Hoffman Family Gold (2022) s02e07 Episode Script
Hold My Gear
1
All right, guys,
you ready to get it on?
Let's get it on, baby.
Game on.
Over a halfway
through the season,
the Black Pearl
and the Holy Roller
have pulled in
371 ounces combined,
far short of their
1000-ounce goal.
Running out of time now,
we're getting farther behind.
Now, with pay dirt
running critically low
That big girl needs
some frickin' pay dirt.
The battle of
the plants enters a new phase.
I'm just trying to find an area
where I can do my own cut.
As Todd and Hunter each
scramble to mine fresh ground
We're getting there, buddy.
The team Holy Roller is
forced to change gears
Gosh, dang it.
Something's not right.
When their dozer
goes down for the count.
Crap.
We lose this Cat, we're done.
Will Todd
and his team be able to rally?
Without mining, there's
no point of being here.
Or will Hunter take
all the gold and glory?
Whoa, dude!
It looks insane.
Keep it coming, Cub,
just like that.
After six weeks,
both the Black Pearl
and Holy Roller's breakdowns
are behind them,
and both are now
fully operational.
But with the plants each
turning through 200 yards
of ancient river bed
pay dirt an hour,
a new issue is on the horizon.
Their stockpile
is critically low.
Without pay dirt, we're dead.
Without pay dirt, none of
these plants are running.
We're basically gonna
pack up our stuff,
and none of these guys are
gonna take any gold with them.
In two short weeks, the team has
exhausted the ancient river bed,
leaving only a few thousand
yards of pay dirt left to process.
Maybe we have total, together,
a week's worth of pay.
We need pay dirt on
a rich piece of ground.
In order to
keep the mine running
and hit their 104-ounce goal,
both plants must be fed.
With the ancient
river bed nearly tapped,
the hunt for
new pay dirt begins.
It's a huge gamble coming
off of that ancient river channel,
but you know what? Do the math.
I need pay dirt
and I need it right now.
With each passing week,
the Hoffmans' 1000-ounce
season goal
slips further and further
out of reach.
Andy and I are putting
our heads together.
We're just trying to figure out
the path through this problem.
They haven't hit their
weekly target once so far,
only adding to
the following weekly goal.
'Kay, I'm dropping
dirt right now.
Drop it like it's hot, baby.
It's a losing
streak they hope new pay dirt
will help them overcome.
We need all the dirt
that we can get.
So, we're gonna find
some new pay dirt
and try to locate a new,
a new cut for us.
Pearl is hungry.
That big girl needs
some frickin' pay dirt.
While the stock pile of
ancient river bed pay dirt
grows smaller,
Andy and Thurber begin
scouting a potential new cut
for the Holy Roller.
- Hey, Andy.
- Hey, Buddy.
- So, I peeled a bunch of this stuff off.
- -Yeah.
And the old-timers
were in here working,
which, they always left gold.
But I dug a hole right here.
It's got that,
all that red stuff in it.
- Yup.
- And I'm almost positive that red stuff's really good.
Yeah, look at it. It's got a
lot of ore in it. It's all rust.
The presence of iron ore,
and the distinct change in soil
color that Andy has discovered
is a geological indicator
that a high gold concentration
is very likely present.
More often than not,
iron-rich environments
are also gold-bearing
areas as well.
What are you gonna
call this place if it's
pans out?
The Narrows of Dahl.
The Narrows of Dahl.
It almost sounds romantic.
Well, you're here,
it's romantic.
So, this spot in Dahl Creek,
is a very special place
because it's the lowest point
that the gold can travel.
And it's where Dahl Creek
gets the narrowest.
So, when there's a flood, or a
rain, every bit of gold that's above us,
has to come through
this point right here.
- I'll go pan this real quick.
- -Okay.
So, we pan every,
spot where we might
get pay.
You know, and it's just
a small, small test
compared to running a bucket
from the excavator.
To save time panning
I classify it down really quick.
I'll use a 3H mesh,
half-inch mesh.
Get rid of the big rocks.
I'll, make sure that
we don't have a big nugget,
which I'll probably faint
the day that ever happens.
But, then screen it down
to where I can pan it.
My gosh.
My gosh. You have got to be me.
You got a lot of fine gold
in here.
And you have obviously
a lot of bigger gold.
So.
Pretty cool.
What's neat about it is
there's all this fine gold with it.
Better than we ever
had in the Yukon.
I never get tired of saying it,
but it, that's one of the best
gold pans I've ever seen.
You're gonna find
big gold in here.
While Thurber
and Andy take stock
of the Holy Roller's promising
new cut at the Narrows of Dahl,
Hunter heads north of the mine
with geologist Jeff Keener
in a search for fresh pay dirt
to feed the Black Pearl.
Most of those piles
are tailings.
- Yeah.
- -They, they were pulled up
with a Bagley scraper.
Nobody knows
this property like Keener.
You know, he's been doing
test holes and trenches
in this before I was even born.
So, he's gonna be
my best bet to pin point
where the best gold would be.
And then we'll figure out where's
the best place for me to break ground.
The reason I wanted
to have you come out here
is 'cause I'm just trying to find an
area where I can do my own cut.
And I wanted to start heading
towards Atlas Creek.
- Yeah.
- We know it's super rich up that way,
so I just figure head towards
where we know it's good.
We've got the prospect map.
I only went up a very short
distance up Quartz Creek
and to be honest, my results
weren't that good.
I think the best ground
that you're gonna find
on this part of
the Quartz Creek drainage
is at the mouth of North Fork
and then up on Atlas Creek.
Gotta keep in mind that drilling
- is not a perfect science.
- Yeah.
- Yeah.
- We collect samples.
We process 'em,
come up with a grade,
and then plot it on a map
and then try to figure out
- well, what's it really trying to tell us.
- Yeah.
And so, if I can find an area that
has a number of good results
then I'll focus on that.
- If you were 23
- Yeah.
And you got a giant Trommel
that could eat through clay
where, where would you go?
It's gonna be
on North Fork here.
There are old workings in there
that were probably worked by hand
back, you know, gold rush era.
And they have not
been re-worked.
And so, that's actually
really easy mining,
'cause there's just about two or
three feet of mud that's gonna come in.
You take that off,
and then you mine
the next three or four feet
of gravel and bedrock.
- Yeah.
- And so they did a little bit of the work for you?
Yeah, they did a lot
of the work for you.
Okay.
Is any of that stuff thawed?
Were, they were
old-timers working?
In the old workings, yeah,
that's all thawed.
Wow.
The Black Pearl is gonna
give us an advantage
just because it's custom-built
for this kind of terrain.
There's a lot of clay,
and there's a lot of stuff
that you really need to
break up inside the Trommel,
and, it's a little bit different
than the Holy Roller.
You know, we custom built
the Holy Roller
for Colorado where
we had a lot of rock,
and this, terrain's kinda
the opposite of that, so
I feel like we're at
a little bit of an advantage.
At least I know I can get to it,
and it has potential
to be really good ground.
- Right.
- Okay.
I appreciate it.
Let's get out of here.
While Hunter finds
new ground in North Fork.
Todd is closing in on his own
new cut at the Narrows of Dahl.
So this came from what Andy
calls The Narrows of Dahl,
Okay, that's where it all
- Super narrow.
- Right past the Z-plant was
- Yeah.
- And right narrows up the canyon?
Yup. Well, I counted
up to 20 of the really fine,
- but then there's that.
- Look at those.
One of the best pans
I've ever seen.
You know what, dude,
we're gonna go for it.
We're gonna run that stuff.
Pretty good, I love it.
Okay.
All right.
You know what? It's a good test.
