That’s my van….2023 AWD. Thanks Matt and all for the amazing assist! Calling for a pro was the smartest thing we could have done! For clarity, the ESP (anti slip), lane assist and Parktronic sensors were all disabled by me during my attempts to climb and when Master Matt took the wheel, but he was still having trouble with power. Matt did jump out a couple of times to check his climbing lines and if he turned off the engine (which it sounds like may have been the case) the sensors would have reset to the on position. We consulted the OnX trail app when planning the trip and the Honeymoon Trail is rated as ‘easy ‘…… very humbling experience but I gotta say I’m pretty pumped to be the first sprinter to make it to the top. Just needed Matt’s expertise and peanut’s guiding to make it happen. I’ll stick to the forest roads for the immediate future! Thanks again Matt and Happy trails everyone!

Matt's "Lower 48" confession at the beginning cracked me up. L48 is an Alaskan term to refer to the "contiguous US" since there are 48 states in that grouping, all of which are south of Alaska.

Jake is an awesome addition to the team and the show, he’s such a happy positive guy with a can-do attitude and he never complains

Lower 48 (for New Zealanders) Has reference to the statehood of Alaska. Prior to this, the USA had 48 states. When Alaska became the 49th, the contiguous (ie touching each other) states were called the "lower" (ie further south) 48 in distinction from Alaska. Not long after, Hawaii became a state, giving us the fifty nifty United States Love the channel. We are huge fans!!.Hope to stop by the shop for a hat one day!

Respect to the sprinter van owner for knowing when he was in over his head and getting a more skilled dude to pilot his vehicle.

Well that was super sketchy! Another great job Matt! By the way, "lower 48" refers to the contiguous 48 states of the US, minus Alaska and Hawaii, because they are not touching the rest. Last week I did my first recovery, thanks to what I learned on this channel. I pulled someone's Jeep Cherokee out of a snowbank that they misjudged. It was sunk to the frame. Gave it a slow steady tug with recovery strap hitched to my Ram Promaster 1500 camper van and popped them out of there. It was very gratifying for me and the couple in the Jeep!

Hey Rhett, it may have already been mentioned in another comment, but any easy way to start those old HMMWV.s when the glow plugs aren`t working is to take a rag and cover the exhaust tailpipe while someone cranks it. The extra backpressure is usually enough to get it started. Worked overseas most of the time.

We love Rhett! He has been a natural in front of the camera since his first time! Such personality. And the "new guys" are a great addition, too.

This is a a great example of two things being true at once. Just because you have an offroad capable vehicle doesn't mean it is designed to go everywhere, yet if you are an uber capable driver like Matt you can drive vehicles clearly out of their element "safely" through some crazy situations.

Rhett is AMAZING, certainly has acquired his Dads' mechanical talent!!😁

That problem on Sprinter with computer cutting power is unique to 2023+ part-time AWD models. Sprinter 4x4 2008-2022 have 4hi, 4Lo, and doesn’t behave like this off road. You can add an ARB air locker to the AWD models, which helps tremendously because computer thinks it has traction in rear at all times. Great job Matt as always! 🎉

Lol that van's ECU was more scared than Matt was 😂

The more offroad capable the rig... the further the recovery crew has to go to rescue you... great driving!

Visiting the area (with a stop to meet everyone at MORR!) in a rented bone stock Wrangler we decided to drive up the Honeymoon Trail. After spending more time than I"d like with a wheel in the air we made it to the top. Now when I watch these videos I recognize the exact spots where I had to noodle my way through. This trail is no joke, and the fact this van made it up shows the skill Matt has.

It’s cool watching Rhett grow in the recovery biz and Jake’s a great addition! Also, that Sprinter situation was Super Sketch! You ought to have a special tshirt just for those occasions 😉

Little offroad-field repair!? Very dope, you guys are a bunch of badasses! I am pretty impressed with Rhett's work and work ethic! These kids are going to be some next level mechanics, man. (Even though they already are!)

