Why I left Matt's Offroad Recovery!
Summary
TLDRThe speaker reflects on his journey with Matt's off-road recovery, starting from their friendship in Illinois in 1995 to their shared passion for off-roading and vehicle fabrication. After working together on various projects, including the ambitious 'Recer' build and numerous recoveries, the speaker decided to leave Matt's business to focus on his own projects. Despite the decision, he expresses his love for the work done at Matt's and the relationships formed, and reassures that his departure is amicable and based on his desire to pursue personal fabrication projects. He also shares his excitement for his upcoming work, including a detailed plan for his truck 'Dig Dug' and a 1979 Jeep Wagoneer, and addresses common questions from fans about his departure and future plans.
Takeaways
- 🤝 The narrator and Matt met in 1995 while serving missions for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which was the beginning of their friendship and shared interests.
- 🚜 The narrator credits his love for off-roading, trucks, and fabrication to the stories Matt told him during their mission downtime.
- 🏡 Life happened fast for both, with marriages and children, but they always stayed in touch and shared a passion for off-roading and vehicle projects.
- 🔧 The narrator helped Matt by sourcing parts from his yard for various projects, including the axle that went into the 'bommie' vehicle.
- 🎓 After completing degrees in physics and nuclear engineering, the narrator worked at Idaho National Laboratory for 16 years, all while discussing project ideas with Matt.
- 🚗 The narrator was involved in the design and building of Matt's off-road recovery vehicles, including the world's largest off-road record vehicle.
- 📈 Matt's towing business evolved into off-road recoveries and then into a YouTube channel, which caught the narrator's attention and led to more collaboration.
- 🏞️ The narrator participated in multiple off-road recoveries with Matt, including a memorable one involving a thousand-foot cliff and the recovery of the 'Golden Nugget'.
- 👨👩👧👦 The narrator's family, including his son Bridger, supported his move to work with Matt full-time on off-road recovery projects.
- ⛏️ The narrator decided to leave Matt's off-road recovery to focus on his own projects, which he was unable to pursue while working full-time with Matt.
- 🚙 The narrator has several personal projects underway, including an XJ with plans for upgrades and a 'Dig Dug' truck that he is most excited about.
- 🔨 The narrator emphasizes that his departure from Matt's off-road recovery is amicable, and he will remain close to the team and projects.
Q & A
How did the narrator and Matt meet?
-The narrator and Matt met in Washington Illinois in 1995 while both were serving missions for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
What sparked the narrator's interest in off-roading and vehicle fabrication?
-The narrator's interest in off-roading and vehicle fabrication was sparked by the stories Matt told him about growing up in Henryville, Utah, and working on farms, building cores, and working on trucks.
What was the name of the Baja 1000 vehicle project that the narrator, Matt, and Johnny Boy worked on?
-The Baja 1000 vehicle project they worked on was named 'Sweet Caroline'.
What educational background does the narrator have?
-The narrator has a bachelor's degree in physics and a master's degree in nuclear engineering.
Why did the narrator decide to leave Matt's off-road recovery?
-The narrator decided to leave to have time to work on his own projects and ideas, which he was unable to do while working full-time at Matt's off-road recovery.
What was the first job the narrator did with Matt's off-road recovery?
-The first job the narrator did with Matt's off-road recovery was a thousand-foot cliff job using the Bombie and the Tangerine.
What is the name of the vehicle that the narrator was particularly impressed with?
-The narrator was particularly impressed with the vehicle named 'Banana'.
What is the name of the narrator's truck that he is most excited about working on?
-The narrator's truck that he is most excited about working on is named 'Dig Dug'.
What is the narrator's plan for the suspension upgrade on Dig Dug?
-The narrator plans to go from 38 to 40-inch tires, with a four-link suspension in the front and a trailing arm suspension in the rear, including coilovers and bypass shocks on all four corners.
What is the name of the 1979 Jeep Wagoneer project that the narrator is working on for his friend Trent Campbell?
-The name of the 1979 Jeep Wagoneer project is not mentioned in the script, but it is described as an incredible build.
What was the narrator's favorite recovery from his time at Matt's Off-road Recovery?
-One of the narrator's favorite recoveries was on the barracks trail with the brand new Recer, where they pulled out a Ford Explorer buried in silty mud from a flash flood.
Why is the narrator moving only 5 minutes away from Matt's shop?
-The narrator is moving only 5 minutes away to work full-time on his own projects, but he wants to maintain close contact with the people at Matt's shop and continue to see them regularly.