Then we know there's gold
in this little bit of dirt,
so why not run this stuff?
That's what we're doing.
With Todd's green light
and a waning
pay dirt stock pile,
Andy wastes no time ripping
new dirt from The Narrows of Dahl.
We're gonna drop the ripper,
do our first rip.
Here we go!
We're just about
out of pay dirt.
So, this couldn't come
at a better time.
I literally have
maybe five days,
but things can change quick.
Rip it nice.
We're getting her, buddy.
First rip of the year.
Exciting.
Before Andy can begin delivering
pay dirt to the Holy Roller,
he must first expose it through
a process they call ripping,
where the rough
top layer of growth
is scraped away to reveal soil
they hope is rich in gold.
We're needy right now.
We gotta take
whatever we can get.
Anything that's got gold in it,
I'm running it through
The Holy Roller.
I gotta get every speck of gold,
and try to keep
from going broke.
And hopefully, in the meantime,
we hit the mother load.
You never know.
Dude, we're gonna need a lot
of pay dirt for The Holy Roller.
Okay, bud?
Get me as much as you can.
It's all just clay,
just mud basically.
What the heck is going on?
Something's not right.
It's not going into gear right.
There's just one challenge
after another.
Crap.
Gosh, dang it.
Something's not right.
It's not going into gear right.
Crap.
At the Narrows of Dahl creek
Son of a gun.
Andy's first cut
of the clay-rich top soil
has stopped their bulldozer
in its tracks.
Todd, Randy, do you guys copy?
Yeah, go for Randy.
Hey, this pan is
it's making a whining noise.
And it's not going
into gear right.
I don't know what's wrong.
You got time to come down here?
Yeah, I'll be right there.
Hopefully it's just
a simple little fix.
As long as
the bulldozer sits dormant,
Andy and the team are stuck
without a way to resupply
their shrinking
pay dirt stock pile.
We lose this Cat, we're done.
We got an issue here, bud.
We can't get this pay out.
What happened?
Every time you shift
it, it just, like, it gets
tighter and tighter.
But there's whining noise
that wasn't there before.
Noises aren't good
in a transmission.
Dude
we've got a big issue
going on here.
How long do I have?
The sooner the better.
I say top priority, man,
grab your gages
and then give us a,
diagnosis as soon as you can.
- All right, will do.
- Okay, bud?
- All right.
- All right, man.
Thanks, guys.
In order to get pay dirt
moving to the plants again,
Randy must fix
the dozer's transmission.
There's nothing about a dozer
that's ever easy it seems like.
And Andy normally parks
them in really good spots.
Top of a glacier.
All right.
Now that we got that connected
we can go ahead
and start the dozer,
and, figure out
what our pressure is.
We'll see what we get.
We need 430 PSI of pressure
for a normal transmission.
Problem is, I don't think
it's gonna get it.
We've only got 20 PSI.
That's why it's not
going into Gage.
The clutches aren't collapsing
and engaging.
Now we've got
a busted transmission.
Now I gotta go tell Todd
some bad news.
- Hey.
- Dude.
Give us the bad news.
Took a sample of that oil.
Smell it.
It smells
like friction material.
That means it's got metal in it.
All of the clutches are gone
in that transmission.
The clutch is a series of
rotating mechanical disks
that link the engine
to the transmission
and allow the gears to shift.
When engaged, hydraulics
press them together,
locking the transmission
and drive line,
letting the motor and drive
wheels rotate at the same speed.
Over time, friction
can degrade the clutch
and prohibit the gears
from locking in place.
That's why
the fluid pressure's so low.
We've got no clamping power
to keep those gears moving.
There's nothing in there
that's of any value.
That transmission is junk.
That oil's supposed to be clear.
We gotta get
another transmission.
I need a good used one
or a new one.
- Okay.
- Or a re-manufactured transmission.
All right, if I can find one,
you're gonna have to put it in,
and you got maybe
24 hours to put it in.
Can you try to get
it up to the shop?
It, can you bring it up?
Is it still moving?
It was still moving
when I shut it down.
I'll try to limp it
up to the shop.
Get it to the shop,
you rip it open,
and everybody
say a prayer, right?
- Okay.
- All right, let's go.
Sup?
How you doing?
So, I had Keener come out
'cause I wanted to
just pick his brain
- Wow.
- On any other areas that we could mine.
So, you talked to Keener?
Yeah.
You know, nobody knows
this property like he does.
Okay, what did he say?
So
We went out towards
North Fork area,
'cause to me, that's the closest
area towards Atlas Creek
that has a road to it.
I asked him, "Where
would you go?"
He said that's where
he would go if he was me.
So, that's kinda where I wanna do
my first real cut for the Black Pearl.
Well, that clay in there
is gonna make hard to run,
but actually the Black Pearl
might be designed for that stuff, so
I think if the Black Pearl didn't run it,
we might not run it at all this season.
- Wow.
- And I think we need all the pay we can get.
Well, when you're ready,
we'll get the trucks in there
and start hauling it.
All right, all right, Bub.
It's surprising that he
met with Keener on his own,
but you know what? That's
the next move I would make.
North Fork, I actually think
is pretty good pay.
But it's got so much
dirt and clay in it,
it's gonna take something
like the Black Pearl
to even get it to process.
I dunno.
He might just actually
be on to something here.
Hey, Todd.
We got the trannie for the D10,
and we're heading up the hill.
Okay, 10-4.
So, I sent my dad
and Thurber to town
to pick up this transmission.
We gotta get this
thing off the truck,
and we gotta get it put on,
inside this D10.
And we don't have a lot
of time to do it.
- Come on, come on, come on.
- Sweet, sweet looking.
Right about right there.
That's good.
Randy, unhook this thing.
I can't believe you found this.
Go ahead and,
and unbolt this thing.
- Yeah.
- We're gonna go ahead
and lift it out, and then
we're gonna hopefully
do a quick switch.
That sucker is heavy.
It's about 2,800 pounds
or something like that.
Whoa.
- Okay, whoa.
- How in the world
- No wonder it was so heavy.
- Holy.
The transmission actually
sits on a roller inside the body,
and you just roll it out,
and pick it out.
Let us know if
you have any issues.
Do you need any help?
What do we need?
I'm gonna need some help.
- Okay.
- Can I get maybe Tater to help me?
Want you to have Tater.
You guys attack it.
The faster the better, but, hey,
do not screw this up,
that's $40,000 in this box.
You know, Todd, I can't believe
you pulled a rabbit
out of the hat again.
Yeah, it's
a $40,000 rabbit, Dad.
Yeah, but without it,
there wouldn't be a season.
We're, we'd be done right now.
We need this thing in, quick.
I don't want any
mistakes though, man.
You ever put something
together from Ikea,
and you get done
and you have extra parts?
- All the time.
- You can't do that on this.
- And do you think we'll get through the season with this?
- Yes.
All the way.
Without pay dirt,
boys, we're done.
All right, let's get on it.
Before the transmission
can be swapped out,
Randy and Tater need to
unhook it from the drive line.
And the only way to access it is
through the belly pan, beneath the dozer.
Well, we're gonna have
to drop that belly pan
drive line.
Drain the oil.
Drain the 50 gallons of oil,
I don't know.
- Quick buckets.
- You got a 50-gallon pan?
- Yeah.
- Just slide a small 50-gallon pan in there.
It'll be quick buckets.
Yes.
Quick buckets.
We're gonna strap a chain
from, this link
down underneath the dozer
up to the link on the other side.
We're tightening this thing up
so that when I take the bolts
out of the belly pan,
I don't get killed.
'Cause these belly pans
are extremely heavy.
It's probably in
the 2000-pound range
right now with
all the dirt in it.