"I'm cheap, lazy and I'm a pansy" and you're alive and uninjured running a 24/7 off-road recovery outfit.... I reckon these things might connected in a lot of good ways. Keep up the good work - there are people alive today only because you 'got them out'

Long story short, a van, no matter how it is marketed at the most, is good for very moderate off-road trails. I have noticed that between Matt and Rory, they have rescued high-end earth roamers all the way down to a storyteller. These over sized heavy vehicles are not built for the " go anywhere" sales pitch.

Bringing that ($200k+) campervan to the top of the trail was insane, Matt. Well done!

That lower 48 conversation had me cracking up! I love the lack of answers 😃

Trail Mater rescued an Earthroamer. It was extremely tall and heavy. The road was collapsed under it from all the weight. It really was dangerous to take it to Moab on these trails.

If you had TC turned off, the only thing I can think of is that this van (like most modern vans) has a rollover protection embedded into the ESP and it's cutting power everytime the vans lateral movement and/or angle exeeds a certain threshold value. Or the TC can't be turned off completely, which then simply would be bad design.

I drove part of the honeymoon trail in a lifted Honda Civic thirty years ago, no problem. My name is Bicycle Bob and I approved this message.

Interesting video to watch. And even MORE interesting comments to read. I have thousands of miles of off-road travel experience using both my nimble and compact 2WD VW Vanagon camper van as well as my giant oversized Sprinter 4x4 camper van. I have taken my 4x4 Sprinter van that is bigger and heavier than the van in this video thru much more rugged terrain. My entire Living The Van Life KZfaq channel is built on documenting my off road adventures with my vans and getting them into places where camper vans SHOULD NOT be. I enjoy pushing the limits of myself and my vans. I have learned a lot from them. Is the 4x4 Sprinter a capable machine off road? Sure... within its limits. Is it THEE most capable off road machine? Absolutely NOT EVEN CLOSE. It's laughable to think it's even comparable. But for a vehicle that is very well suited for full-time living, with the right kind of driving and the right kind up upgrades, its amazing the 4x4 trails that I have successfully taken my full-time home on wheels up and through -where can your house take you? That being said... you can't expect the world from them. These are delivery vans turned camper vans. The issues illustrated in this video are definitely issues that hold most of these vans back from being MORE capable than they are. The power delivery issue is my biggest challenge as well. But I have learned how to work around these known issues and still get my Sprinter through MUCH more difficult and technical terrain than what is in this video. My sprinter is highly modified with suspension and drive train upgrades that helps these exact issues. Matter of fact... once I installed the rear ARB locker in my Sprinter van, I was able to do much more technical climbs in 2WD locked than what we see in this video and the power delivery was tremendously better in 2WD than in 4x4. Really it all comes down to knowing your vehicles capabilities and picking and choosing the right lines for the vehicle. Now I am interested to come visit the Honeymoon trail and try this trail in my Sprinter. I'm always looking for a good challenge -be on standby Matt! Keep on truckin!

Matt drives a lot of people's vehicles out without hooking up a recovery vehicle. It's like he becomes one with the vehicle. Even the sketchy vehicles.😅

As a Canadian, the whole 48 issues started in What we do know is that the term emerged around 1959 when Alaska became a state. Hawaii had not yet acquired this status. So, to Alaskans, there were only another 48 states, all of them lower down on the map. Or might not be related at all? Great driving skills there Matt!

I've wheeled 2wd and 4wd sprinters more than most of the jeep lemmings in this comment section. They have their limitations but so did my first car the Honda Accord that we took to many places off off off road. I'm so sick of the sentiment that only jeeps can go off road, only trucks can tow a trailer, etc. where I come from, you get outside and run what ya brung for fun and if it aint working, its all good. props to this guy for exploring and pushing this van.

I’ve said it before, it just amazes me what kind of trail repairs you guys do. Amazing😊😊😊

Typically the term Lower 48 is used for folks the live south of Alaska and East of Hawaii being that Alaska and Hawaii are the 49th and 50th states. That term is comely used in Alaska when referring to the lower states. You see this term a lot when dealing with shipping items, some times you will see "we ship Items to all lower 48 states, excluding Alaska and Hawaii".

Sketchy is in most of your rescue jobs Never a dull moment

Wow!! This is the first video I’ve ever gotten anxiety from watching. The Sprinter van community needs to remember, ITS A VAN!! Great job Matt!

