Fixing the Zip-Line Without Permission
Published August 06, 2021 · 7:17 · 614,015 views
About This Video
Van Neistat fixes a playground zip-line that sat broken for three years, no permission, no waiting on the bureaucracy. The repair runs 7 minutes and 17 seconds and has pulled 614,015 views, and it doubles as a small manual on doing the work before anyone can stop you.
The plan is specific. Van's theory is that the bearings in the zip-line trolley's skateboard wheels are burned out. So he arrives "strong with tools," Torx bits because the track is held together with Torx screws, plus two socket sets. He dismantles the track, swaps the bearings and wheels, and reassembles the whole thing before the playground closes at 5:30. He had tried the official route first. An email, offering his services free, explaining the problem. It got stonewalled. No response. So the repair becomes unauthorized by default.
The obstacle has a name, and the name is Jerry. Jerry is the caretaker who lives in the house overlooking the playground, the eye in the sky, and Van prepares for him the way Werner Herzog tells filmmakers to prepare for officials. Herzog's advice is to develop an aptitude for document forgery, the better to confuse the bureaucrats who get in the way of your production. For Van that means fake printed emails, brought along to smoke-screen any procedure Jerry might invoke. The forgery never gets used. Jerry walks over, sees a dad wrenching on equipment for the kids, and helps Van open the newly fixed slide ahead of schedule.
The turn is the point. Van frames Jerry through Boo Radley from To Kill a Mockingbird, the figure all the kids feared who turned out to be leaving toys in the tree and, in the end, saving the day. "Boo Radley is the irrational fear to which we fail to give the benefit of the doubt." The whole playground, it turns out, was financed and built by the parents of the community. The bureaucracy Van armed himself against was a neighbor who would have helped him from the start.
What Van Uses: Torx bits (he prefers Torx screws over flathead), two socket sets, and replacement skateboard-wheel bearings repurposed for the zip-line trolley. The logic of the kit is the lesson: roll up with everything the job needs and finish before you are noticed.
Related: An Unauthorized Repair, Another Unauthorized Repair, I Spent 3 Weeks and $599.47 Fixing a Dumb Playground Toy, and the A Fix segment. More on the philosophy behind it in tools and craft.
FAQ
Did Van Neistat have permission to fix the playground zip-line?
No. He emailed first, offered to do it free, and got no response. He calls it an unauthorized repair and brings forged emails in case the caretaker tries to stop him. The caretaker, Jerry, turns out to be supportive and even has Van help open the repaired slide.
What was actually wrong with the zip-line?
Van's theory is that the bearings in the trolley's skateboard wheels were burned out after three years of disuse. He removes the Torx screws holding the track, pulls it down, replaces the bearings and wheels, and reassembles it in roughly 20 minutes before the playground closes.
What does Werner Herzog have to do with a playground repair?
Herzog advises filmmakers to learn document forgery to get past bureaucrats who obstruct a production. Van borrows the idea literally, printing fake emails to wave at anyone who might interfere. It is a running theme in his work: the official channel is slow, so you prepare to route around it.
Transcript
do you want to drop do you want to catch you [Music] the zip line has been broken for three years now dang it and this spirited man has decided to take matters into his own hands dang it my theory is that the bearings in the skateboard wheels are burned out you got to take these screws out these screws out these pull this whole thing down and then not get caught doing it because they'll stop you with their bureaucracy the plan is to roll up strong with tools dismantle the zip line track replace the bearings and wheels at least he thinks that's the problem then reassemble the whole thing before anyone notices or has a chance to pull rank on him this is an unauthorized repair no permission
oh we tried to go through the proper channels we tried wrote up an email explained ourselves offered our services free sent the email then nothing stonewalled no response so we're just going to roll up and do it they'll never know what hit them but there is one unpredictable variable in our plan a variable that could potentially get us banned from the playground and possibly the square dances for life that variable has a name and that variable's name is jerry jerry is the caretaker who lives in that house overlooking the playground jerry is the eye in the sky watching us all and jerry runs a tight ship
but we're prepared for jerry so i think can you come over sooner than 4 30 yes okay because we're gonna need to do some werner herzog style document forgery and i think you're the man for it what time this man werner herzog one of filmmaking's great heroes advises filmmakers to develop an aptitude for document forgery so that you may confuse the bureaucrats who try to get in the way of your production so we arrive at the playground not only with torx bits and two socket sets to open the zipline track but also fake printed out emails
to smoke screen any bureaucratic procedures with which jerry may try to stymie us prepared by mr slace oh all right so here's our problem all the balls have fallen out are you rolling he just said that they're going to close jerry's right down there he just said that they're going to close the playground at 5 30 what time do you have 508 okay 20 minutes okay we can finish
all right if the cops do show up they won't be in time to catch us doing anything okay okay and with the three remaining screws only partially tightened along came jerry [Music] do you remember boo radley do you know who boo radley is well judging from his tracks he's about six and a half feet tall he eats raw squirrels
and all the cats they can catch boo radley is the character all the kids were afraid of and to kill a mockingbird but in the end he turns out to be not only the guy who was leaving toys in the elm tree for the kids to find but also the man who ends up saving jim finch from the evil bob yule boo radley is the irrational fear to which we fail to give the benefit of the doubt boo radley is our lack of faith turns out jerry was not an enemy to be feared but an ally to be respected he saw us working and assumed rightfully that we were one of the dads wrenching on the equipment for the kids to play with this whole place was financed and built
by the moms and dads and other people of the community after we finished the zipline jerry even had us help him open the newly fixed slide ahead of schedule as for the zip line smooth has an unmuddied lake sir [Music] you
Products & Tools Mentioned
- Torx screws recommends — prefers over flathead
- socket set uses — used in zip-line repair
- skateboard wheel bearings uses — repurposed for zip-line trolley
People Referenced
Werner Herzog
Films & Media Referenced
- referenced thematically