Montgomery Wards(MTD) trail tractor(Now Murray Widebody LT)

I love the looks of those wideboy hoods. Almost a shame to ditch it. Mind you I do like MTD hood too

I like those hubcaps, never seen lawn mower hubcaps before, haha.

dangeroustoys56 wrote:

I guess I'll do whatever needs done as far as the hood goes. If I go with the wards/mtd hood, it will look older, which is cool. Though I really liked the slope of the murray hood also. In the grand scheme bodywork is minor. I made the brackets/crossmembers for the idler pulleys this evening. I used old lawnmower blades, which works great. They're both welded to the tops of the c-channel frame. I am thinking of adding a "ramp" on the bottom in front of the transaxle to help slide over obstacles and maybe skin it all with a sheetmetal skidplate. Not sure if that will work well though, might trap mus and water and cause the belts to slip.

Those are Golf Cart hub caps I think.

Yepper - Chunk is correct- i bot the golf kart hubcaps for $3 each at a flea market- i knew they fit the golf kart rims- wasnt sure they fit lawntractor rims- they do- 8" ones .

I was just test fitting them and seeing how they looked in that pic- id planned on painting the rims black with red way back , maybe the edges chrome- i was going to repaint those caps a chrome as well, to look like a mag rim.

I put an 85 MTD mastercut hood on my 96 MTD chassis - it looks way cool , its like all square- i need to grab some pics of it.

Well I have solved the clearance issues, raised the dash up 3" and will make new hinge mounts for the hood to match the lift. I don't care much for welding sheetmetal but I got the 3" dash extension on. Next I will weld it to the rest of the body tub, like FearlessFront did to his.

On to a question I have about the brakes. I plan to apply the stock brake separate from the clutch and only for a parking brake. So I need something for main braking. I found a 5" diameter 1/4" thick washer from a DIY weight jack kit. It has a 1 1/4" hole in the center. I figure I can weld it to a 3/4" keyed collar and find a caliper to fit. Sound like it might work?

Sounds like itd work- i bot a disc brake kit from northern tools and thats all the disc seems to be- go for broke and head to the junkyard and find a caliper off a honda or a small car or motorcycle along with a motorcycle master cylender- youd stop on a dime.

Those clutches hold up great! I used mine for 2-3 years before I decided to change it. And you idler pulley placement is perfect, thats about how i had mine. Worked great. It never hurts to tighten that clutch spring down (which it looks like you did). You'll definetly want some big tires on the front, espically to keep that big twin up and afloat over the soft stuff.
Great work though, it took me a few months to get the murray up and running. And every once and a while, I rip into it again to change something.

Thanks. I keep telling myself not to copy your murray too much, but if it works, it works, haha.

I worked on the gas tank some yesterday. I'm attempting to use the stock wards/mtd plastic tank cut and remade to fit the murray. It was too wide, so I cut about 3" out of one side. I held it in place and used a soldering iron to fuse the plastic back together. I didn't know if this process would work or not, but am very impressed with the strength and seal. I have a couple of spots that still get wet when I water test but I'm confident I can seal those off with some more work. Then I plan to wrap the seam with fiberglass cloth and resin to make sure it's completely sealed up. Of course safety first, so I'll fill it with gas and let it sit for a few days to make absolutely sure it will hold. Don't want my tractor to look like some of those burnt pics Dangeroustoy posted. Other than than, not much progress. I grab 20 minutes here and there and do what I can.

Jamus: Well- at least youre going about rebuilding the gas tank the right way- the $10 bolens i bot off my wifes step bro was only good for parts - i used the tank on another tractor to find the idiot mustve cut the tank with a grinder ( apparantly by accident- a small bit) and used red permatex to seal it- unfortunately i lost half a tank of gas finding that out....

I had another tank off a tractor that looked like it was cracked - i took it off after draining it, then i filled it with water overnight to see if that leaked- it didnt.


I think most those tractors that caught on fire were due to dead grass compacted up near the motor or deck- i know my pops neighbors Cub loads up the top of the deck with clippings everytime he mows the 4 acre yard.

Yeah, I've had grass collect and smolder but no flames. First time it happened I almost freaked out though. I'm not afraid of fire, but it can be so destructive. Once something burns, it's pretty much useless. It can even weaken steel parts to the point of being useless. Like I said, this is a test and I have no clue if it will work or not. First signs of it not working and it gets trashed in favor of something safe. I just have this feeling that it will work though.

Getting back to work on this thing. I've been busy working and with other hobbies and neglected the poor mow buggy. I've almost completed the gas tank. After the first fiberglassing I had one small leak in a corner where I didn't get the mat overlapped properly. So today I did another patch and put another layer of resin over all seams.

While letting the tank dry I worked on the steering shaft. Since I added 3" to the dash I needed to extend the steering shaft too. I ended up scavenging the upper half of the wards shaft since it slips over and bolts, same diameter as the murray lower. So all I had to do was cut about 4" off the top of the murray shaft and drill a cross hole through it. I also had to modify the plastic bushing bracket that holts the shaft. I just drilled the murray piece out and glued the wards piece into it. I'll get pics to explain this better in a day or two.