We're doing this in order
to keep the production up,
'cause we need to get stripping.
And this machine
is what we strip with, so
we gotta get this done.
All right, you ready for this?
It's starting to smell.
It I'm ready
whenever you are.
- Okay.
- Here.
This one might be a little long,
you're gonna have to
grab it on the other side.
And then you're gonna
have to hook it up top.
- Copy that?
- Got it.
Okay.
- Real long.
- -You're through the eyelet?
Yeah.
- You are?
- You got lots of room.
Liking it?
Yeah.
We have the belly pan
strapped up.
We're gonna remove
the bolts out of it,
and, try to let it down
carefully as we can,
get at the drive line
for this transmission.
Coming at you.
All right, clear.
Go ahead.
Thank you.
Belly pans are known
as widow makers.
I'm gonna
get a little closer to it.
If you make a mistake,
and you just zip the bolts off,
they smack down and kill people.
Dang it, I can't see it.
Belly pans are known
as widow makers.
I'm gonna get
a little closer to it.
If you make a mistake
and you just zip the bolts off,
they smack down and kill people.
Dang it, I can't see it.
We're patching over it.
That one's
- is it coming loose or is it spinning?
- -No.
Just spinning.
Just spinning.
When taking off this belly pan,
I ran into a bolt
that won't come off.
I have to cut the head off.
It's costing us gold
because we can't strip.
Without stripping,
we can't mine,
and without mining, there's
no point of being here.
You're up, boss.
I'm clear.
Okay, coming down.
- Nice and controlled.
- Yup.
Keep her coming,
you're looking good, Randy.
It's what my wife says.
I'm gonna have to ask
her about that, if that's true.
Okay.
Wow.
Not as bad with the dirt
as I thought it was gonna be,
but it's still pretty bad.
That's it.
All right, belly pan's down.
We're making progress,
but unfortunately,
we've only got 24 hours
to get this done,
and it's taking way too long
just to get this stupid belly pan off.
Now that we got the bolt cut,
the pan's down,
we gotta get this guard off,
get the drive line off,
and then we gotta get
that thing out of there.
What's sitting there?
- What?
- What is that?
That's the yoke out of
the front of the transmission.
Okay, so the drive line's off?
The drive line's laying up here.
Nice.
There you go.
Okay.
With Todd's crew scrambling to
replace their dozer's transmission.
Hunter and his crew are taking
advantage of the last dozer standing
to scratch a fresh cut
on North Fork.
Hoping that it's
a little bit hotter
than the last stuff
we were running.
If this doesn't work out, I
don't really have a plan B.
I don't have another area
I can go to.
You know, the Holy Roller has
already eaten through so much pay,
and, I don't want us to be
stepping on each other's toes.
So, we'll see.
Although Hunter's
found his new pay dirt
it's only enough to keep
one plant running.
It's a lot to keep up with
to have two plants going.
All we can do is just try and stack
the yardage up the best we can now.
With no pay dirt coming
out of the Narrows of Dahl,
the Black Pearl and Holy Roller
are eating through pay dirt
faster than it can be resupplied.
It's been a real
struggle with the pay dirt.
It takes two trucks just to
keep up with the wash plant,
'cause it's just so far.
It's, like, 15 minutes for me to even
take material there and come back.
The remaining
stockpile will only keep
the plants fed for
another day or two.
Without new material from
the Narrows of Dahl cut,
the mine may be
forced to shut down.
I don't think
this is gonna work.
Tasked with
ensuring that doesn't happen,
Tater and Randy
are working to replace
the broken
bulldozer transmission.
But first, they must overcome
one more challenge,
removing the cumbersome Axel
shaft threaded into the transmission
that is standing between them
and finishing the job.
- That's gonna be way too big.
- It's too big.
- Where are we at, boys?
- And that's
- Hey.
- Hey, Todd.
We ran into a bit of a snag.
This dozer has an inner
and an outer axle shaft.
This is the outer axle shaft.
They are threaded
on the ends.
And the inner one
has that same thread on it.
To pull it out, you have
this special tool
that you thread on here,
and you pull the outer one out.
- And you use that same tool to thread on
- Okay.
The inner one.
- Special tool.
- Yeah.
I'm guessing from the looks of
our shop, we do not have that tool.
No.
And we're kind of screwed.
- 'Cause, we're, what, miles from Nome.
- Yeah.
And we've been working
on this for 8 hours,
- trying to get that stupid Axel out.
- -Yeah.
The Axel and thread they
need to reach to unscrew it,
can only be access through
the wheel well of the dozer.
With time running out and
no tool to make the connection,
it's up to Randy
and Tater to think fast.
What do you got? Idea?
Well, we were thinking about
melting some plastic around it
and pulling it out,
but it's gotta be hot
- to slide it in.
- All right.
What's your idea?
I'm thinking we melt it on the
one out here and make threads.
Screw it off, screw it on.
- Dude.
- 'Cause ABS plastic melts pretty good.
Put a hose clamp around it.
- Tighten it down.
- And then screw it off.
And then screw it off.
- Smart man.
- Might work.
- All right, try it.
- It might work.
If it doesn't work,
I wanna know.
Okay.
All right, we'll let you know.
Dude, that's a good idea.
I just thought of it.
What do you mean,
"What's the problem?"
I got a D10, I'm almost
out of pay dirt,
and both of my mechanics are
trying to melt the piece of plastic
and pull an actual shaft
out of the transmission.
You tell me, you tell
me what's wrong.
No, it's not gonna work.
They're just
This isn't gonna work.
- That's getting soft.
- Is it?
- Yeah.
- See that?
Sorry. Didn't mean to
light you on fire there.
- Ooh, ooh.
- That's hot.
Yeah.
- See it smashing?
- I'm liking that.
Let me throw
a little more heat on that.
Yeah.
That's pretty soft.
Okay.
Well, it took
a squish, didn't it?
Yup.
- Boy.
- -All right, you got that end.
Let me know when you're ready.
Okay.
You're kidding me.
It is.
You're kidding me.
No, I think there's
threads in there, buddy.
It is screwing on,
it's getting tighter.
Wow.
Grab it, grab it, grab it!
We don't wanna lose one
lose our threads.
That is a solid win.
- All right, nice work.
- Whoo! PVC pipe.
All right, dude, we gotta pull this
other one out, we gotta get going.
Okay, it's free!
You put it on that palate.
- All right.
- Looks good.
After some determination
and ingenuity,
the crew is ready to install
the new dozer transmission.
Operation is half-over.
Now we gotta get the
new one in and hooked up.
What happens if
we screw this up?
Don't screw it up.
$40,000 transmission.
Golly.
All right, what could go wrong?
That transmission
weighs 3,000 pounds.
Good luck.
I'll need you to
hold it in the air
- when you get it up, so I can take
- Get the L-ring?
- Take, take that plug and that L-ring.
- -Okay.
Whoops.
I guess they come with
a little oil in 'em.
Let me get a bucket.
Normally, they don't come
with oil in 'em.
It was, shipped on its back,
so I didn't expect there
to be any oil in it.
But, you know, that proves
that they tested it.
That's what we want. We
want a good, good transmission.
We don't want a one that we put
in and then have to take back out.
Go easy.
- I will, I will try.
- Okay?
We got one shot, Todd.
We can't mess this up.
Jeez, then why am I doing it?
Keep going.
Stick towards you.
There ya go.
You're there, aren't ya?
Curl in just a bit.
Set it down.
Stay there you big boy.
We gotta pick it
and set it on the rails.
So our transmission has these
rollers, it has to sit on those rails
and it guides that transmission
into the input shaft hole.
Come on, you.
Up just a bit.
Hold that.