Outlines
🤔 Journey to Off-Road Recovery
The speaker begins by addressing the audience's curiosity about their departure from Matt's Off-Road Recovery. They recount their friendship with Matt, which started during a mission trip in Washington, Illinois, in 1995. The speaker credits their love for off-roading and fabrication to conversations with Matt about his childhood in Henryville, Utah. After their missions, they stayed in touch, and the speaker would often visit Matt, who was always involved in various projects. The speaker pursued a degree in nuclear engineering while working at the Idaho National Laboratory. Despite their busy lives, they continued to discuss off-roading and vehicle projects. Matt's towing business evolved into off-road recoveries and eventually a YouTube channel, which the speaker found fascinating. The speaker's first job with Matt involved a thrilling cliff rescue, which sparked their interest in off-road recovery. They were later invited to help with the 'Golden Nugget' recovery and were eventually asked to join Matt's team full-time. However, the speaker felt the need to pursue their own projects and ideas, leading to their decision to leave Matt's Off-Road Recovery.
🔧 Personal Projects and Future Plans
The speaker expresses their excitement about leaving Matt's Off-Road Recovery to focus on their own projects. They highlight several ongoing projects, including an XJ vehicle that they aim to keep as a driver while making upgrades such as suspension enhancements, sealing replacements, rust treatment, and interior improvements. The speaker's main project is their truck 'Dig Dug,' which they plan to transform from its current stock suspension to a hardcore rock crawler with a four-link suspension, coilovers, bypass shocks, and upgraded axles. They also mention a 1979 Jeep Wagoneer owned by their friend Trent Campbell, which they plan to help upgrade for better off-roading capabilities. The speaker emphasizes the need to be at their shop full-time to manage these projects and the good timing of their departure from Matt's team, as they have completed their major builds and have a strong team in place.
😢 Bittersweet Departure and Future Interactions
The speaker addresses the emotional aspect of leaving Matt's Off-Road Recovery, acknowledging that they will miss the people, the recoveries, the builds, and even the fans and dogs at the shop. They confirm that despite leaving, they will still be in close proximity and expect to visit often. The speaker also discusses the future of 'Miss Sally,' a vehicle they have a fondness for, which will remain with Matt. They express a sense of sadness about not being able to work in Matt's new shop but are genuinely happy for his success. The speaker shares their favorite recovery memory, which involved the use of a newly built recovery vehicle on a challenging muddy trail. They also dispel any rumors about the reason for their departure, emphasizing a strong relationship with Matt and gratitude for the support from their channel's audience.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Off-road recovery
💡Fabrication
💡Welding
💡Nuclear engineering
💡Suspension
💡Rock crawling
💡Project vehicle
💡Dana 60 and Dana 70
💡SEMA
💡Transmission
💡LS3 engine
Highlights
The speaker and Matt met in Washington Illinois in 1995 while serving missions for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Matt's stories about growing up in Henryville, Utah, inspired the speaker's love for off-roading, trucks, and fabrication.
The speaker and Matt stayed in touch after their missions, with Matt always involved in various projects like dery building and towing.
The speaker used his welding skills to pay for his education, eventually earning a master's degree in nuclear engineering.
Matt's towing business evolved into off-road recoveries and later into a YouTube channel, which caught the speaker's attention.
The speaker's first job with Matt was a thousand-foot cliff recovery using the Bombie and Tangerine vehicles.
The speaker was invited to be the chef during the recovery of the Golden Nugget, a memorable and epic job.
The speaker contributed to the building of the world's largest off-road vehicle, the Recer, from the beginning.
Matt invited the speaker to move to Southern Utah and work on projects full-time, which initially seemed like a crazy idea.
The speaker's family eventually agreed to move, and they packed up their life in Idaho Falls to join Matt's off-road recovery business.
The speaker has been involved in a variety of recoveries in different terrains, gaining valuable experience.
Despite enjoying working on Matt's projects, the speaker has a desire to work on his own projects and ideas.
The speaker is excited about working on a personal project, an XJ vehicle, with plans for continuous driving and upgrades.
The speaker's main project is 'Dig Dug', a truck with a stock suspension that he plans to transform into a hardcore rock crawler.
The speaker also mentions working on a 1979 Jeep wagon ear for a friend, Trent Campbell, who has been supportive of his channel.
The speaker emphasizes the timing is right to leave Matt's off-road recovery as they are between major builds and other team members can take on more responsibility.
The speaker reassures that his relationship with Matt is strong and there is no negative reason behind his departure.
The speaker expresses sadness about not being able to work in the new shop at Matt's Offroad but is excited for Matt and the team.
The speaker's favorite recovery memory is a challenging job pulling a Ford Explorer out of silty mud from a flash flood.