Lower 48? Stop pulling my leg, it’s a prosthetic. It’ll come off. 😂😂

The Sprinter certainly was in an area that it had no business to be in. It is a shame traction control could not be disabled, or if it could, the button should be in an obvious location. The owner said he had about 4 hours of off-road driving experience, he also had no business being on that track in any vehicle to be honest.

Matt's frustrations with the Sprinter are the exact reason I sold mine. Can it go places a non-4WD will go? Sure... But not without fighting you the whole way.

Nice Jake, "Hummer time" nice nod to the 90's!

10:37 Matt’s face when he says “WOW!“😂😂😂

He doubled down on the not knowing what the lower 48 is 😂 Guy is trolling the comment section lol

Rhett, you’re turning into a darn good mechanic! Love the Rhett episodes- thanks Matt and Jefe!

I always knew Rhett would take over this channel. He's got the juice good job buddy

I needed to hear that familiarity after such a rough weekend. "so we gotta call"

The automatic braking-based traction control was working (that's why the wheel in the air stopped, so the diff wouldn't slip) however you left the ESP stabilization on (there's a button on the dash) so it was fighting you. The owner should have known about that. Also I really wonder if you were in 4 Low. I've climbed in mine and it would just happily chug along in a super low gear. There is also a different approach to diesel crawling; you don't really ever get to build momentum like you do in a gasser. A lot of the techniques I see Matt using in his vehicles are really quite impressive to me because all my diesel crawling experience is slow and mellow. We rarely take a run at things.

That was a real deal " Hey Y'all watch this" recovery. I was trying to decide between skilled or completely nuts and Matt is a 50/50 mix!

I'm sure other people have already commented but the "Lower 48" means the 48 states below Alaska (not counting Hawaii). Really enjoy tour channel!

Yeah you gotta love modern vehicles... pick up a wheel... it has a sensor that tells the computer... the computer cracks the sh!ts... car says "no" 🤬🤬 makes a simple situation a lot more difficult than it needs to be. Well done "Lazy" Matt for persisting and winning. Your Victory pie was well deserved!

That "no fuel" feeling is how I feel about most traction control systems when I'm in the snow here in the northeast. Snow tires + fuse removal ftw

The more I see of these "Overland" rigs the more I realize that a lot of them are little more than campers that can bomb down a dirt road without taking any major damage. Anything more than that like even a mild trail and you quickly get into a grey area of what they can safely handle.

Taking that Sprinter up that trail was one of the scariest looking recoveries ever! Great job, Matt!

You go peanut. Nice drive out recovery, Matt. When that RF wheel went into the air, I sucked all the air out of the room. If at first it doesn't go, get a bigger hammer. There may be a master switch on the Hummer, other than the key.

Today's victory pie flavor is black berry, my favorite. Matt earned a pass on the 'lower 48' as he in a previous episode shared why the northern part of AZ is called the 'Arizona Strip'. Sharing knowledge is a 'Win-Win' for everybody. Great job driving a vehicle out to a safe spot that is not meant to be on an off road trail let alone a gravel road. Great job Rhett on the trail repair. Thanks for sharing.

Pro Tip for starting a HMMWV: Use a piece of cardboard, binder, etc. to cover the exhaust while cranking it, it creates a bit of back pressure that helps it starts. Idk why this trick that I was taught by a Staff Sergeant always worked, when I tried to start one that wouldn’t. Also, is very important to let the glow plug light turn off before starting any HMMWV.

I just did this trail today in a lifted JLU Rubicon, i have no idea how the van even got to the place where it became stuck. Amazing.

Well now you got a story to tell on your Story Teller. I rushed to buy my 2022 sprinter 4×4 because I didn't want the 2023 AWD, this video confirmed why I made my choice. Although I still own two other AWD vehicles, I still like a little more control that my 4x4 Sprinter has when I'm offroad.

When Matt got out of the driver seat with the front tire off the ground and it sprung up, I thought it was going to flop over movie style.

When Jefe said "we got a call from one of our favorite tour groups who broke down take a guess". I immediately knew it was one of those damn humvees 😂

Never been there, but clear lake near Silverton gave my 4x4 Sprinter no sweat, with factory tire.