Very crucial part,
it's gotta go straight in.
Can't be messed up
at this point.
If it goes in incorrectly we'll have
an issue with O-rings and it'll leak.
We don't wanna leak.
There ya go.
Up a little more.
We got, like, 12 inches to go
and he's only got 2 inches left.
Half curl your bucket.
'Kay, hold that. Beautiful.
That is one heavy transmission.
Well, that wasn't easy.
- She ain't light.
- No.
She's a little over 280.
Yeah, she is.
Wow, what's left?
Well, I forgot to remove
that back plate,
- turn it around.
- Okay.
- We're 90% of the way there.
- 'Kay.
So, I'll turn that plate around,
pick it up, and it'll slide right in.
Hey, radio me when you're
ready to test drive.
Thanks. Thanks for your help.
- Good job, man.
- Thanks.
With not a moment to spare,
the replacement transmission is in
and Todd's dozer
is back in action.
Now, Andy can
finally get back to their cut
and start contributing to the
paydirt's stockpile feeding their plants.
I believe that we might be okay.
Now it's our job to get
the gold outta the ground,
and make money, and get it done.
We've got Andy up in the
Narrows of Dahl on the D10.
We're gonna get some of
that pay dirt into The Holy Roller
and see how it weighs up.
We're trying to get as much
pay from North Fork as possible.
It's looking pretty good right
now and we're not gonna quit.
We're not gonna
stop this plant, 100%.
- You ready?
- Yeah.
Yeah, I'm ready.
Yeah, I'm really interested
to see how it's gonna look,
this North Fork
is where it's at.
Okay.
I hope it is.
After running material from their
new cut on North Fork nonstop
- Cub, do you have a copy?
- Yeah, what's the plan?
We're about to shut down, I'm gonna
sent Sparky to the pump right now.
Copy that.
Hunter is ready to see if the
ground he bet on is going to payout.
Yeehaw!
You ready, Sparky?
Yes, sir.
I'm ready whenever you are.
Go ahead and bring it down.
Is their new North Fork pay
dirt as rich as Hunter hopes?
And if so, will it be enough
to push the Hoffmans closer
to the 1,000 ounce season goal?
This's that crazy gold Jack was
talking about, this is frickin' crazy.
Yeah, but this rounds packing.
See, this is why I wanna
do a full pull, look at this.
Told you North Fork was good.
Right now, we're getting the first
glace at the box, it looks insane.
It's something I've been
wanting to see for a long time.
We're gonna pull this thing,
get it up to the gold room,
and I'm really eager to see
how good it really is.
My gosh, I'm liking this.
That's better than what I
thought it was gonna be,
and I thought it was gonna
be really good.
This is all our hard work.
Look at these bugs, dude.
Look at these bugs.
- Mosquitos are bad.
- Good lord.
- I think we can do it
- I just ate a mosquito.
Let me get ya there,
hold on. There.
You know what?
I'd rather get bit.
I'd rather get bit Jeez,
that was big, thank you.
You actually saved me.
Holy smokes,
it's the Alaskan Air Force.
I mean, I personally, I had
Did you see that thing
fly in my mouth?
Get the eaten out
of me by mosquitos.
What you do on a mosquito is you
kill it on your hand, you leave it there
to let all the other ones know
this is what's gonna happen to ya.
So you leave
squished bugs on ya.
That's how you do it up here.
You got like blood and stuff.
Yeah, you're bleeding. There's
one on your forehead too.
Andy and his crew are finally stocking
pay dirt from the Narrows of Dahl
after losing hours of daylight
to a broken transmission.
While Jack and Thurber are getting their
first look at the mats from North Fork.
This is pay dirt
that came from North Fork
that went through
the Black Pearl.
Everyone gets excited,
including myself,
but you gotta
get it on the table,
dry it, weigh it,
and then that's the proof.
If the new dirt can produce
104 ounces this week,
it will mark their highest
payout of the season,
and keep their 1,000 ounce
goal for the year within reach.
We only have so many days left
to run, we wanna run the good stuff.
We have a goal, I wanna
make sure that we hit that goal.
And, hopefully, it's gonna
be 3 ounces per 100 yards.
If it is, we're home free.
If it isn't
We, The proverbial,
up the creek without a paddle,
you know, and we don't
wanna be there.
Hey, Jack.
Whoa. Whoa-ho-ho.
That's pretty darn good.
That's crazy gold, there we go.
Thank you young guns,
that's a lot of gold.
We'll see which plant
produces the best.
I don't know until
this cleanup's done.
I just hope that I make enough
money to get a new sweatshirt.
Last week, Hunter's Black
Pearl brought in 21 ounces,
far less than Todd's 65 ounces
on The Holy Roller,
but combined for 86 ounces,
the highest output of the season.
However, still short of
hitting their weekly target.
Despite both plants
breaking down,
will they finally hit
their goal this week?
Okay, how you feel
about this week?
Really good.
I seen, an old guy
show up the other day.
Hunter, hired Keener
to come out, so
he said that's,
kind of a pretty good move.
Feeling good about your cleanup?
Feel a lot better
than last week.
How do you guys feel
about your cleanup?
We didn't get a lot
of yards through it,
but I think that this breakdown
that we had to deal with,
kinda screwed us
over a little bit.
But I think we're on to
something. Right, Andy?
Yeah, I think the Narrows of
Dahl are gonna surprise us.
I think there's
This is one time that the
surprise is a good surprise.
I've heard you guys make a lot of
predictions on the dirt this season,
so I'll make a prediction,
I think that North Fork
is a little bit richer
than the Narrows of Dahl.
And what I saw in the box, probably
gonna smoke you guys this week.
Yeah, I do. I mean, that's my
prediction, I could be dead wrong.
- Hey.
- What's up, fellas.
Well, what'd you think's up?
Who's got the heavier bottle
is what I'd like the know.
All right, here we go.
We need to get 104
ounces, see how it goes.
- Ten.
- Fifteen.
Let that run.
- It's over 20.
- Twenty.
- Twenty-six, 28.
- Thirty.
Thirty-six, 37, slow down.
I don't like it. I don't like
what's happening here.
- Yeah, that's almost out.
- Why we went little.
- It's good you guys can count.
- Forty-eight.
- Three plus the one
- Beats three.
No, it's not gonna do it.
- 54.8.
- Whoa, not good.
I don't feel like that's Are we
going backwards? What's happening?
Let's hear this.
Thirty-seven.
- Still feels heavy.
- Guys, I have a bad feeling we're gonna get beat.
- 56.05. Suck it!
- Yeah, okay.
Everybody stop, everybody stop.
Just want everybody to close their
eyes right now and just soak that in.
How does that feel?
Okay.
The Black Pearl's second cleanup
comes in at just over 56 ounces,
while The Holy Roller
comes in at just under 55.
For the first time this season their 111
ounces combined exceeds their weekly goal.
The Hoffmans
now have 482 ounces.
They'll need nearly 520 more ounces
to hit their season goal of 1,000 ounces.
What I've seen
is that the young guys
they kicked your butts.
You know?
This
just is a lot of gold.
Well, you know,
don't ever let anybody
saying anything about you. You guys came
out on top. You worked hard, you did it.
We appreciate ya, Jack.
Really do.
You know what it is. You
guys earned it, man. Way to go.
You know, this is the
first time we broke 100,
we're at 111 for the week.
- Awesome.
- We're there, we hit it. We hit it at least one week.
Now, we just gotta put one week
together with another and away we go.
Good job.
The victory this week is yours,
you earned it. And you know what?
I hope it feels good.
We almost had $190 grand,
pretty good.
Yeah, that's just this week.
So we gotta just keep this pace.
