Murray Stamped Frame

Well, been working on this since Sunday afternoon... School takes up most of my time, but I'll have it finished tonight!

So as you know the Craps-man is dead, so the body is now going to this... That's right, a body swap! It went from this:



To this:


So after cutting this out:


I thought it'd look pretty good. It's not as high as it will really be in these pics, but it looks meant to be:



Then the next day (yesterday), after removing the floorboards, I cut all those tabs out of the shifter's way:



Then I cut a space for the clutch pedal:


And then, after cutting the MO area out of the body and a little too much of it, I could fit the battery and the body in place permanently. I do wish there was more meat in the back, but it fits like it was made for it:


Plenty of clearance:


The front is mounted, but I'm still working on the rear, the seat is gonna give me some trouble if the shifter doesn't. I still have to remove the "CRAFTSMAN" stickers because, well, it's not a craftsman . I'll be using the original junk Murray floorboards. Anyway, it's comin' along great. I also plan on putting a rack on it now.

Looking good. Watch out for jagged edges around the shifter. Some people get ramming on the shifter and get cut on the edges. Nice front fenders!

Look at you with the fancy Craftsman fenders now! Looking good.

mr.modified wrote:

Looking good. Watch out for jagged edges around the shifter. Some people get ramming on the shifter and get cut on the edges. Nice front fenders!

Thank you. Them front fenders could do a better job at keeping the mud off, but it should be an easy fix.
I ground down all the edges, and I'm putting the original cover back on, so I'll be plenty save from that!

Destructive wrote:

Look at you with the fancy Craftsman fenders now!  Looking good.

Heh, I must admit I do like the looks.







So, I mounted it this way so I can mount the rack to the same bolts, and then mount it to the sides of the frame to make everything more sturdy... And, in this case, I like using round headed bolts...



I also like the way the seat looks... Could be more comfortable, but it's good enough.




Can't wait to get it in the mud!

Looking like a little Jeep with the front fenders! Are those sockets that are spacing up the rear fender pan?

Shhhh! Don't let everyone know how I use my tools..... LOL, yep, sockets.

Yeah the Jeep look must be why I like it so much!

Haha, actually I've got the same thing on my John Deere. Forgot to go buy spacers and just never got around to swapping them out.

LOL, I use sockets instead of spacers from time to time.

Well, I've pretty much completed this project! The "junk" rack is on.



All in all, I think it looks pretty good!



Some future possibilities:

-Bigger and better tires

-New seat

-Exhaust

-Locker

-Better pulley swap

All depends on what the owner wants...


But for now, I like it!

Stamped frame update 9/1/19. Sorry for the stupid sideways screen...

Something I forgot to mention in the video, the belt always being engaged fixed itself!

Well, since I've completed it, it's been constantly breaking things.

First the throttle, luckily the Craps-man's old motor had a new one...



Then the headlights fell out, so I mounted them a better way... Alot brighter too.




It's come a good ways from 15 months ago...

Well, she's a decent little machine. The rack is gone sadly, but I'll eventually get another one. Does pretty darn good in deep water.

That came out pretty cool. Nice job. Those front fenders are a good idea...sorta rat rod looking.

Rerun wrote:

That came out pretty cool. Nice job. Those front fenders are a good idea...sorta rat rod looking.

Thanks!





Whoopzers...

Going off my last post... This was not supposed to happen. Front wheel was stopped by a rock, forcing me to back up the hill. Well it didn't want to go up the hill, so it slid sideways. Luckily I got it back out without tipping it.

It's certainly come a long way!

Yeah it has...

Anyhow, we picked up the Mountain Murray today, so I'll no longer be using this one. I have some unseen footage of it from the past week, so I'll be putting those out soon. I'm sure you'll see it again this fall... It's hard to be building a mower and drive it every day LOL.

Heh, well my last post here is anything but true. It will be and has been doing everything besides sitting in the shed lately. At least until the BO is over, this one will be used. I will have a video of a smokey one tire fire burnout in the morning...

Nice rig. I always wanted front fenders on a tractor, never got around to trying it though.

Thanks! The front fenders are pretty good. They should've been welded to the hood though... The hood is starting to crack. I haven't tried it on a Widebody because the hood is all round and everything... Guess I'd have to mount them to the body. Either way they help with keeping the rain water off.

Here's that burnout video...

Well, time for a new head gasket...

Well, heh, not sure where to begin. So, it's changed a lot. It has floorboard lights now, a gas pedal, a bigger pulley swap (does like 25), my brothers old rear tires, a cup holder... That can only mean my brother got a hold of it.  Anyway, uh, after all that, he um, had an "accident". He can't walk on one of his legs for now... He tried to climb the "impossible hill", and threw the belt at the top... ended up sideways and rolled it over himself and then the tractor rolled completely over TWICE down the hill until a tree stopped it. Stayed running the whole time. Tractor has no damage, not to sure about the driver yet.

Random burnout pic...

I don't understand why my brother has to take everything apart... It was working fine........ But on second thought, maybe it needed it...

The vomit that was in it...



This is how the case is supposed to look...



But this is reality...



Yes, that's a hole in the case. I knew the back wheels were cambered, but I didn't know why. So, we're gonna put bearings in it. Might weld up the diff while we're at it.

On third thought, if he would've left it alone, it would still be going.




It ran good for 5 minutes, then I believe he tried to smoke the tires when the gears started grinding and POW!... Blew the trans. This is why I don't care for 930's AT ALL. They're cheap butt junk compared to an MST. Anyway, because he needs something right now, he's trying to fix his MST to run for the winter before he rebuilds his Widebody. After that I'm putting it in the shed to sit on blocks until I get free tranny. (BTW, out of all engines and trannies we've had this is FIRST one that me or my brother actually blew.)

Since we can't afford more fluid, he's running this crap in it. It flows like molasses...

Okay. The MST swap didn't happen, but I picked a permanent 6 speed MST for it today. Should have it driving by Saturday. Gonna cut the Turfs some more too. They have NO traction at all.

I could beat my head against a wall right now and enjoy it. After using the ENTIRE thing of RTV, I went to put it together and it wouldn't seal, then the shifter ball fell out. Had to take it back apart and ruin the seal. Now that it's together, the axles don't spin, the input shaft is hard to turn, and I'm almost sure it will leak. I can't take another leaky trans... I'll go crazy. All I can say is we'll see what happens. Still need brakes, a c-clip, and have to find the belt... !

Anyway...



Had some bad rust on the shifter shaft (or whatever that's called)...



Also managed to snap off a bolt in the case. Thanks to my master drilling skills I did this...




Should seal perfectly. Finished the tires...



More to come...

Sounds like a bronze bushing is out of square.

MightyRaze wrote:

Sounds like a bronze bushing is out of square.

Yes. That's why it didn't go together on the first try. Got it together now and the spider gears won't even work. Won't roll or anything. It shifts, the input turns, but it just won't roll. It'll have to come apart again obviously, but I have no idea when. I can't take the chance on driving it... I just know it's gonna blow. Too bad it only needs gas lines, the engine pulley, and the belt and it would drive if it wasn't for this problem. I put the oil and everything in cause I thought that once the oil got in the axles, it would free up. Guess I was wrong. I had to drill a hole in the side of the case to fill it up. There was no drain/fill plug.

(sorry for the crappy picture, looked better on a smaller screen.)


Sure does suck that it's on 4 wheels but ain't gonna drive. I think the spider gears didn't seat properly or something. There was also a spot on the case where it didn't compress the RTV. Same place the MM's bolts stripped.



So I don't about you guys, but...