Transcripts
you may have heard that I left Matt's
off-road recovery and you may be
wondering why on Earth would I do that
to understand why I left it's helpful to
understand how I got here so I'm going
to start at the very beginning Matt and
I met in Washington Illinois in
1995 we were both serving missions for
the Church of Jesus Christ of latterday
saints and in our downtime he would tell
me stories about growing up in
Henryville Utah working on the Farm
building cores working on trucks I
credit a lot of my love for off-roading
working on trucks and Fabrication and
Welding to those long conversations that
we had in the mission field after our
missions we both returned home and we
always stayed in touch but it seems like
life happened fast we both got married
we started having kids I would stop in
to see Matt Every time I was passing
through it seems like he was always into
something crazy he was doing dery
building corves making buggies that he
drove around in the sand dunes mat went
into Roofing and then he bought wind
Towing wi Towing was a lot of fun
because he always had these junk
vehicles at his yard so I would scr
through them for parts the axle that
went into the bomie is actually
something that I took out of a truck
from his yard took it with me to Idaho
never used it on a project brought it
back with me down here and then we
chopped it up and put it in the bombie I
got into welding and I used that to pay
for my schooling I finished a bachelor's
degree in physics and then I did a
master's degree in nuclear engineering
my family kept moving North we went from
Sol Lake City to Lon Utah and then
eventually to Idaho Falls I worked at
Idaho National Laboratory for 16 years
during that time I talked with Matt a
lot he would always call me with crazy
ideas and things that he wanted to work
on me Matt and Johnny Boy all worked on
a project once for a Baja 1000 vehicle
that we wanted to build we named a Sweet
Caroline I wouldn't say it even got
halfway finished before it was abandoned
cuz none of us had any money but we had
a lot of fun working on that and I hope
that Matt will finish a Baja 1000
vehicle someday that cor ver concept I
think is really cool so I had always
been into 4x4s and trucks and everything
off-roading and when Matt started doing
off-road recoveries that really
interested me I thought the banana was
one of the coolest builds and it just
kept getting better and better with
every iteration and upgrade that Matt
did so Matt's towing business eventually
evolved into off-road recoveries and
then it evolved into YouTube and that
was something that really caught my
attention I think the first job I ever
did with him was when my family was down
here for Thanksgiving he called me up
and said hey I got a job right now you
want to come with me and so we all
jumped in with him and we did the
thousand foot cliff job I think we were
using the bombie and the Tangerine we
had a great time on that job and I was
hooked after that what he was doing was
so cool I had never gone off-roading and
done that kind of technical rock
crawling before and I loved it uh later
Matt invited me to go help with the
recovery of the Golden Nugget that was
such an epic job um we had a great time
everybody just got along good everybody
worked like crazy I got invited to be
the chef because he needed somebody to
feed all these people he was bringing I
started helping him out with this
projects when he was somewhere in the
middle of the more he would call me up
and we would talk for hours about
suspension ideas how he was going to
install his engine how he could turn
this rear engine core a into a monster
rock crawling recovery vehicle as we all
know that vehicle turned out to be
incredible and it's done hundreds of
recoveries I got involved with the
building of the world's largest off-road
record from the very beginning Matt and
I spent a lot of time on the phone
brainstorming about how that vehicle
would work I told him that I had a bunch
of Steel up there in Idaho that we could
use for the for the frame I dug that
steel out of the snow in the middle of
an Idaho winter and I hauled it down
with me I don't think we realize then
what a huge project that was going to be
but it ended up being so much fun the
recer is an incredible vehicle and I was
thrilled to be a part of that build as
the recer build started to pick up
that's when Matt invited me to move down
here and work with him full-time on
building some of these amazing projects
at first that sounded like a crazy idea
I couldn't just move away but as Angela
and I thought about it we were really at
a point in our life where we could my
two oldest kids had moved out and gone
to college and Bridger was a junior in
high school he wasn't super excited
about moving to Southern Utah but he was
willing and he was a huge help because
we had a ton of stuff that we had to
pack up or sell and move down here
thanks Bridger as much as I have loved
fabricating these amazing vehicles with
math I have also totally loved their
recoveries we have 've done recoveries
in every kind of terrain imaginable snow
rocks mud sand water everything and I
have learned a lot while working here so
with all the fun and excitement of
working to mats off-road recovery you're
still probably wondering why would I
leave this dream job to do something
else so here's the answer I love working
in the shop I love fabrication I love
welding I love cutting I love Machining
I love working on my projects Matt's
projects have been amazing but I have
all of these projects of my own all of
my own ideas that I want to get working
on and I need time to do that it's just
impossible for me to work all week mats
off-road recovery and then try to do all
of these projects on the nights and
weekends let me show you some of the
stuff that I got going on one of those
projects that I'm excited to work on is
this XJ right here you might have seen
the video where I just put the head back
together so this thing is a runner now
it's driving and I want to keep this
thing a driver the whole time I'm
working on it I know that often um when
you're building an off-road rig you kind
