Mud-Murray Offroad Mower

Crazy_Carl wrote:

This will make the frame stronger but I think it might still have a little bit of flex which is okay.  Are you thinking about adding any crossmembers.

I can. If I have some steel over and that will be happen. I want to add a crossmember behind the front axle and maybe some more under the frame in the middle section. Maybe I ca'nt lift it anymore outta a Mud Hole if it'S so heavy

I opened Mud Murray's MST 205. Actually it looks pretty clean in there. Maybe it was the fresh Oil I just poured in before running it for a month as a regular mower. The surfaces and everything looks like it's in great shape. Only thing I wonder about is, if you push the Mower you can hear some whine









I will add axle bearings, all the seals need to be replaced, the Trans had leaked badly, and I will DOC LOCK IT! Live Axle! that should give my loved Trans the strength it needs for running 22" ITP MUD LITES! Cuz the MST needs to withstand some shocks from trail riding.

I wish I could gear swap it, but AFAIK for MST those kits are'nt available, and you need to botch your stuff at home, and I do'nt want to mess up my Transaxle!

This is one of the cleanest looking teardowns I've seen.

Crazy_Carl wrote:

This is one of the cleanest looking teardowns I've seen.

yes. My other 2 MSTs I had open, looked disgusting inside, this one I just can swap the gears back in once the Doc Locker is done

I pulled the front axle outta Mud Murray



and then this happened....



but luckily I could fix it easy



I welded the front axle mounting bracket to the frame





and Luckily I and my Dad figured a way to power the Welder, so I can run it on 2nd setting
and my Welds are getting finally better with a bit more Juice

You should really get some practice in, and remember to clean the surface you're welding. Contaminants like paint and rust make welds weak

On the little mig welders it's best to hold the edges longer then move over to the next edge and hold that edge a bit longer too, just so it gets smoother welds that don't ball up.

RichieRichOverdrive wrote:

You should really get some practice in, and remember to clean the surface you're welding. Contaminants like paint and rust make welds weak

I wire wheeled the welding areas shiny

biggasmowers wrote:

On the little mig welders it's best to hold the edges longer then move over to the next edge and hold that edge a bit longer too, just so it gets smoother welds that don't ball up.

I will try. that was the 2nd weld with the bigger setting

I began with welding in the 8mm thick flat stock! to comparison: the frame is 3mm thick! that's nearly 3 times that thick!! I would call it Bulletproof if my welds will hold. (that seems to be the biggest problem!)

First I filled in the hole in the frame the pre owner cut out for unknown reason. that Job I did with the wire welder on 3th highest setting. IMAO the welds look good, but everyone can do that way better!!!



that's the part I made outta the flat stock, and shaped it to fit the frame.



ohh Mud Murray has gotten a Workbench



for that Job I used my stick welder. It's just a cheapie, overheats after burning down 4 2,5mm welding rods. that's so annoying!!!!! So I took 2 complete days to weld the 1 side ! sorry for bringing you guys to puke onto your computers by showing you my welds, but it's unfortunately part of the pic





would you gonna say the welds hold up??? IDK. I will cut threads into the flat stock to bolt them down with the tunnel, to prevent breaking the welds. But you can really feel the frame gets really heavy.

Looks like you're having some troubles maintaining a consistent puddle. 

Sounds like the welder you have has a pretty low duty cycle.  You most likely can only weld about 2 minutes out of ten. So weld a little bit, go grind and fit something else, then weld a little more and repeat.

Crazy_Carl wrote:

Looks like you're having some troubles maintaining a consistent puddle. 

Sounds like the welder you have has a pretty low duty cycle.  You most likely can only weld about 2 minutes out of ten. So weld a little bit, go grind and fit something else, then weld a little more and repeat.

I have really big welding issues. Often the weld sticks only to 1 side, and I have tons of slag. So I weld around 1 stick for 1 weld there, til it looks like it could hold. Right now I weld til the welder gets hot, then I do other stuff and attach the dust collector from my grandpas table saw to the cooling fins of the welder, to let it cool down way faster, and grind the parts I need to weld next step in that time.

Unfortunately the wire welder has a low duty cycle too on the higher settings, and even on 3/4 power setting, some guys say, I need more heat for 3mm steel and I hope every time I weld, PLEASE DO'NT LET THE SHOP WIRING BURN DOWN!!!!!!  40 years ago, no one had such powerful machines to run, so the wiring is'nt made for that hard work but as long as I only weld the 10 mins, wait til the welder cooled down, it should'nt burn down tomorrow, and hold up a few more years

I completely welded in the side frame supports. I hope they give the frame some sturdyness

















Should I put in some angle iron across the frame from corner to corner?

Looking good.  Yeah I'd add in some angle iron braces.  You just don't want them to interfere with the belt routing.  Maybe one of them could be used to mount your clutch.

Crazy_Carl wrote:

Looking good.  Yeah I'd add in some angle iron braces.  You just don't want them to interfere with the belt routing.  Maybe one of them could be used to mount your clutch.