Maybe a little explanation about modern offroad traction control is in order. Theres not much fancy going on in terms of sensors here, but the behaviour experienced by Matt in this one is typical of a modern traction control system doing its job - if the TCS was turned off completely, theres no way the vehicle would have gone up that hill. This van looks like it might have a rear LSD or perhaps locker, but the front diff is definately open, and relies on the traction control system to brake the lifted wheel so that torque can be transferred to the wheel on the ground. However, with a large, heavy vehicle, relatively low power engine, it means that while the TCS is braking the lifted wheel, the ECU is also limiting torque when it detects the onset of wheelspin (this all happens using the abs sensors at each wheel) in order to "catch" the spinning wheel. With a more powerful engine, its not so noticable, but in this case it will feel like you dont have the power to do the obstacle (and indeed in some cases, like modern CVT equipped subaru's, the vehicles do not have the torque capacity to really be able to crawl with 1 or more wheels lifted). This kind of TCS works well on more powerful SUV's (and ones with big brakes) such as the VW Touareg, Porsche Cayenne etc. Or as is the case with this van, you just need to carefully pick your line and keep your foot on the accelerator, and give the engine time to develop the torque (remember its turbodiesel, so boost can take a few seconds to build) to overcome the braking force and crawl you way up the obstacle. Its a different kind of driving!

You have to go into the dash cluster to turn all the TC and VSC off. Then click it down to 1st gear. With the pervious gen of sprinters you have to turn TC off each time you switch from D to R etc and keep it locked in 1st.

To disable the ESP Traction control on the sprinter , press the home button on the radio unit twice and select ESP to off (this is how my European Model works). This will let you get the revs you want without the van killing the power.

Cotter pins: 14:01 Here in the rust belt we just spin the nut off and let the castle nut cut it in half. Bend the ends down as needed to get a socket on the nut. The threads and cotter are going in the trash anyway. A small punch or drill works great If we're reusing the ball joint and need to get what's left of the cotter out.

That young man / little boy has great mechanical intuition.

That van is a perfect example of "because your vehicle has AWD doesn't mean you should drive up a Jeep trail"... 😜 But hey, these customers keep Matt busy... 😁

I hope Brad from Trail recon watches this. He is trying one of these out right now. No low range, no off road driving experience, what could go wrong.

In the Army, when our Humvee's didn't start like that, we would grab a drip pan, cover the exhaust with it, and it would always start right up. 😂

What an awesome learning environment for Rhett. Lotta father figures around and most of em seem to be able to comprehend that sensitive feelings mumbo jumbo stuff too. Legit encouraging to watch yall. Good leadership and comradery

Matt asking questions he knows the answers to in order to get more comments. This man's a genius. LOL

Situations like that Hummer is exactly why I don't go anywhere without my Leatherman's pliers. I have an original All American 500 and it's saved my butt more than a hundred times.

Impressed with this Sprinter’s capabilities

Matt, I was getting butterflies watching you drive on that camber. Appreciate your skill and courage to get that vehicle out there.

Rhett is stepping up there and Jake is always a happy guy.

I love how "bout it, bout it!" The dog is. Good puppers!

Teaching kids valuable life skills and driving diesel sauerkraut off the trail. Great vid.

Just made my morning seeing this notification. Keep up the great work guys.💯❤️💪🏽🔧

One of the best recovery videos ever! I was sweating bullets just watching that thing rock back and forth. I can only imagine what it was like inside.

Thank you, MORR crew. Central California watching.

Thanks for sharing. Glow plugs and/or intake heater well, new it had them.

Somehow I can feel Matt fighting the traction control for actual control of the vehicle …

Kudos to Rhett for paying attention. (although I think the bolts are upside down) he knoe the where the important parts go. Keep at it and you will be a Cracker Jack Mechanic as well as a Jack of all trades.