I think my next task will be something to fit rear wheels. I've had no luck in finding keyed wheels, but have more than enough of the type meant for a shaft with two flats. So here are the two options I've come up with. Let me know if either may work.
1) Drill the wheels out to a smooth 3/4" and weld them directly to the axle shafts.
2) Cut/grind flats on the axle shafts so that the rims I have will fit.

Id do #1 with a twist- that way when you do find a set of acceptable rims, you wont be swearing up and down that y welded em on- specially if y get a flat.

Id drill out the rim, then drill a hole in the rim stub off the back, thru the axle and use a grade 8 or higher bolt with a nylock nut on it- i did that on my 70 toro when i ran bigger rims - i didnt have any grade 8 bolts tho- i kept snapping the bolts - so had to have a handfull when i went out mudding.

Ah, pinning would be a better idea. Hate to take it apart but the drill press would be so much nicer than hand drilling those shafts. Thanks.

I drilled the axle ends right on the tractor- its a differential 'straight axle' - was easy to take out- just didnt have a drill press.

I'll probably drill them on the tractor as well. I might make a jig to hold the drill bit steady. Anyway, leak tested the gas tank today with water and so far no leaks. I filled it up this evening and will leave it a few days to be sure. Then I'm going to test it again with gas. Sort of a real world test outside of the tractor.

Bad news, the tank leaked overnight. Not much, but any is too much. Like I said before, if it showed signs of not working I would ditch the project and that's what I'm doing. Leaking gas is not something I will put up with. So I guess now I search for a stock murray fuel tank. Are they all the same between the models of murrays from those years? My main mower is a widebody automatic, though the hood and dash are bigger. I was thinking I could swipe the tank out of it for the winter to get my buggy up and running. Not like I plan to do much mowing till spring anyway.

Some tanks are the same- my 94 murrays have a lil bump on each side that sit in a notch in the dash metal - my older agway has wings on the side that bolt to the dash - MTD tanks are just held in by large zip ties .

You could just go redneck engineering and use a 2 galon plastic gas can - cut a small hole in the bottom for a brass hose barb.

I had thought of that earlier but my 2 gal can didn't clear the steering shaft. All I could find that fit was a 1 gal and that's not enough fuel. I guess I could carry an extra gal jug and fill it up more often. I'll see if I can find a proper tank first though. The widebody murray I'm working on is around a 2000 and my mowing murray is a 98 I think. The frames, decks, and fender tubs are identical. Though the hood is bigger on the mowing 98 and it has plastic pieces to mate the dash to the larger hood. I almost stole the hood to fit over the twin in my buggy but it would have been too much work getting the smaller hood to fit onto the mower I use on the lawn.

Looks like I'm in luck. Just pulled the tank from the 98 mower and it fits right into my 2000 buggy. That's one less hassle, at least till spring, when I need to replace the tank to mow some grass. But that gives me a few months. I was surprised that the tank is only 1.4 gallons though. I thought for sure it was closer to two.

Yeah most my murray tanks are tiny - the only one ive seen thats really large is on my GT's under the seat - i think thats a 3 plus galon tank- MTD's also have a fairly large tank as well.

I could have done that since the twin has a pump on it. I already cut out for the larger battery. I'm going to use a yellow top optima from one of my old trucks. It should be more than enough for the winch and lights, as well as keeping it fresh with use.

Yepper- that optima is the king of car batteries- the other plus is you can mount it any way y want - sideways- upside down- whatever.

While on my turkey binge high I was thinking about front tires. I was going to use stock 18" rear tires up front but am thinking some skinnies might perform better. I have a couple donuts(economy spare tires) that I could weld to the stock front rims. I just see a lot of videos where it looks like the wider front non-driven tires hit against things and stop momentum. What do you guys think? I know fat front tires look cooler but I go for what works over what looks cool usually.

The wider wheels would be better for rock crawling - skinnys would be good for mud. If you have a welder or all thread rod you can check it out - either tack the stockers to the rims or bolt it , just to see what itll look like.

If its staying the stock hieght- im not sure how well itll steer ( if wheels will swing wide enough w/o contacting the hood).

Good idea, I'll tack it and see how everything fits. The pain is dismounting the tires. I've heard some horror stories about heating up the air inside of tires even with the valve cores removed. Maybe just debead them would be enough to keep anything from going boom. I already raised the front end so that it's level with the rear tire mounting point. The skinny tires are about 25" tall though, which would give me a backwards rake with 20" rear tires. Luckily the front beam is still only bolted on and could be moved if needed. Though the steering would need to be re thought. Perhaps lower the transaxle instead.

You can get a manual tire changer from northern tools - im sure for a minimal fee you could have a local tire shop pull em off- i think its not if theyll explode- its if the tire will catch fire with all that heat.