We do, we do.
Great job. Let's go.
All right, guys,
you ready to get it on?
Let's get it on, baby.
Game on.
Over a halfway
through the season,
the Black Pearl
and the Holy Roller
have pulled in
371 ounces combined,
far short of their
1000-ounce goal.
Running out of time now,
we're getting farther behind.
Now, with pay dirt
running critically low
That big girl needs
some frickin' pay dirt.
The battle of
the plants enters a new phase.
I'm just trying to find an area
where I can do my own cut.
As Todd and Hunter each
scramble to mine fresh ground
We're getting there, buddy.
The team Holy Roller is
forced to change gears
Gosh, dang it.
Something's not right.
When their dozer
goes down for the count.
Crap.
We lose this Cat, we're done.
Will Todd
and his team be able to rally?
Without mining, there's
no point of being here.
Or will Hunter take
all the gold and glory?
Whoa, dude!
It looks insane.
Keep it coming, Cub,
just like that.
After six weeks,
both the Black Pearl
and Holy Roller's breakdowns
are behind them,
and both are now
fully operational.
But with the plants each
turning through 200 yards
of ancient river bed
pay dirt an hour,
a new issue is on the horizon.
Their stockpile
is critically low.
Without pay dirt, we're dead.
Without pay dirt, none of
these plants are running.
We're basically gonna
pack up our stuff,
and none of these guys are
gonna take any gold with them.
In two short weeks, the team has
exhausted the ancient river bed,
leaving only a few thousand
yards of pay dirt left to process.
Maybe we have total, together,
a week's worth of pay.
We need pay dirt on
a rich piece of ground.
In order to
keep the mine running
and hit their 104-ounce goal,
both plants must be fed.
With the ancient
river bed nearly tapped,
the hunt for
new pay dirt begins.
It's a huge gamble coming
off of that ancient river channel,
but you know what? Do the math.
I need pay dirt
and I need it right now.
With each passing week,
the Hoffmans' 1000-ounce
season goal
slips further and further
out of reach.
Andy and I are putting
our heads together.
We're just trying to figure out
the path through this problem.
They haven't hit their
weekly target once so far,
only adding to
the following weekly goal.
'Kay, I'm dropping
dirt right now.
Drop it like it's hot, baby.
It's a losing
streak they hope new pay dirt
will help them overcome.
We need all the dirt
that we can get.
So, we're gonna find
some new pay dirt
and try to locate a new,
a new cut for us.
Pearl is hungry.
That big girl needs
some frickin' pay dirt.
While the stock pile of
ancient river bed pay dirt
grows smaller,
Andy and Thurber begin
scouting a potential new cut
for the Holy Roller.
- Hey, Andy.
- Hey, Buddy.
- So, I peeled a bunch of this stuff off.
- -Yeah.
And the old-timers
were in here working,
which, they always left gold.
But I dug a hole right here.
It's got that,
all that red stuff in it.
- Yup.
- And I'm almost positive that red stuff's really good.
Yeah, look at it. It's got a
lot of ore in it. It's all rust.
The presence of iron ore,
and the distinct change in soil
color that Andy has discovered
is a geological indicator
that a high gold concentration
is very likely present.
More often than not,
iron-rich environments
are also gold-bearing
areas as well.
What are you gonna
call this place if it's
pans out?
The Narrows of Dahl.
The Narrows of Dahl.
It almost sounds romantic.
Well, you're here,
it's romantic.
So, this spot in Dahl Creek,
is a very special place
because it's the lowest point
that the gold can travel.
And it's where Dahl Creek
gets the narrowest.
So, when there's a flood, or a
rain, every bit of gold that's above us,
has to come through
this point right here.
- I'll go pan this real quick.
- -Okay.
So, we pan every,
spot where we might
get pay.
You know, and it's just
a small, small test
compared to running a bucket
from the excavator.
To save time panning
I classify it down really quick.
I'll use a 3H mesh,
half-inch mesh.
Get rid of the big rocks.
I'll, make sure that
we don't have a big nugget,
which I'll probably faint
the day that ever happens.
But, then screen it down
to where I can pan it.
My gosh.
My gosh. You have got to be me.
You got a lot of fine gold
in here.
And you have obviously
a lot of bigger gold.
So.
Pretty cool.
What's neat about it is
there's all this fine gold with it.
Better than we ever
had in the Yukon.
I never get tired of saying it,
but it, that's one of the best
gold pans I've ever seen.
You're gonna find
big gold in here.
While Thurber
and Andy take stock
of the Holy Roller's promising
new cut at the Narrows of Dahl,
Hunter heads north of the mine
with geologist Jeff Keener
in a search for fresh pay dirt
to feed the Black Pearl.
Most of those piles
are tailings.
- Yeah.
- -They, they were pulled up
with a Bagley scraper.
Nobody knows
this property like Keener.
You know, he's been doing
test holes and trenches
in this before I was even born.
So, he's gonna be
my best bet to pin point
where the best gold would be.
And then we'll figure out where's
the best place for me to break ground.
The reason I wanted
to have you come out here
is 'cause I'm just trying to find an
area where I can do my own cut.
And I wanted to start heading
towards Atlas Creek.
- Yeah.
- We know it's super rich up that way,
so I just figure head towards
where we know it's good.
We've got the prospect map.
I only went up a very short
distance up Quartz Creek
and to be honest, my results
weren't that good.
I think the best ground
that you're gonna find
on this part of
the Quartz Creek drainage
is at the mouth of North Fork
and then up on Atlas Creek.
Gotta keep in mind that drilling
- is not a perfect science.
- Yeah.
- Yeah.
- We collect samples.
We process 'em,
come up with a grade,
and then plot it on a map
and then try to figure out
- well, what's it really trying to tell us.
- Yeah.
And so, if I can find an area that
has a number of good results
then I'll focus on that.
- If you were 23
- Yeah.
And you got a giant Trommel
that could eat through clay
where, where would you go?
It's gonna be
on North Fork here.
There are old workings in there
that were probably worked by hand
back, you know, gold rush era.
And they have not
been re-worked.
And so, that's actually
really easy mining,
'cause there's just about two or
three feet of mud that's gonna come in.
You take that off,
and then you mine
the next three or four feet
of gravel and bedrock.
- Yeah.
- And so they did a little bit of the work for you?
Yeah, they did a lot
of the work for you.
Okay.
Is any of that stuff thawed?
Were, they were
old-timers working?
In the old workings, yeah,
that's all thawed.
Wow.
The Black Pearl is gonna
give us an advantage
just because it's custom-built
for this kind of terrain.
There's a lot of clay,
and there's a lot of stuff
that you really need to
break up inside the Trommel,
and, it's a little bit different
than the Holy Roller.
You know, we custom built
the Holy Roller
for Colorado where
we had a lot of rock,
and this, terrain's kinda
the opposite of that, so
I feel like we're at
a little bit of an advantage.
At least I know I can get to it,
and it has potential
to be really good ground.
- Right.
- Okay.
I appreciate it.
Let's get out of here.
While Hunter finds
new ground in North Fork.
Todd is closing in on his own
new cut at the Narrows of Dahl.
So this came from what Andy
calls The Narrows of Dahl,
Okay, that's where it all
- Super narrow.
- Right past the Z-plant was
- Yeah.
- And right narrows up the canyon?
Yup. Well, I counted
up to 20 of the really fine,
- but then there's that.
- Look at those.
One of the best pans
I've ever seen.
You know what, dude,
we're gonna go for it.
We're gonna run that stuff.
Pretty good, I love it.
Okay.
All right.
You know what? It's a good test.
Then we know there's gold
in this little bit of dirt,
so why not run this stuff?