I cannot get my head around why people want to take such vehicles on such tracks/trails … hmm … bravo Matt 👍🏼 once again

Good driving Matt! There’s some “safety Mercedes” items that need to be disabled to help with the accelerator problem, like all of them! Disable the DCS, lane departure and parking assist. They can all be seen from the van button on the dash. I did a video on it as well not to try and troll or piggyback. The vans can be more capable with suspension, tires and so on for sure. That’s a stock classic Storyteller mode. My beast does better along with a few upgrades :)

Try to pull the ESP/Traction Controll fuse out next time. Some vehicles will then give you all the controll and the computer does not cut any power

Hi Matt, saw your recovered Sprinter van rolling down the freeway in PHX a few hours ago rolling steady! Great job getting it up that hill!

No body carries a Leatherman Tool! Light weight but works in a pinch! Nice save with the wire cutters!

Although not for the hardest of offroad trails, a Sprinter 4x4 is actually not that bad to go offroad with. Sure, medium long wheelbase and high roof line make it a bit more sketchy than with the short wheelbase and low roofline, especially as it leans over quite a bit on such sections of the trails. It's a lot of electronic and automatic stuff going on in the Mercedes, and no low range etc. Takes a bit to get used to it. Here the Sprinter is used for just about anything. Work van for tradesmen, construction sites, fire & rescue and disaster management. They take them offroad as well and the plain normal 4x4 usually is sufficient to get through. Only few, very very few will buy it as 6x6

So them old hummers don’t have a choke on em but a trick I learned in the military is to cover the exhaust pipe with something to build pressure and give it a few cranks till it starts.

Thanks Matt and crew !

This is like experiencing my 1977 CJ5 Jeep in 4-wheel Drive on logging roads after some rain - high centers and getting all 4-wheels on the ground - thank dog for SKIDDERS.

Just rented a Sprinter for 10 days and had the same issue. It was at 8000 ft + in elevation and needed it to pull the front tires off the shoulder onto the asphalt in reverse and it would not fuel. Pedal to the floor and it stayed in idle. Maybe a 2 inch climb onto to the asphalt. Weirdest thing ever. Finally got it, but very concerned for the rest of the trip. I rented the sprinter as I am interested in purchasing one, but after my experience and viewing this vid within 5 days after having the same issue, I'm very skeptical about the Sprinter platform. Thanks to MORR, ya'll rock!

Helmets, even bicycle helmets would be acceptable. Few sports has as much head banging potential as MORR. Dangled Lizzy from edge yesterday, perfect rescue today to show that Matt doesn't ask his crew to do what he will not.

Got to love ABS and traction control... 100% not an offroad vehicle

Jake is awesome and has incredible energy infront of the camera. not to say the others dont, everyone is awesome but please can we have more of Jake :)

Heard you say the last time, "Lower 48? Anybody? We don't know." Figured you would've looked it up. But there you go again. "I don't know." The "Lower 48"is the contiguous states in the United States. Meaning the states that touch each other. So that leaves out Hawaii and Alaska. Thanks for the entertaining videos. I hope this helps.

Excellent vid and a pleasure to see Rhett doing so well as such a young man. Best regards from the UK.

That is pure driving skill. It's great that your companion is with you :)

There is nothing wrong with taking appropriately converted vans up challenging trails. The problem here is that this is an AWD Sprinter not a true 4x4. It is a fantastic demonstration of the limitations of modern AWD systems that rely on individual braking and ECU power cuts for traction control. We take our Quigly 4x4 Transit through trails every bit as challenging as that. The difference being that our Quigley conversion is a true 4x4, which cannot spin all of its drive torque away through one lofted wheel, and our ECU isn't cutting power when we need it. The Sprinters infamous boost lag doesn't help. Whereas the 3.5 Ecoboost in our van has gobs of linear torque right off idle.

This man brought his own victory pie 🎉🥧 I love it 😅 well deserved!

Matt calling himself a “drama queen” is like Michael Jordan calling himself an “average basketball player”

If ever there was a time for a victory pie, this would have been it. Well done for doing the impossible yet making it look easy.

Awesome OTF. Made me nervous holding the blade to get that cotter pin out

Sprinters use to be 4 by 4, but now they are all AWD. I am surprised you haven't rescued more of the 4 by 4 vans. It definitely looked frustrating to recover th4 AWD Sprinter.

Matt, have to admit that was some awesome driving. I've been up that in a RZR. In awe you drive up in that. Badass driving!