MUT: Murray Utility Tractor

Been a while. MUT is doing fine, just beating on it with winter plowing and summer dirt moving.

But it's a bear to "armstrong" around with the plow or bucket. It's also showing the wear of using it hard. There's little niggling faults here and there and some parts are just wearing faster than others.

So, I've decided it needs to go to the next level. it gets torn down to the frame this spring and rebuilt.

Plans:

-Add Hyd pump - https://www.surpluscenter.com/Hydraulics/Hydraulic-Pumps/Gear-Pumps/0-36-cu-in-Dynamic-GPF2006PC-Hydraulic-Pump-9-7787-B.axd
-Add 55 amp alternator
-Hydraulic steering (basically, a JD 318 system)
-Double spool valve
-Hydraulic front end loader
-Choking me out in the cab, so new exhaust system (muffler is shot anyways)
-Redo the cab so it's a a bit less "hillbilly engineered"
-The rear disc brakes are OK, but a little undersized for the weight. Planning to space the rims out an inch or two and kick the disc sizes up to 298 or 300mm. Might go with some 4 pot brake calipers and master cylinders to match. Either way, the rig just needs more brake for is weight.
-Straighten the tins and give it all a fresh spray

Hyd diagram:



Essentially, the top half is the JD318 system and since the MUT doesn't have a hydro unit, I had to add the lower half to provide hyd power (IE: pump, reservoir, relief, etc)

Parts are in hand or on the way. Should have a couple grand it it when done. Already have (maybe) just a tick over a grand in the hydraulic parts right now, but all I have left to need is some steel lines and fittings. I'll flare my own JIC lines, so money saved there. Hyd lines cost you a left n*t if you have them made, luckily I can make my own.

Probably have another $500-1000 in steel to order to get the loader and new bucket built.  

Pricey, but that's what it takes to get the capability to where I want it.

That's still a good 10-15 grand less than buying one ready made (don't even look at the price of a SCUT!). And used, well, nothing really shows up around here like that unless it's worn past being usable or way overpriced to where you might as well buy new.

Should be ready to go by next winter I'm guessing. Probably won't be any updates until it's done or nearly done. Not much of a "forum guy" anymore....

This will be a good series.  Will be following along.

I just discovered this thread and gotta say, that is COOL. Very, very impressive work there! Where are you buying steel? 500 in steel seems expensive to me but maybe if you are using thicker stuff that’s why.

Rustbucket Garage wrote:

I just discovered this thread and gotta say, that is COOL. Very, very impressive work there! Where are you buying steel? 500 in steel seems expensive to me but maybe if you are using thicker stuff that’s why.

Canada.

Everything is more expensive up here.

That makes sense. Gotta say, after blowing some mountain snow I’m jealous of that cab there! By the time I’m done I look like a snowman

Decided to make another change.

I've always disliked the belt drive. It's cheap, you never know when it's going to engage at what part of the pedal travel and it often grabs and just jerks the tractor forward.

I figure if I'm to tear it down to the frame again, I might as well point my toes and go in deep.

I'm going hydraulic drive.

I've acquired the pump, travel control valve and hydraulic motor from a case 446. It's a pretty simple system:



The Travel Control Valve is really the heart of it all. The spool has a neutral (no drive/bypass) and pushing back on it gets you reverse and forward gets you forward. How far you open the valve determines your ground speed.

The belt clutch pedal will go bye bye and there will be a travel foot pedal that will control the speed as well as forward and reverse. NIce thing is I can leave the briggs running at the speeds that will drive the pumps where they want to be driven and not have to worry about clutching to move.

The Briggs 18 hp will then have no connection to the tractor other than to drive the pumps.

The hyd motor will either drive the peerless 820 by a belt (just pick a forward gear and leave it there, no more worrying about that stupid little reverse chain breaking and taking out the transaxle case) or I'll find a rear axle out of something small and cut it down to tractor size. I'm leaning towards the cut down axle, as it will also give me brakes, but it's more likely I graft a pulley on the hyd motor splined shaft and drive the peerless with a fixed belt.

It will also make loader use much smoother as you can speed up to hit the pile and then go back to neutral on the travel valve and stop.

Now it's just a matter of building it.....

This build keeps getting cooler and cooler by the post! Going to add some auxiliary hydraulic functions as well?

Rustbucket Garage wrote:

This build keeps getting cooler and cooler by the post! Going to add some auxiliary hydraulic functions as well?

That's what the JD hyd system is for.

I've got a 3 spool valve and a two spool valve to put in that system. Lots of room for future expansion, but the loader frame is about all I'm after right now. IT will have a "quick tach" type system so I can switch between bucket, plow, forks, etc.

More functions is just a matter of plumbing in a few quick disconnects.

Goodness, this is going to be a subcompact by the time you are done! This very well is probably among the top three most interesting tractors on the forum. 

I was thinking about how I was going to get the Case hyd motor drive to the rear wheels. I was considering machining a pulley to mount on the Case splined shaft:



but that would mean I'd need to machine an internal spline pulley, install a support bearing, build brackets, shields and so on. Doable, but I wasn't looking forward to it. Not to mention the time it would take.

A Case 220 rear axle showed up on ebay:



Not the cheapest option to get power to the wheels, but all those hours building a belt system from the hyd motor to the 820 aren't without value. All I have to do with the Case axle is make the chassis mounts and slide the hyd motor into its place. I'd need a shifter lever, as the Case is a hi/low axle. It also has a trans brake, which I'll use as a parking brake and build independent axle brakes for differential steering and a poor mans diff locker (diff is open, step on brake of spinning wheel and the one with traction will drive). With all this, I'd have a complete Case driveline from the pump to the tires and that's not too shabby.

I offered the seller 200 and he accepted. Not too bad, but shipping is the same over again.