That's what we're doing.
With Todd's green light
and a waning
pay dirt stock pile,
Andy wastes no time ripping
new dirt from The Narrows of Dahl.
We're gonna drop the ripper,
do our first rip.
Here we go!
We're just about
out of pay dirt.
So, this couldn't come
at a better time.
I literally have
maybe five days,
but things can change quick.
Rip it nice.
We're getting her, buddy.
First rip of the year.
Exciting.
Before Andy can begin delivering
pay dirt to the Holy Roller,
he must first expose it through
a process they call ripping,
where the rough
top layer of growth
is scraped away to reveal soil
they hope is rich in gold.
We're needy right now.
We gotta take
whatever we can get.
Anything that's got gold in it,
I'm running it through
The Holy Roller.
I gotta get every speck of gold,
and try to keep
from going broke.
And hopefully, in the meantime,
we hit the mother load.
You never know.
Dude, we're gonna need a lot
of pay dirt for The Holy Roller.
Okay, bud?
Get me as much as you can.
It's all just clay,
just mud basically.
What the heck is going on?
Something's not right.
It's not going into gear right.
There's just one challenge
after another.
Crap.
Gosh, dang it.
Something's not right.
It's not going into gear right.
Crap.
At the Narrows of Dahl creek
Son of a gun.
Andy's first cut
of the clay-rich top soil
has stopped their bulldozer
in its tracks.
Todd, Randy, do you guys copy?
Yeah, go for Randy.
Hey, this pan is
it's making a whining noise.
And it's not going
into gear right.
I don't know what's wrong.
You got time to come down here?
Yeah, I'll be right there.
Hopefully it's just
a simple little fix.
As long as
the bulldozer sits dormant,
Andy and the team are stuck
without a way to resupply
their shrinking
pay dirt stock pile.
We lose this Cat, we're done.
We got an issue here, bud.
We can't get this pay out.
What happened?
Every time you shift
it, it just, like, it gets
tighter and tighter.
But there's whining noise
that wasn't there before.
Noises aren't good
in a transmission.
Dude
we've got a big issue
going on here.
How long do I have?
The sooner the better.
I say top priority, man,
grab your gages
and then give us a,
diagnosis as soon as you can.
- All right, will do.
- Okay, bud?
- All right.
- All right, man.
Thanks, guys.
In order to get pay dirt
moving to the plants again,
Randy must fix
the dozer's transmission.
There's nothing about a dozer
that's ever easy it seems like.
And Andy normally parks
them in really good spots.
Top of a glacier.
All right.
Now that we got that connected
we can go ahead
and start the dozer,
and, figure out
what our pressure is.
We'll see what we get.
We need 430 PSI of pressure
for a normal transmission.
Problem is, I don't think
it's gonna get it.
We've only got 20 PSI.
That's why it's not
going into Gage.
The clutches aren't collapsing
and engaging.
Now we've got
a busted transmission.
Now I gotta go tell Todd
some bad news.
- Hey.
- Dude.
Give us the bad news.
Took a sample of that oil.
Smell it.
It smells
like friction material.
That means it's got metal in it.
All of the clutches are gone
in that transmission.
The clutch is a series of
rotating mechanical disks
that link the engine
to the transmission
and allow the gears to shift.
When engaged, hydraulics
press them together,
locking the transmission
and drive line,
letting the motor and drive
wheels rotate at the same speed.
Over time, friction
can degrade the clutch
and prohibit the gears
from locking in place.
That's why
the fluid pressure's so low.
We've got no clamping power
to keep those gears moving.
There's nothing in there
that's of any value.
That transmission is junk.
That oil's supposed to be clear.
We gotta get
another transmission.
I need a good used one
or a new one.
- Okay.
- Or a re-manufactured transmission.
All right, if I can find one,
you're gonna have to put it in,
and you got maybe
24 hours to put it in.
Can you try to get
it up to the shop?
It, can you bring it up?
Is it still moving?
It was still moving
when I shut it down.
I'll try to limp it
up to the shop.
Get it to the shop,
you rip it open,
and everybody
say a prayer, right?
- Okay.
- All right, let's go.
Sup?
How you doing?
So, I had Keener come out
'cause I wanted to
just pick his brain
- Wow.
- On any other areas that we could mine.
So, you talked to Keener?
Yeah.
You know, nobody knows
this property like he does.
Okay, what did he say?
So
We went out towards
North Fork area,
'cause to me, that's the closest
area towards Atlas Creek
that has a road to it.
I asked him, "Where
would you go?"
He said that's where
he would go if he was me.
So, that's kinda where I wanna do
my first real cut for the Black Pearl.
Well, that clay in there
is gonna make hard to run,
but actually the Black Pearl
might be designed for that stuff, so
I think if the Black Pearl didn't run it,
we might not run it at all this season.
- Wow.
- And I think we need all the pay we can get.
Well, when you're ready,
we'll get the trucks in there
and start hauling it.
All right, all right, Bub.
It's surprising that he
met with Keener on his own,
but you know what? That's
the next move I would make.
North Fork, I actually think
is pretty good pay.
But it's got so much
dirt and clay in it,
it's gonna take something
like the Black Pearl
to even get it to process.
I dunno.
He might just actually
be on to something here.
Hey, Todd.
We got the trannie for the D10,
and we're heading up the hill.
Okay, 10-4.
So, I sent my dad
and Thurber to town
to pick up this transmission.
We gotta get this
thing off the truck,
and we gotta get it put on,
inside this D10.
And we don't have a lot
of time to do it.
- Come on, come on, come on.
- Sweet, sweet looking.
Right about right there.
That's good.
Randy, unhook this thing.
I can't believe you found this.
Go ahead and,
and unbolt this thing.
- Yeah.
- We're gonna go ahead
and lift it out, and then
we're gonna hopefully
do a quick switch.
That sucker is heavy.
It's about 2,800 pounds
or something like that.
Whoa.
- Okay, whoa.
- How in the world
- No wonder it was so heavy.
- Holy.
The transmission actually
sits on a roller inside the body,
and you just roll it out,
and pick it out.
Let us know if
you have any issues.
Do you need any help?
What do we need?
I'm gonna need some help.
- Okay.
- Can I get maybe Tater to help me?
Want you to have Tater.
You guys attack it.
The faster the better, but, hey,
do not screw this up,
that's $40,000 in this box.
You know, Todd, I can't believe
you pulled a rabbit
out of the hat again.
Yeah, it's
a $40,000 rabbit, Dad.
Yeah, but without it,
there wouldn't be a season.
We're, we'd be done right now.
We need this thing in, quick.
I don't want any
mistakes though, man.
You ever put something
together from Ikea,
and you get done
and you have extra parts?
- All the time.
- You can't do that on this.
- And do you think we'll get through the season with this?
- Yes.
All the way.
Without pay dirt,
boys, we're done.
All right, let's get on it.
Before the transmission
can be swapped out,
Randy and Tater need to
unhook it from the drive line.
And the only way to access it is
through the belly pan, beneath the dozer.
Well, we're gonna have
to drop that belly pan
drive line.
Drain the oil.
Drain the 50 gallons of oil,
I don't know.
- Quick buckets.
- You got a 50-gallon pan?
- Yeah.
- Just slide a small 50-gallon pan in there.
It'll be quick buckets.
Yes.
Quick buckets.
We're gonna strap a chain
from, this link
down underneath the dozer
up to the link on the other side.
We're tightening this thing up
so that when I take the bolts
out of the belly pan,
I don't get killed.
'Cause these belly pans
are extremely heavy.
It's probably in
the 2000-pound range
right now with
all the dirt in it.
We're doing this in order
to keep the production up,
'cause we need to get stripping.
