Ruby, Ruby, Ruby

So who or what is Ruby?

Well let me introduce Ruby, our new towed. Yes we are saying goodbye to our Ford Explorer Sport-Trac. We have dragged our Ford around since the summer of 2018, it has served us well, for six years, but in true Ontario Canada fashion the many years of salty Canadian winters has taken its toll. Underbody rust has caused many holes and the step-bar on the drivers side seems to no longer be attached as designed.

So Ruby is a 2010 4 dr Jeep Wrangler it is the Unlimited Safari edition, it has a manual transmission, we bought Ruby from the back row of a dealership in Sarnia that Miss Laurie found listed on Facebook marketplace. We were going to look at it as well as another Jeep near London, mileage was similar and the other Jeep had been towed before and still had part of the towbar system still installed. We test drove it and it drove fine, it had lots of rust, but what 14 year old vehicle in Ontario doesn’t have rust? We made it into the office and were in negotiation a purchase price of the Jeep when Miss Laurie got a text from the Sarnia dealer to confirm that we were still coming, coming to a figure that we both liked was not going to well so we decided to make drive to Sarnia.

Well the drive was worth it and when the salesman parked Ruby in front of the showroom, the decision was practically made. But a short test drive latter and we returned to pay the dealers asking price. We had looked at enough Jeeps over the past months to know where they rust, and we had decided that some rust on a Jeep was going to happen no matter what. But Ruby had limited rust we can’t say no rust but very limited rust. The salesman said that it had been well cared for and he was correct, he also said he had other people that had offered to buy Ruby and I did not find that hard to believe considering the condition. So with a deposit put down and some paper work signed we returned to Goderich to get a bank draft and return to Sarnia the next day to rescue Ruby.

Rubies interior was a dirty mess, the seats, carpets stained and covered with dog hair, a small rip on the drivers seat along the seam, she needed tires, a parking brake repair, and was purchased as is, so after bringing Ruby home we made arrangements for her safety inspection. New parking brake cables and parts, new rear axle bearings and seals, an oil change and a radiator replacement and we received Ruby back. She still needed tires and many upgrades before being road ready, I ordered our towbar kit, and Miss Laurie started cleaning, Miss Mary repaired the rip in the drivers seat, Laurie borrowed a carpet & upholstery shampooer and went to town and now Ruby looks pretty respectable.

I removed items from the Sport-Trac and installed them on to Ruby, the new tow bar landed and I had it customized to be the best of many options, upgrading to the most recent system, the wiring, the tow brake cylinder, as well as the safety break-away, neatly tucked under the front bumper. Upgrading headlights, fog lights, tail lights, turn signal and marker light to LEDs were a wonderful addition as well. Miss Laurie found Ruby some new slippers on Facebook Marketplace a set of five tires and rims off of a much newer Jeep Wrangler, so now Ruby has a new set of slippers and is looking pretty fine. The only issue was that the newer rims had tire pressure monitors that were not compatible with Ruby, so to complete the operation we replaced the sensors.

We have been driving Ruby and she has been operating well, we have set a EGR (Exhaust Gas Recirculation) code a couple of times and I may have to replace the valve in the future but it seems to be fine now, the only other issue happened when Miss Laurie took Ruby to town and she set a throttle code, some research indicated that cleaning of the throttle body was required, I completed that task and all has been well since, the windshield need to be replaced but the Jeep dealer couldn’t supply or tell me when one would be available, so it will happen down the road.