Pricey, but I'll end up with a better end product, capable of carrying more weight than the peerless 820 ever could and it will save me days/weeks in fabricating a hyd to belt drive. I'll be able to just slide the Case hyd motor into the axle housing and then it's just make some lines.

Looking forward to your progress!! Seems like a VERY cool idea.

Got tired of the muffler leaking and filling the cab with CO.

Grabbed an old kohler magnum 18 muffler I had lying around and:



Had to make the downpipes and cut the original exit out to make it a side exit so it didn’t point straight down.

With the carb heat shield back on you can’t tell much is different:



Tomorrow it all gets pulled off, cleaned up and a shot of high temp flat black paint.

Other than the tailpipe and maybe the exhaust note (haven’t started it yet).

I split the front bodywork tomorrow and stretch it about 3-4 inches to make room for hyd coolers, hud reservoir, etc.

Had a chance to run it with new muffler. Sounds great! Much quieter and a deeper tone. Should produce less restriction than the b&s “breadloaf” muffler as its at least twice the size of the original. I cut that old one open and the path through the muffler was so twisted and the path so small that I don’t know how it passed any exhaust at all. That might be why it was blowing out the top and at the manifold pipes (ie:backpressure). So the majority of the exhaust wasn’t being directed down and out by the pipes, it was accumulating inside the front bodywork which was causing me to be “choked out” of the cab every time I used it.

Nose job!



Thats 4 inches. I need the space to fit hyd coolers and the reservoir.

Been a while since I’ve done sheet metal fab, but its coming back to me:



Like riding a bike. You may get rusty, but you never forget.

fenders stretched, just need some cleanup and then into body fill and paint. So, time to stretch the hood:



I made sure to split it at the point where there are the least body lines and it was as flat as possible. Makes it easier to get a new section in there with the least amount of metal work.

I believe you mentioned in a previous post that the front grille is aesthetically displeasing to you. Do you plan to modify it?

Rustbucket Garage wrote:

I believe you mentioned in a previous post that the front grille is aesthetically displeasing to you. Do you plan to modify it?

I don’t recall saying that, but memory isn’t what it used to be so maybe I did!

Nah, the nose doesn’t bother me too much. But I am looking to change up the headlight openings. The big wrap around lights are a Murray thing, but it looks a little bit too...lawn mower-y for my tastes.

Haven’t nailed down exactly what I want to do. Still considering shapes and styles of led spot lamps.

So, I made some changes which necessitated cutting one fender again and redoing the hood.

It was a little crooked and I just couldn’t stand looking at it without my ocd going nuts. The front panel/grill also leaned back from the bend at its mid point, which limited space behind it. So I reworked the bend to allow the top pice to stand straight up rather than leaning back. More space and it makes it look less like a lawn tractor and more like a GT. It’s also why I had to cut the hood apart again, no lean means the hood needed to be longer.

The Murray plastic lights are going in the trash. They’re both cracked, glued and yellowed. If you do find a used set, they’re not much better. So I’m going to fill the original openings and create headlight buckets on each side. Then a simple and easy 3.5”x2” square led light will go in each bucket.

Working on the headlight area:



Not bad as a first try. Pretty close but I got the contour to the fender wrong, which angled the box down towards the center of the tractor. Thats a simple fix: just cut that side down and the box will level out. Then its just more welding and grinding.

These lights are going in the new space:

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Amber side lights with strobes for when I’m plowing and its dark out. Should look pretty neat.

Augh! Metal work close to done:




Another day or two of metal work and I’ll be able to start mudding it.

I’m not sure what kind of paint they’ve got on it, but it seems like when I hit it with the flap wheel it just kind of “melts, clogs up the wheel and then it just spreads around weirdest thing I’ve ever seen (when stripping paint). I may have to chemical strip it instead.

Nice work, looks very clean! I’m almost certain it was powder coated. It’s basically a melted plastic power applied with compressed air and electrostatic charge. It’s pretty strong stuff but it can’t prevent rust. Hope that helps.

Rustbucket Garage wrote:

Nice work, looks very clean! I’m almost certain it was powder coated. It’s basically a melted plastic power applied with compressed air and electrostatic charge. It’s pretty strong stuff but it can’t prevent rust. Hope that helps.

Could be, but I’ve stripped powder coat before and it’s never behaved like this stuff. Comes off just like any other paint finish.

The MUT is an “outdoor dog” most of the time.

Being a vertical shaft engine, it draws air in though louvers in the hood like nearly every other vert shaft ride on out there.

That's an ok arrangement for something like a ride on,  where you cut the grass and throw it back in the shed or under a tarp. But its not so great for leaving it outside. Rain funnels right in on top of the engine and snow goes everywhere and packs right in.

I would cover the louvers when done using the MUT with a piece of plywood the right size for the job, but I'd forget it as much as I would remember to put it on the hood.

So the hood louvers had to go for a more "set it and forget it" solution :



Too bad, I liked the way Murray did those. But a big hole in the hood os even worse than the louvers, so:




Nice big opening and rain/snow protection. Not my favorite look, but function over form is the rule here. A little lower would probably be more aesthetically pleasing, but it would also reduce the front opening below 2”, so this is the way it has to be.

An idea if you wanted to retain the louvres would be to cut out some of the nose and put in a piece of your louvres. I won’t tell you how to build your machine though, you are doing a fantastic job either way.

Rustbucket Garage wrote:

An idea if you wanted to retain the louvres would be to cut out some of the nose and put in a piece of your louvres. I won’t tell you how to build your machine though, you are doing a fantastic job either way.

It's an idea, but that area will be filled with the hydraulic reservoir/tank and below it will be the main Hyd cooler. So you'd be able to see through the louvers, but it would be nothing but a big aluminum tank.