And this machine
is what we strip with, so
we gotta get this done.
All right, you ready for this?
It's starting to smell.
It I'm ready
whenever you are.
- Okay.
- Here.
This one might be a little long,
you're gonna have to
grab it on the other side.
And then you're gonna
have to hook it up top.
- Copy that?
- Got it.
Okay.
- Real long.
- -You're through the eyelet?
Yeah.
- You are?
- You got lots of room.
Liking it?
Yeah.
We have the belly pan
strapped up.
We're gonna remove
the bolts out of it,
and, try to let it down
carefully as we can,
get at the drive line
for this transmission.
Coming at you.
All right, clear.
Go ahead.
Thank you.
Belly pans are known
as widow makers.
I'm gonna
get a little closer to it.
If you make a mistake,
and you just zip the bolts off,
they smack down and kill people.
Dang it, I can't see it.
Belly pans are known
as widow makers.
I'm gonna get
a little closer to it.
If you make a mistake
and you just zip the bolts off,
they smack down and kill people.
Dang it, I can't see it.
We're patching over it.
That one's
- is it coming loose or is it spinning?
- -No.
Just spinning.
Just spinning.
When taking off this belly pan,
I ran into a bolt
that won't come off.
I have to cut the head off.
It's costing us gold
because we can't strip.
Without stripping,
we can't mine,
and without mining, there's
no point of being here.
You're up, boss.
I'm clear.
Okay, coming down.
- Nice and controlled.
- Yup.
Keep her coming,
you're looking good, Randy.
It's what my wife says.
I'm gonna have to ask
her about that, if that's true.
Okay.
Wow.
Not as bad with the dirt
as I thought it was gonna be,
but it's still pretty bad.
That's it.
All right, belly pan's down.
We're making progress,
but unfortunately,
we've only got 24 hours
to get this done,
and it's taking way too long
just to get this stupid belly pan off.
Now that we got the bolt cut,
the pan's down,
we gotta get this guard off,
get the drive line off,
and then we gotta get
that thing out of there.
What's sitting there?
- What?
- What is that?
That's the yoke out of
the front of the transmission.
Okay, so the drive line's off?
The drive line's laying up here.
Nice.
There you go.
Okay.
With Todd's crew scrambling to
replace their dozer's transmission.
Hunter and his crew are taking
advantage of the last dozer standing
to scratch a fresh cut
on North Fork.
Hoping that it's
a little bit hotter
than the last stuff
we were running.
If this doesn't work out, I
don't really have a plan B.
I don't have another area
I can go to.
You know, the Holy Roller has
already eaten through so much pay,
and, I don't want us to be
stepping on each other's toes.
So, we'll see.
Although Hunter's
found his new pay dirt
it's only enough to keep
one plant running.
It's a lot to keep up with
to have two plants going.
All we can do is just try and stack
the yardage up the best we can now.
With no pay dirt coming
out of the Narrows of Dahl,
the Black Pearl and Holy Roller
are eating through pay dirt
faster than it can be resupplied.
It's been a real
struggle with the pay dirt.
It takes two trucks just to
keep up with the wash plant,
'cause it's just so far.
It's, like, 15 minutes for me to even
take material there and come back.
The remaining
stockpile will only keep
the plants fed for
another day or two.
Without new material from
the Narrows of Dahl cut,
the mine may be
forced to shut down.
I don't think
this is gonna work.
Tasked with
ensuring that doesn't happen,
Tater and Randy
are working to replace
the broken
bulldozer transmission.
But first, they must overcome
one more challenge,
removing the cumbersome Axel
shaft threaded into the transmission
that is standing between them
and finishing the job.
- That's gonna be way too big.
- It's too big.
- Where are we at, boys?
- And that's
- Hey.
- Hey, Todd.
We ran into a bit of a snag.
This dozer has an inner
and an outer axle shaft.
This is the outer axle shaft.
They are threaded
on the ends.
And the inner one
has that same thread on it.
To pull it out, you have
this special tool
that you thread on here,
and you pull the outer one out.
- And you use that same tool to thread on
- Okay.
The inner one.
- Special tool.
- Yeah.
I'm guessing from the looks of
our shop, we do not have that tool.
No.
And we're kind of screwed.
- 'Cause, we're, what, miles from Nome.
- Yeah.
And we've been working
on this for 8 hours,
- trying to get that stupid Axel out.
- -Yeah.
The Axel and thread they
need to reach to unscrew it,
can only be access through
the wheel well of the dozer.
With time running out and
no tool to make the connection,
it's up to Randy
and Tater to think fast.
What do you got? Idea?
Well, we were thinking about
melting some plastic around it
and pulling it out,
but it's gotta be hot
- to slide it in.
- All right.
What's your idea?
I'm thinking we melt it on the
one out here and make threads.
Screw it off, screw it on.
- Dude.
- 'Cause ABS plastic melts pretty good.
Put a hose clamp around it.
- Tighten it down.
- And then screw it off.
And then screw it off.
- Smart man.
- Might work.
- All right, try it.
- It might work.
If it doesn't work,
I wanna know.
Okay.
All right, we'll let you know.
Dude, that's a good idea.
I just thought of it.
What do you mean,
"What's the problem?"
I got a D10, I'm almost
out of pay dirt,
and both of my mechanics are
trying to melt the piece of plastic
and pull an actual shaft
out of the transmission.
You tell me, you tell
me what's wrong.
No, it's not gonna work.
They're just
This isn't gonna work.
- That's getting soft.
- Is it?
- Yeah.
- See that?
Sorry. Didn't mean to
light you on fire there.
- Ooh, ooh.
- That's hot.
Yeah.
- See it smashing?
- I'm liking that.
Let me throw
a little more heat on that.
Yeah.
That's pretty soft.
Okay.
Well, it took
a squish, didn't it?
Yup.
- Boy.
- -All right, you got that end.
Let me know when you're ready.
Okay.
You're kidding me.
It is.
You're kidding me.
No, I think there's
threads in there, buddy.
It is screwing on,
it's getting tighter.
Wow.
Grab it, grab it, grab it!
We don't wanna lose one
lose our threads.
That is a solid win.
- All right, nice work.
- Whoo! PVC pipe.
All right, dude, we gotta pull this
other one out, we gotta get going.
Okay, it's free!
You put it on that palate.
- All right.
- Looks good.
After some determination
and ingenuity,
the crew is ready to install
the new dozer transmission.
Operation is half-over.
Now we gotta get the
new one in and hooked up.
What happens if
we screw this up?
Don't screw it up.
$40,000 transmission.
Golly.
All right, what could go wrong?
That transmission
weighs 3,000 pounds.
Good luck.
I'll need you to
hold it in the air
- when you get it up, so I can take
- Get the L-ring?
- Take, take that plug and that L-ring.
- -Okay.
Whoops.
I guess they come with
a little oil in 'em.
Let me get a bucket.
Normally, they don't come
with oil in 'em.
It was, shipped on its back,
so I didn't expect there
to be any oil in it.
But, you know, that proves
that they tested it.
That's what we want. We
want a good, good transmission.
We don't want a one that we put
in and then have to take back out.
Go easy.
- I will, I will try.
- Okay?
We got one shot, Todd.
We can't mess this up.
Jeez, then why am I doing it?
Keep going.
Stick towards you.
There ya go.
You're there, aren't ya?
Curl in just a bit.
Set it down.
Stay there you big boy.
We gotta pick it
and set it on the rails.
So our transmission has these
rollers, it has to sit on those rails
and it guides that transmission
into the input shaft hole.
Come on, you.
Up just a bit.
Hold that.
Very crucial part,
it's gotta go straight in.