Yeah. I want to build a double pulley clutch. I found some smaller size angle iron I want to use for the cross braces. But I want to wait, til I decided for the transaxle, cuz I could get a other bulletproof one (no MST)

Frame bracing is coming along well. That is some thick flat stock, should make the frame nice and sturdy. I like how you've shaped steel to fit the frame. Would corner to corner braces not interfere with the trans? I would run some angle iron across the frame, which should help prevent it from flexing.

MatthewD wrote:

Frame bracing is coming along well. That is some thick flat stock, should make the frame nice and sturdy. I like how you've shaped steel to fit the frame. Would corner to corner braces not interfere with the trans? I would run some angle iron across the frame, which should help prevent it from flexing.

I have some space of 1/2" or so, otherwise I need to put lifting blocks in between frame and trans.
On top of the frame I have no clearance, cuz I need every thousands of an inch for the car battery, 2nd gas tank, and stuff that will be put inside the tunnel

I welded in some more braces

I made this part:



It fits pretty good the rounded shape of the Pan Frame



and welded in:



I put a piece of smaller size angle iron behind the engine bay, to get more strength



and I made the front axle mount Bulletproof:









Yeah, that should'nt break again!!

and here is the result how it looks all in all. I will do the cross stuff soon, once I figured the rear end. Cuz I do'nt want to pull the trans for belt change, and stuff!

Looks like my thread is dead.....

I opened the front axle, to take a look how I can reinforce it....

Unfortunately you need to grind off the welds to pull the spindle out....



Here is the Axle I found in the shed in comparison to mine... It looks more weak than mine!



and Inside there I want to weld in a big piece of Box Steel to brace it up, so it never can break!

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I also cleaned the case of my MST, and figured with a drill and a wire wheel in an angle without any pressure it works pretty good by removing the  old gasket maker, and it doesn't scratches the gasket surface as a chisel!



Yeah, that's the Progress so far...

Rebuild the front axle using some 2" square or 2x3, 3/16 or 1/4" wall

I like how you braced the front axle mount, looks really sturdy. If you have a chop saw that you can set the angle of the cut, you could make a new front axle out of 1x2 or 1x3 box section, cut the angles on the end to set your camber/caster and weld on the axle tubes to it. Would be sturdier than just bracing up the original front axle.

George Gooding wrote:

Rebuild the front axle using some 2" square or 2x3, 3/16 or 1/4" wall

Lots of work....

MatthewD wrote:

I like how you braced the front axle mount, looks really sturdy. If you have a chop saw that you can set the angle of the cut, you could make a new front axle out of 1x2 or 1x3 box section, cut the angles on the end to set your camber/caster and weld on the axle tubes to it. Would be sturdier than just bracing up the original front axle.

Yee, i could do that. I just do'nt want to mess up the measurements and angles and all that stuff, cuz if anything is a thosand of an inch out of alignment, the steering is'nt that good anymore. I looked up the box steel sizes, and I need to cut a piece of box Steel down to wedge it in there, then weld it in solid. Also need new brass or bronce bushings, the old plastic ones are junk. I do'nt have that big sized drill bits for drilling the holes for the spindle guides. And I ca'nt build the circular thing, that pivots. Normally building new is more intelligent, but I unfortunately do'nt have the Equipment and the knowledge for those damn front axle.

Nice, clean MST!  Yeah, the front axle needs something.  It definitely won't last too long like that.

Double W Cross Ranch wrote:

Nice, clean MST!  Yeah, the front axle needs something.  It definitely won't last too long like that.

Yep! My dad wouldn't reinforce it, but it's my build, and I want to do it right, once I have everything apart! I hope the Box Steel braces it up pretty good.

I will gonna buy the parts for the MST rebuild now, and the Doc Locker parts too.

I prefer the wire wheel or scotch brite pad for remving gaskets.  Scratches in gasket surfaces make me cringe.

You could just find some flat stock to fully box that front axle.  That will make it very strong without taking all day.

Crazy_Carl wrote:

I prefer the wire wheel or scotch brite pad for remving gaskets.  Scratches in gasket surfaces make me cringe.

You could just find some flat stock to fully box that front axle.  That will make it very strong without taking all day.

I have some leftover from the bulletproof flat stock. I could weld some in there if that is strong enough

I began to reinforce the front axle

I found this Piece (it was the frame of a Junk RER my Bud bought to build it as a racer, then scrapped it, another bud wanted to build it, and then decided to scrap it also, cuz he has not enough time) and wanted to make a piece of Box steel outta it.



but then (I was half the way cutting through the metal) the angle grinder (a 20$ cheapie) started to smoke like a chainsmoker, and once it cooled down, I fired it up again, it threw thousand sparks outta it. I looked up the brushes, they were worn out. In the package were a spare pair of brushes, put them in, fired it up again, and after 5 secs of runtime the brand new brushes were completely eaten up from this POS! I opened it up, and the rotor is pretty bad damaged, a few of the contacts where the brushes run along, were fallen off. = JUNK!!!

My dad bought a new Angle grinder (this time a better one) and til it arrives I ca'nt work on Mud Murray