that brake caliper.

[00:16:37]>> Can you dig out underneath it now? If we leave it right there.

[00:16:40]>> No, we're going to have to hammer for you.

[00:16:43]>> It's off the ground, Dad.

[00:16:44]>> Is it?

[00:16:48]>> All right. If you think it's stable, it's not super stable. Just don't sit under it.

[00:16:55]>> Well, we're going to be hammering on it and stuff.

[00:16:59]>> We'll find out. I wonder if I should get the mojab jack right now.

[00:17:03]>> We're probably going to need it cuz it's going to go when this tire comes off.

[00:17:06]I'm actually kind of scared.

[00:17:13]>> Hopefully that bumper's on good. We'll find out. We just need it for stability.

[00:17:18]>> Okay. Is that wheel off the ground yet, Colin?

[00:17:21]>> I think you're putting it worse.

[00:17:24]>> Okay, hang on. I'm going to try something.

[00:17:39]The one I was waiting for.

[00:17:42]>> That's the rock.

[00:17:43]>> It's eventually It's eventually got to get to the bottom, right? Like that tire is not going to slide all the way to the top of that mountain, right?

[00:17:52]>> You never know.

[00:18:01]How's that looking? Okay.

[00:18:04]If it ever stabilizes, we're going to be good. Man, that's a deep cactus.

[00:18:10]>> I saw that. It's like an inch in there.

[00:18:12]>> Yeah. I felt it hit the kneecap. Stop.

[00:18:17]Makes made a spark.

[00:18:21]>> There you go.

[00:18:24]>> Is that the end? It's done falling. It's done.

[00:18:31]>> Nice.

[00:18:32]>> You're well off that bottle jack.

[00:18:34]>> All right. Hammer >> right here.

[00:18:38]>> Screwdriver.

[00:18:46]>> Yeah, that's a nest.

[00:18:48]>> Yeah.

[00:18:51]>> Look at the rust.

[00:18:53]Few rivers.

[00:18:58]>> We should just pull that brake caliper off.

[00:19:04]>> Just all these rocks adding up to resistance.

[00:19:11]>> Yes.

[00:19:13]Okay. So, this pad is off now.

[00:19:18]Now, I just need this one. Okay. get that breaker bar and see what we've got.

[00:19:29]I can't imagine what else would be holding this from spinning. What else could could be doing it?

[00:19:42]See see how that's doing? Okay, this will give us a little bit of a lever.

[00:19:57]Wow.

[00:19:58]>> Did it move?

[00:19:59]>> No.

[00:19:59]>> The whole thing moved.

[00:20:01]>> I felt uh I felt it want to move.

[00:20:05]>> Yeah.

[00:20:09]>> You're bending the stud a little bit.

[00:20:16]Okay.

[00:20:18]Getting a lot of dirt out of that caliper though.

[00:20:37]Wow.

[00:20:49]Let's just pull that off. Let's just do it. It's two bolts.

[00:20:58]That is quite frozen.

[00:21:02]So, the same thing that's going on with this whole drum is going on >> with those bolts. Impossible.

[00:21:18]>> All right, let's do that. Let's do it for Let's work on this for five more minutes and then we'll change our tactic.

[00:21:26]>> Still What is stopping that?

[00:21:58]>> Has anybody known?

[00:21:59]>> What if he broke an axle getting trying to get back here and something in there is not happy?

[00:22:21]All right, as usual, I was looking for the easy way out. I thought we could get this freed up, but it's just not. We're and we put quite a bit into it. So, I think the answer is to cut the steering, weld it straight, flip it around, pull it out backwards.

[00:22:55]>> Thank you.

[00:23:06]We should just bring vice grip next time. You would fire this thing up and we'd drive it out.

[00:23:11]>> Well, give me a 13 mm wrench.

[00:23:27]Watch out.

[00:23:32]>> Oh yeah.

[00:23:36]>> Oh, look at that.

[00:23:40]>> This weren't real straight.

[00:23:41]>> No.

[00:23:42]>> Go to the driver.

[00:23:46]>> That's pretty close.

[00:23:49]It's going to be six of one, half a dozen of the other. All right, >> nice.

[00:23:54]>> We did it. We got those locked. I And it only took a little bit more work than cutting and welding steering column.

[00:24:01]>> Why did Ford make it so hard to break into the ignition?

[00:24:04]>> That actually wasn't bad. I did it with nothing more than a screwdriver and a hammer.

[00:24:09]I'd have drove this thing away if it was running.

[00:24:13]>> It is lunchtime, but we're going to have to earn our lunch. So, that means we're going to have to flip this van all the way back around, get it re situated, then we can eat.

[00:24:32]>> Put your front wheel straight.

[00:24:39]Rear steer dip back a little bit. The other way.

[00:24:43]Yeah, right there. Now back a little.

[00:24:46]Too much.

[00:24:48]Go just a little.

[00:25:32]All right, there we go.

[00:25:44]Steer out of the trees. Just get back on the trail.

[00:25:48]Okay. Rear steer. I guess that way all the way. Drive while you're doing it. Stop. Leave it right there.

[00:26:14]Okay.

[00:26:14]>> Very nice.

[00:26:15]>> Very nice.

[00:26:18]We should have done this at the beginning, but we didn't know that.

[00:26:28]Awesome.

[00:27:13]All right, because my job is lunch lady today, I'm going to start getting out the food.

[00:27:20]On the menu today, we've got bread, peanut butter, and jelly.

[00:27:31]All right, we've got about a mile and a quarter of this like really tight stuff, then we'll get back on the good road. I'm just going to scout ahead and make sure that we don't get into any trouble on the way out. Got Caitlyn back there making sure the van is tracking good.

