Mud-Murray Offroad Mower

I decided to Start now also an Build Thread about my Birthday Murray.

You do'nt knew what Birthday Murray is?

Let me tell you the Story from the begin....

I posted a searching of a Murray Pan Frame mower on Ebay Kleinanzeigen. After a few Months of rediculus high prices, finally an cheap Mower!


Yes, not the greatest Mower, It has an crappy Tecumseh Engine, and is Missing the Wheels. But in rlation to the high prices we pay for Mowers in Germany, it were dirtcheap. Hopefully it's no Foote or Spicer Trans.

We went to the Seller and picked it up (it were on my Birthday) and hauled it home. At home I robbed the Tires from my dads Murray and put them on, and inspected the Mower a bit more.



















Goal! MST 205!!

Mower has sitten for a very long time in a shed or so, It is very dirty and dusty, but rustfree.
I do'nt understand why the pre owner put those ugly decals on it. Yuck. Well the Smiley on the grill is funny. And he rebuilt the Mower Deck, cuz it's repainted from both sides and he added a hose cleaning nipple. Blades are also brand new!. Great Deal!

Plans for it: Building an Offroad Mower that is well built!

Deck will be removed and no more added!

Nice mower, can't wait to see it progress! I see what you mean when you said in the chat about the fenders, they hardly cover half of the tyre. Not very good for mudding, haha

MatthewD wrote:

Nice mower, can't wait to see it progress! I see what you mean when you said in the chat about the fenders, they hardly cover half of the tyre. Not very good for mudding, haha

Yep! Hopefully I can find a Craftsman rear fender for cheap.


Those looks nice i think on it, and should cover the tire. Or i will use Sears Suburban Fenders.


What ya gonna think looks better? and best: has anyone such stuff for sale for me?

Yeah, that's really cool! I can't wait to see what the little something you were talking about yesterday is!
Is that like a water-filled weight on the hood or what?

Double W Cross Ranch wrote:

Yeah, that's really cool!  I can't wait to see what the little something you were talking about yesterday is!
Is that like a water-filled weight on the hood or what?

That's a front weight, i compared it to the one on my Dads Murray, and this is the same, but filled with concrete, romoved the plastic, and different mount. Those mount should be really handy for my front bumper.

I also ca'nt wait until the secret thing arrived me

LOL filled with concrete? That murray has had a hard life lol.

Double W Cross Ranch wrote:

LOL filled with concrete? That murray has had a hard life lol.

Yep, the MST also does some strange noises, and leaks out all seals.

SebastianAlbrecht wrote:

Double W Cross Ranch wrote:

LOL filled with concrete? That murray has had a hard life lol.

Yep, the MST also does some strange noises, and leaks out all seals.

Yikes. Hope you can fix er up.

Msts are super heavy duty. Just pour some diesel in it and turn the pulley by hand for awhile to get it all cleaned up then drain it and disassemble it and just replace ehat needs it.

Honestly I'd go with fender flares made out of tire mud flaps if you can find them or rivet on metal salvaged from old baking sheets.

So are you planning on keeping that deck?

Double W Cross Ranch wrote:

SebastianAlbrecht wrote:

Double W Cross Ranch wrote:

LOL filled with concrete? That murray has had a hard life lol.

Yep, the MST also does some strange noises, and leaks out all seals.

Yikes.  Hope you can fix er up.

That i will see once i tore it apart. Hopefully not much damaged, or i can use parts from reverse MST.

biggasmowers wrote:

Msts are super heavy duty. Just pour some diesel in it and turn the pulley by hand for awhile to get it all cleaned up then drain it and disassemble it and just replace ehat needs it.

Nice idea. Last MST i opened, and cleaned the gears and stuff by hand with a brush and diesel

Crazy_Carl wrote:

Honestly I'd go with fender flares made out of tire mud flaps if you can find them or rivet on metal salvaged from old baking sheets.

So are you planning on keeping that deck?

If i can find something cheap for mud flaps, i will try it.

