Got the Pathmaker out for its first Shakedown Run after the EFI swap and it turned into an epic day in the woods. Three rigs in the group for the run, Jim’s linked Exo-caged Toyota Buggy and Nicks beauty 1985 Suzuki Samurai buggy and of course the Pathmaker Rig.
We unloaded and headed up the hill which was the same location as my last two trips out in the rig, snow wheeling in the Pathmaker and Hamburger Wheeling while my rig was in pieces.
Right away I could tell I had more power as we got on the steep sections of the hill. The extra 20hp was going to be good!
Phil climbed in with me to do some filming and we headed up the hill for a slippery day of wheeling.
I spent some time bouncing off my new rev limiter trying to make a few climbs. I may not have made it but I sure gave it a good college try!
The rain started coming down so we continued to the end of the Tree Fort Trail and headed for more rocks further up the hill.
Check out Part 1 of the video here:

We put the Mavic Mini Drone up to do a bit of filming as I spent more time bouncing off the rev limiter. I know I could spend less time on the throttle but where is the fun in that!
As we got up onto the next rock ledges Jim had a bad bounce and his front pinion decided to leave the chat, meaning his day of wheeling was over and it was time to play the extraction game. With some strategic car-nudges we got Jim turned around and headed out of the trail.
Check out Part 2 of the video here:

Of course I hadn’t got to do that much wheeling so I decided it was time to cut another new trail up the next rock bluff. In typical fashion around here that meant I had to do some bushwacking to open up the overgrown trail. Lots of little trees and of course I had to have one take out another rear brake line! Wouldn’t be a day of trail cutting without at least one of us losing a line!
I pulled out the ole vice-grip pliers and clamped the line shut, finished the trail and made my way back down to Jim’s rig to pull him out of the bush and back up onto the road. Once we got Jim headed back down Phil and I decided to play speed racer, hitting all the massive puddles on the way down the hill. Hitting the last one at mach-chicken and we completely swamped the engine, leaving us to drive back to Jim’s sputtering and overheating….sounds like about usual for our stupid wheeling missions!
Check out Part 3 of the video here:

Subscribe to my YouTube channel so you don’t miss out on any of my weekly rock crawling, wrenching or general automotive stupidity. New videos every Saturday!
Click here to Subscribe: Pathmaker Productions – YouTube
To get your custom vinyl decals make sure not to miss: Pathmaker Productions Online Decal Shop Check it out for all your Jeep, Toyota, Nissan Off-road adventure Decals and more!