Gold Rush-Volvo

Oilslick,

I have figured for a while that Volvo is putting money into that program so "dirt guys" are exposed to their equipment line. I have no knowledge of how competitive they are with Cat's pricing but probably are less $. When we had Kiewit on one of our jobs here in San Diego back in 2000, they had moved to Volvo loaders and Hitachi excavators because of cost. And Kiewit had by then taken S J Groves spot as the largest Cat equipment owner in the world.

I am sure others here can tell you more about Volvo. My only experience with Volvo was driving a car that my Dad had in the early sixtys with the sloping rear end and 4 cylinder motor.

I also do not think the true story is being told for "Gold Rush." They make a big deal out of the value of the gold reclaimed at the end of each program but when I see all the equipment and labor being expended, I can't see how they are making any money! The fuel and leasing payments for all the stuff would be huge! I think the Discovery Channel is paying the bills. Just my opinion.

JanM

Hi, Oil Slick.
I have run both 4- and 6-wheel Volvo ADTs and both were capable with, surprisingly, the 4-wheel versions being slightly more capable.

That said, a contractor friend of mine had 2 X Cat 740 ADTs, 2 X Volvo A25 ADTs and a Terex 25 ton ADT all working on the same site in the same conditions. When conditions started getting a little wetter, the Terex was the first to be stopped, the Volvos stopped next and the 2 Cats were still running almost without stopping unless the site had turned to SOUP.

I have had no experience of any other Volvo equipment except for a couple of hours on a 12-ton wheeled excavator loading a small site dumper. It was a pleasant enough machine to operate and did pretty much what I asked it to do but it did have some complicated controls for travel, outriggers and other things - like I had to find and flip switches to change from one function to another.

And maybe Volvo are at least part sponsors of the program?????????????????????????? And maybe Nikon cameras are part sponsors of NCIS??????????

Just my 0.02.

Parker said on one episode they had a million dollar fuel bill for the year. I dont see much profit with just that one expense alone.

Did you notice some of those excavator buckets though? Some have only a few teeth left and some are running with just the adapters and no teeth. And the one had such worn tracks they just fell apart.

One of them Volvo mechanics told me that Volvo give them the equipment to use for free.
They figure it is worth the advertising as 300 Million people watch the show. Part of the deal
is they have to "fuzz out" the name on other brands of equipment. As if you couldn't recognize
A Cat dozer LOL. It would be hard NOT to make money with free equipment!

[quote="72hayes"]One of them Volvo mechanics told me that Volvo give them the equipment to use for free.
They figure it is worth the advertising as 300 Million people watch the show. Part of the deal
is they have to "fuzz out" the name on other brands of equipment. As if you couldn't recognize
A Cat dozer LOL. It would be hard NOT to make money with free equipment![/quote]

BINGO! Just what I thought!

JanM

It is entertainment, but personally I would prefer they worked without all the personality conflicts and the intentional breaking down of the equipment. Maybe the osha regulations are different for TV performers than construction work. Having had experience with cranes up to 400 ton crawlers some of the things they do especially when lifting and placing the plant equipment makes hard for me to watch. Gold recovery equipment was in place in the Yukon when gold reached $800 back in the 70's so why wasn't recovery started back then when cost of operation would have been less than half of todays costs. I would doubt there gold recovery goals would cover labor, subsistence, and pickups. I do wonder if the same gold is used over and over in the gold weighing ceremonies?

I have to agree with you Russell. I worked in the construction industry ie outside heavy and Blacktop / Sand and gravel. The things they do put shivers up my spine with the stupidity and fighting. I understand that this is 'reality TV' and should be entertaining for the masses. But the level of marginal moves put me off of this show many years ago.