of do upgrades a little bit at a time
you don't tear the whole thing apart
that's what I want to do with this right
now it's running on 31in tires it
probably needs a little bit of
suspension upgrade I've got to fix the
death wobble going on down here on the
front end all these door and window
seals need to be replaced and there's a
little bit of rust on this thing I have
to take care of I need to clean some
things up on the interior I need to
replace the Leaky radiator core I have a
feeling there's some Rust under this
carpet where all that fluid was leaking
down the steering wheel needs to get
swapped out I'm going to do some bumper
upgrades I'll probably put a winch on
the front of this maybe I'll even do a
light bar or something on the roof I
don't know so you can see there's a lot
of work to do here but this isn't my
main project my truck Dig Dug here is
the project I am most excited about
you've seen this thing drive all over
the place but it still has a pretty
stock suspension I've got 3-in lift
springs on the front and I've got a
shackle flip in the rear and that is
about it on this truck all the rust
needs to get fixed I need to get a grill
these doors need a whole bunch of work I
love this bench seat but it sets me up
to be offset from the steering wheel so
I'll probably end up with some buckets
the wood in the bed has to be replaced
drivetrain in this is actually pretty
solid I have the same engine as the mor
air but an LS3 would be really cool I
have a four-speed automatic transmission
that I rebuilt years ago and it still
seems to be running good and I have an
np25 transfer case which is also working
but a doubler would be amazing thought
about putting a ride up on the roof with
a whole bunch of lights on it but I'm
undecided on that what do you think
while the XJ build is going to be pretty
stock I want to go all out on this build
I'm going to go from 38 to 40in tires
I'm going to do a four length suspension
in the front and a trailing arm
suspension in the rear there'll be
coilovers and bypass shocks on all four
corners the gas tank will get finished
and moved up into the bed there'll be
Rock Sliders in the front a full roll
cage in the cab and I'll finish out all
the electrical and interior that's been
left under undone for so long the axles
will be upgraded to a Dana 60 in the
front a Dana 70 in the rear with lockers
on both ends when I'm done this will be
a hardcore rock crawler and should look
good enough to take to SEMA there is no
question that digdug is my absolute
favorite project of all time and I've
had a blast taken this thing out with
Matt's off-road recovery for the last
year and a half let me show you some of
the highlights
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here's another vehicle I'm working on
this is a 1979 Jeep wagon ear and this
is an incredible build it's actually
owned by a good friend of mine Trent
Campbell and he has helped me a ton with
my channel and so I want to do something
to help him out he needs a little work
done on the steering to make this thing
a more capable off-roader so you'll be
seeing this in a future video as you can
see there is a ton of work to get done
in this shop and that's why I need to be
here fulltime the timing is really good
for leaving mats off-road we are done
with the off-road games we're not in the
middle of a major build and he has a
whole bunch of awesome people working
for him right now and they need room to
grow and to take on some bigger
responsibilities it's time for me to
step out of there and into this fulltime
I want to answer some of the questions
that have been coming in since we
announced that I'm leaving mat off off
road recovery one of the first ones is
am I going to miss it and the answer is
of course yeah I'm going to miss it I'm
going to miss the amazing people that
are there I'm going to miss going on the
recoveries I'm going to miss the awesome
builds I'm going to miss fans coming
into the shop all the time and getting
to meet them so many cool people I'm
even going to miss the dogs even peanut
even though she ate my four-wheeler I'm
still going to miss that dog but the
good news is I'm only 5 minutes away
from their shop so I'm going to be back
there often so I will see all these
people regularly several people have
asked what will happen to miss Sally and
sadly the answer is she's going to stay
with Matt I know she should be here in
my shop I agree with you I do have a
drill press but it's not the same okay
I've had a lot of concerned people
asking me what will Matt do without my
supervision he's going to be okay he is
actually old enough to be an adult and
he's got Jamie taken care of him it's
going to be fine okay another question
I've got is am I sad that I'm not going
to get to work in the new shop at mats
Offroad and the answer is yes that new
shop is going to be amazing I'm very
very sad about it thanks for bringing it
up but I am happy for them they are
going to love that space can't wait to
see what they make over there another
question was what is my favorite
recovery from my time and Matts Offroad
recovery and I've been there like a year
and a half so i' I've probably done over
100 recoveries with Matt I have to rule
out the Golden Nugget cuz that was the
greatest recovery of all time that was
amazing but one of my other favorites
was when the recer was brand new we went
and did this recovery on the barracks
trail that was muddy and we were going
through deep water and we had to pull
out this Ford Explorer that was just
buried down in this silty mud from a
flash flood and that was just that was a
great time I rode in that Explorer as we
took it out of there we had to climb
these super steep Banks the wrecker was
slipping and spinning it was really
challenging super fun that was one of my
favorite recoveries I know there's going
to be a lot of rumors about why I left
Matt's off-road recovery and that's why
I wanted you to hear straight from me
the real reason my relationship with
Matt is great you don't need to worry
about that thank you for supporting my
channel and thanks for watching stupid
claw hammers
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