Can't be messed up
at this point.
If it goes in incorrectly we'll have
an issue with O-rings and it'll leak.
We don't wanna leak.
There ya go.
Up a little more.
We got, like, 12 inches to go
and he's only got 2 inches left.
Half curl your bucket.
'Kay, hold that. Beautiful.
That is one heavy transmission.
Well, that wasn't easy.
- She ain't light.
- No.
She's a little over 280.
Yeah, she is.
Wow, what's left?
Well, I forgot to remove
that back plate,
- turn it around.
- Okay.
- We're 90% of the way there.
- 'Kay.
So, I'll turn that plate around,
pick it up, and it'll slide right in.
Hey, radio me when you're
ready to test drive.
Thanks. Thanks for your help.
- Good job, man.
- Thanks.
With not a moment to spare,
the replacement transmission is in
and Todd's dozer
is back in action.
Now, Andy can
finally get back to their cut
and start contributing to the
paydirt's stockpile feeding their plants.
I believe that we might be okay.
Now it's our job to get
the gold outta the ground,
and make money, and get it done.
We've got Andy up in the
Narrows of Dahl on the D10.
We're gonna get some of
that pay dirt into The Holy Roller
and see how it weighs up.
We're trying to get as much
pay from North Fork as possible.
It's looking pretty good right
now and we're not gonna quit.
We're not gonna
stop this plant, 100%.
- You ready?
- Yeah.
Yeah, I'm ready.
Yeah, I'm really interested
to see how it's gonna look,
this North Fork
is where it's at.
Okay.
I hope it is.
After running material from their
new cut on North Fork nonstop
- Cub, do you have a copy?
- Yeah, what's the plan?
We're about to shut down, I'm gonna
sent Sparky to the pump right now.
Copy that.
Hunter is ready to see if the
ground he bet on is going to payout.
Yeehaw!
You ready, Sparky?
Yes, sir.
I'm ready whenever you are.
Go ahead and bring it down.
Is their new North Fork pay
dirt as rich as Hunter hopes?
And if so, will it be enough
to push the Hoffmans closer
to the 1,000 ounce season goal?
This's that crazy gold Jack was
talking about, this is frickin' crazy.
Yeah, but this rounds packing.
See, this is why I wanna
do a full pull, look at this.
Told you North Fork was good.
Right now, we're getting the first
glace at the box, it looks insane.
It's something I've been
wanting to see for a long time.
We're gonna pull this thing,
get it up to the gold room,
and I'm really eager to see
how good it really is.
My gosh, I'm liking this.
That's better than what I
thought it was gonna be,
and I thought it was gonna
be really good.
This is all our hard work.
Look at these bugs, dude.
Look at these bugs.
- Mosquitos are bad.
- Good lord.
- I think we can do it
- I just ate a mosquito.
Let me get ya there,
hold on. There.
You know what?
I'd rather get bit.
I'd rather get bit Jeez,
that was big, thank you.
You actually saved me.
Holy smokes,
it's the Alaskan Air Force.
I mean, I personally, I had
Did you see that thing
fly in my mouth?
Get the eaten out
of me by mosquitos.
What you do on a mosquito is you
kill it on your hand, you leave it there
to let all the other ones know
this is what's gonna happen to ya.
So you leave
squished bugs on ya.
That's how you do it up here.
You got like blood and stuff.
Yeah, you're bleeding. There's
one on your forehead too.
Andy and his crew are finally stocking
pay dirt from the Narrows of Dahl
after losing hours of daylight
to a broken transmission.
While Jack and Thurber are getting their
first look at the mats from North Fork.
This is pay dirt
that came from North Fork
that went through
the Black Pearl.
Everyone gets excited,
including myself,
but you gotta
get it on the table,
dry it, weigh it,
and then that's the proof.
If the new dirt can produce
104 ounces this week,
it will mark their highest
payout of the season,
and keep their 1,000 ounce
goal for the year within reach.
We only have so many days left
to run, we wanna run the good stuff.
We have a goal, I wanna
make sure that we hit that goal.
And, hopefully, it's gonna
be 3 ounces per 100 yards.
If it is, we're home free.
If it isn't
We, The proverbial,
up the creek without a paddle,
you know, and we don't
wanna be there.
Hey, Jack.
Whoa. Whoa-ho-ho.
That's pretty darn good.
That's crazy gold, there we go.
Thank you young guns,
that's a lot of gold.
We'll see which plant
produces the best.
I don't know until
this cleanup's done.
I just hope that I make enough
money to get a new sweatshirt.
Last week, Hunter's Black
Pearl brought in 21 ounces,
far less than Todd's 65 ounces
on The Holy Roller,
but combined for 86 ounces,
the highest output of the season.
However, still short of
hitting their weekly target.
Despite both plants
breaking down,
will they finally hit
their goal this week?
Okay, how you feel
about this week?
Really good.
I seen, an old guy
show up the other day.
Hunter, hired Keener
to come out, so
he said that's,
kind of a pretty good move.
Feeling good about your cleanup?
Feel a lot better
than last week.
How do you guys feel
about your cleanup?
We didn't get a lot
of yards through it,
but I think that this breakdown
that we had to deal with,
kinda screwed us
over a little bit.
But I think we're on to
something. Right, Andy?
Yeah, I think the Narrows of
Dahl are gonna surprise us.
I think there's
This is one time that the
surprise is a good surprise.
I've heard you guys make a lot of
predictions on the dirt this season,
so I'll make a prediction,
I think that North Fork
is a little bit richer
than the Narrows of Dahl.
And what I saw in the box, probably
gonna smoke you guys this week.
Yeah, I do. I mean, that's my
prediction, I could be dead wrong.
- Hey.
- What's up, fellas.
Well, what'd you think's up?
Who's got the heavier bottle
is what I'd like the know.
All right, here we go.
We need to get 104
ounces, see how it goes.
- Ten.
- Fifteen.
Let that run.
- It's over 20.
- Twenty.
- Twenty-six, 28.
- Thirty.
Thirty-six, 37, slow down.
I don't like it. I don't like
what's happening here.
- Yeah, that's almost out.
- Why we went little.
- It's good you guys can count.
- Forty-eight.
- Three plus the one
- Beats three.
No, it's not gonna do it.
- 54.8.
- Whoa, not good.
I don't feel like that's Are we
going backwards? What's happening?
Let's hear this.
Thirty-seven.
- Still feels heavy.
- Guys, I have a bad feeling we're gonna get beat.
- 56.05. Suck it!
- Yeah, okay.
Everybody stop, everybody stop.
Just want everybody to close their
eyes right now and just soak that in.
How does that feel?
Okay.
The Black Pearl's second cleanup
comes in at just over 56 ounces,
while The Holy Roller
comes in at just under 55.
For the first time this season their 111
ounces combined exceeds their weekly goal.
The Hoffmans
now have 482 ounces.
They'll need nearly 520 more ounces
to hit their season goal of 1,000 ounces.
What I've seen
is that the young guys
they kicked your butts.
You know?
This
just is a lot of gold.
Well, you know,
don't ever let anybody
saying anything about you. You guys came
out on top. You worked hard, you did it.
We appreciate ya, Jack.
Really do.
You know what it is. You
guys earned it, man. Way to go.
You know, this is the
first time we broke 100,
we're at 111 for the week.
- Awesome.
- We're there, we hit it. We hit it at least one week.
Now, we just gotta put one week
together with another and away we go.
Good job.
The victory this week is yours,
you earned it. And you know what?
I hope it feels good.
We almost had $190 grand,
pretty good.
Yeah, that's just this week.
So we gotta just keep this pace.
We do, we do.
Great job. Let's go.