Deck i keep, but never again on this mower. I will give it my dads Murray, because this one is fresh rebuilt, and his one worn and rusty.

Because my MTD is now in parts, i decided to have 1 running tractor so i can mow.

I swapped in the 11HP from MTD, pulled the MST, and put the oil from the MST of MTD in it. First i wanted to put MTD,s MST in but the Input shaft on MTD,s MST is a bit longer, cuz it's from a Widebody. THe Mud Murray MST were mostly dry, so if i had run it without checking, i had blown it! Well, i also ordeered a carb rebuilt kit for the Tecumseh, so i can sell it. But this wil arrive in July. Too late for running tecumseh while painting MTD. Murray is only slow, but working. I resharpened the blades, and it mows very good.

Cuz my phone were at the charger in this time while i put the Engine in and the MST check, i forgot to make pics, so here are a few of how it's looking now.







I will b very busy with MTD, so i can rebuild Murrays MST as quick as possible.

Also an great Goodie for Murray is coming! in a few Days ya knew more!

In the Chatbox since 1 week asked: Any Pics? What's the Goodie?

Here's the answer:

I scored me an new Engine for it!

Here they cost new more than 2000$ and used around 600$ but i scored me 1 much cheaper  

Then the Packages finally arrived (the seller had trouble with the weight, and shipped it in parts in 2 packages)















I would gonna say, that's the best Present i could give Mud Murray!

It's missing the Dipstick tube and has few Dents from storage
Seller said, he stored it over 15 years cuz the mower he robbed it from had blown trans.

Another very cool thing: Mud Murray is DOM 1999 and the Vanguard id also DOM 1999! Like it were sold stock with the Vanguard! Great! I measured it, and it should just barely fit under the Hood without chopping anything.

This Beast should have enough torque for AG Tire Burnouts!!! Hopefully MST will withstand the Power!

That V twin is nice! Cool that the dates match up as well. Now you need a cool exhaust setup to get that lovely v twin sound

This V twin is going to sound cool for sure.  Great addition to your murray.

MatthewD wrote:

That V twin is nice! Cool that the dates match up as well. Now you need a cool exhaust setup to get that lovely v twin sound

My plan are 2 Straight pipe stacks, only few inches over the hood, with rain caps or 45° chopped or with sideways tip not sure. Maybe i can do it stainless

Crazy_Carl wrote:

This V twin is going to sound cool for sure.  Great addition to your murray.

Thanks! Maybe I should teinforce the Frame to get rid of frame flex

start looking around for angle iron bed frames.  That frame needs reinforcement.

Crazy_Carl wrote:

start looking around for angle iron bed frames.  That frame needs reinforcement.

Yep. once I drove sideways over the curb, i could see the engine and Hood twisting a bit. MTD willl be much worser, but there i ca'nt do anything, cuz there is no space

I think rain caps are cool on stacks, I'd go for those.

RichieRichOverdrive wrote:

I think rain caps are cool on stacks, I'd go for those.

Problem: those are hell expensive here and make much noise

Did some work on the Vanguard

I got a hammer, and removed the Dents from the shroud







I cleaned up the Engine, and looked over, what's broken and needs to be replaced





The Oil filter is Junk I would say



Looks like a very mean, powerful Monster that wants to destroy Transaxles with too much Torque and aggressive Tires



If it had 22HP, I had doubled the Engine Power



I used some body puddy to smooth out the dented areas



I repainted the Shroud







And reassembled the Engine that far I have the parts for it





Now I put the Engine in a box for storing it, til I will mount it under the Hood.
Mud Murray should be proud to get such a powerful Heart!



I will add a Recoil, new Oil and Air Filter, Dipstick Tube needs to be replaced, maybe a few other small things, and then it should run!

Sweet! Nice job on the shroud!

Double W Cross Ranch wrote:

Sweet! Nice job on the shroud!

Thanks! Hopefully I can fire it up as soon as possible

Nice paint work.  And it comes with a 2 year warranty! That's frickin awesome!

That's a 2 year warranty when it's new Carl, haha