[00:27:53]Pretty good to me.

[00:27:57]>> The weather couldn't be better either.

[00:27:58]Like it is just beautiful. We didn't do a weather report.

[00:28:03]>> Well, the weather's beautiful in both Fahrenheit and Celsius.

[00:28:38]How's my dad doing? He's in the van.

[00:28:41]>> Is he doing good?

[00:28:42]>> Yeah.

[00:28:43]>> Okay, good.

[00:29:09]You almost got wiped off.

[00:29:10]>> I know.

[00:29:13]>> It's not good for the paint.

[00:29:15]>> Oh, hey. Is this that scary spot? Don't stop.

[00:29:20]>> All right.

[00:29:22]Okay, Colin, you're walking on the edge here.

[00:29:47]Good.

[00:29:54]That's kind of a scary spot.

[00:29:55]>> Yeah.

[00:30:06]>> All right. Good to go.

[00:30:43]It's pretty great. Grand.

[00:30:46]>> I'm talking about this canyon right here. Like Oh, yeah. Out there. That is grand.

[00:31:20]I did it.

[00:31:21]>> You did.

[00:31:21]>> I made it all the way up.

[00:31:23]>> Could you tell I was helping?

[00:31:25]>> Yeah.

[00:31:26]>> Okay.

[00:31:27]>> We We knew where you You weren't just sitting there doing nothing.

[00:31:30]>> How was How was your ride, >> man?

[00:31:33]>> Dude, is it nap time yet?

[00:31:34]>> Yeah, I'm kidding.

[00:31:38]Go take a nap at the Grand Canyon.

[00:31:40]>> Yeah, I might.

[00:31:41]>> A grand nap.

[00:31:42]>> A grand nap.

[00:31:44]>> I'm ready for >> I'm ready for a grand drive home and a grand sleep in my own bed for the second time this week.

[00:31:58]>> Ready for a grand old dinner?

[00:32:00]>> Yeah, >> I'm ready to go see my grand play some card games.

[00:32:03]>> We had a pretty grand lunch. Thanks, Caitlyn.

[00:32:06]You're welcome, >> man. I'm thinking about starting to call this the world's grandest record.

[00:32:12]>> The world grand record.

[00:32:13]>> Yeah.

[00:32:15]>> World's grandest record.

[00:32:18]>> Well, after 5 years, it's out.

[00:32:21]>> Hey, thanks to you fellas.

[00:32:24]>> National Park Service >> patch. The official >> amazing.

[00:32:28]>> Oh, wow. Thank you.

[00:32:30]>> Wow.

[00:32:32]>> So awesome.

[00:32:34]And then the highly coveted Junior Ranger badge.

[00:32:39]>> Oh yeah, >> I always wanted one of these.

[00:32:43]>> All right, in case you think that this was just gifted to me, I earned it today. I earned this badge on the mountain in the park. Junior Ranger South Rim. Today it's official.

[00:32:58]I'm going to put this on.

[00:33:00]>> You wear that on all your recoveries now. I will. When people don't do what I say, I'll be like, >> "Look at the badge, brother." I remember watching all those kids through Zion.

[00:33:11]They do their little tour thingy and then they get a badge and I'm like, "How come I can never get a badge?"

[00:33:17]>> Got one for years.

[00:33:19]>> It's amazing. Thank you.

[00:33:22]>> There you guys are.

[00:33:24]>> Really appreciate it. Thanks again for everything.

[00:33:26]>> Absolutely.

[00:33:27]>> Thank you so much for coming all the way out here and helping us out.

[00:33:30]>> That was just >> Thank you so much.

[00:33:31]>> All right, Caitlyn. From now on, you're referring to me as Junior Ranger.

[00:33:34]>> All right, Junior Ranger. Honor to go.

[00:33:37]>> We're going to go see some stuff.

[00:33:46]>> Not only are you only are you a recovery man, but you're also a tourist.

[00:33:50]>> That's right. Today, today you're going to see some tourism.

[00:33:56]I like it. Nice.

[00:34:05]Oh, cool.

[00:34:06]>> It's kind of It's kind of grand.

[00:34:11]>> Kind of hard to It's kind of hard to take in.

[00:34:16]I know on this camera >> I always tell people that have never been in this area, go to the Grand Canyon first and then hit Zion and and >> like Bryce Canyon and Canyon Lands and Arches second, like afterwards cuz this gives you the scope of what's possible and then you can go see the details of what's possible.

[00:34:38]>> So, can you go in there or is it >> Okay, you can go all the way up to the top.

[00:34:53]Oh my goodness.

[00:34:54]>> Oh wow.

[00:34:55]>> It just keeps getting better and better.

[00:35:00]>> Wow.

[00:35:14]This is pretty good. This is a great way to finish a job. Well, that was a neat tour and the ice cream was on point, but it's time to load up. Head for the barn.

[00:36:02]Okay, Junior Ranger. Tell us what's up.

[00:36:04]Well, I'm going to show you one of the features that's on our way home. You've got this gigantic rock sitting on virtually nothing.

[00:36:14]>> A lesser rock.

[00:36:16]>> So, this is kind of a mud stone. It's crumbly. It's not very structural. The rock above it very structural.

[00:36:26]>> You must have got a scientific degree with your badge.

[00:36:29]>> Yes. But look at how many tons that is.

[00:36:32]That's That's literally tons and tons of weight sitting on just this little cone.

[00:36:39]All right, that's enough learning for today. Thanks for watching. Here we go.

[00:36:43]Here we go. Here we go. Let's rock and roll.

[00:36:47]Okay.