MUT: Murray Utility Tractor

Working out the bucket cylinders.

Raised:



Lowered on the ground:



Here you can see the amount of travel to allow me to tilt the bucket back when loaded:



Doesn’t get much better than that.

Few more items to fabricate and then its on to the final full welding of the parts and pieces.

Then run the hydraulic lines and into final paint to finish the loader.

All thats left at that point is some wiring and main hydraulic system plumbing.



Edit: I guess I forgot about all the body work that still needs to be completed…

Well, this is as far as I got today:






Good enuff for today. Almost out of mig gas anyways so it’s just fabricarion this weekend and when the LWS opens on Tuesday it will be time for finishing all the welding.

I really like the quick connect for the bucket.

Life has a habit of “getting in the way” of projects sometimes. Latest thing has been a “want” my wife has had for a long time now:



2009 Mini Cooper. She’s wanted one for nearly 20 years now and this one showed up at a local lot for a good price, so we grabbed it. Its her summer commuter/toy. I’ve been giving it a good going through and fixing a few things that needed attention.

So the tractor has become a bit of a “trash collector lately:



But I should be getting back to it soon…

Can’t wait for more!

Yep, watching from here.

Starting to make this:



Just the frame though. My 3d printer is working on it now.

Thinking of dropping this body on it:



Should be cool....

3d print came out pretty good:



Couple spots to touch up on the body parts, but pretty good print for abs.

Got the itch to do a little crawling while building the 1/10 rig and to have something that can be used in the house without worrying about knocking something over or smashing whatever I'm piloting.

So I picked up a WLP C24-1 kit, a two speed transfer case and a soundboard kit that has an "all in one" receiver:







The CP24 is "RTR", so it comes with a couple LiIon batteries and a rechargeable pack for the transmitter. I'm hoping it's got a progressive steering servo, but it's only a couple bucks to buy another that this little rig needs. RTR trucks supposedly have "harder" tires, I'll live with it and if they bug me, I'll find another (softer) set.

Overall, I really like the toyota body on it. I had a Yota SR5 pickup (I think it was a "Hilux" outside of NA) back in high school with the 22r. Tough little truck, lots of fun, really underpowered.

The receiver controls lights, engine sounds, motor, steering servo and has another hook up for a servo winch should you want one. Has it's own transmitter and a small speaker as well. It's nothing special and perhaps will be fairly cheap feeling. Meh, that's what you get at these prices (I'm in Canada, we're not even close to what things cost in the USA).

All said and done, a touch shy of 200 bucks shipped to my door. Not bad for around these parts for a toy grade RC that can be upgraded to hobby grade if you want to start buying stuff for it......

Well, looks like bad news for the MUT..

We were out and about today and ran across a 2018 JD x750. 31 total operating hours on it. No deck, but it has a heated hard cab (heater/wipers.lights, etc, made by curtis for JD) and a 47" JD snowblower. Front and rear pto shafts. Yanmar 3cyl diesel. Still 1 year left on the JD warranty.

The thing literally looks like it's never been used except a very light bit of scratching around the internal impeller case where it likely has passed some sand or gravel.

Story is some guy bought it for his business, had a heart attack and had to close his business down (I'm guessing a property maint business). So he turned around and traded it on a car to better suit his new limitations.

So unfortunately for me, it's at a used car dealer, so sales tax has to also be paid.

All said and done, it's going to be just a tick over 17 grand (15 G sale price, 15% tax rate). Not sure what everyone else pays across NA for something like this, but here it's a pretty decent deal. Not a screaming deal, but decent.

Here's the dealers short video on it from approx a year ago:



Now the question is what do I do with the "mutt loader"? No sense spending more money on it, so not a lot of sense continuing to work on it.

Most likely it will end up stripped down for it's parts and the steel.

Probably look to take the loader build and change it up to fit the X750.

Dunno, time will tell I guess.

But one thing is for sure; this build is at an end.....even as another begins.....

I have these sitting around collecting dust if you want them? You pay shipping and round up to the nearest $10 (for the effort) and they're yours! 1 tire is missing its foam.

Aww man! This thing was a heck of a build. I'd put it up for sale on the forum before parting it out. It's just too iconic. I would hate to see it be parted out as I am sure many others would too.

Murraymountain wrote:

Aww man! This thing was a heck of a build. I'd put it up for sale on the forum before parting it out. It's just too iconic. I would hate to see it be parted out as I am sure many others would too.

Well, “parting it out” means reusing the parts to build more stuff (like a loader for the x750) so its not going to waste.

It will live on, just in a different form..:

Have you thought about keeping the MUT with the loader mounted and the x750 with the snowblower and cab?

So if you part it out what are your plans for the parts you bought? Resell?

the way its modified it wouldnt be hard to make a toy outta mut being stretched and stuff

Rustbucket Garage wrote:

Have you thought about keeping the MUT with the loader mounted and the x750 with the snowblower and cab?

So if you part it out what are your plans for the parts you bought? Resell?

Nah, we bought the JD to scale down the amount of stuff we have lying around. So the mut has to either go or be broken down into parts and usable steel. Same with the little ride on mower; after I get to drive the x750 around the yard and see if it "fits" where I need it to, the little tractor goes too.

I'm a bit of a "hoarder" when it comes to parts and steel. I'm thinking the hydraulics (lines, valves, etc) will be repurposed to give the x750 a 3H capability to run the front loader.

For the front loader, I'm considering using the parts and steel to either make a "full" loader or a "Buford bucket" style loader. I would prefer a mid mount loader, but the Curtis cab makes that nearly impossible as it covers over the exact spot where a loader would mount. The Cab also has integrated ROPS, so preference is to keep it on year round. I'll just pop the doors off for summer. A Buford bucket would be more limited than a "true" loader, but heads and shoulders above the "scoop" type setups. Not to mention, a Buford bucket style loader will drop right in place even with the cab still installed.

Can't do anything to the x750 in the short term though, it's still got 12 months remaining on the OEM warranty and don't want to void that.

That's not to say I can start building a buford bucket style loader, I just have to wait to do the hydraulics....

Brianator wrote:

I have these sitting around collecting dust if you want them? You pay shipping and round up to the nearest $10 (for the effort) and they're yours! 1 tire is missing its foam.

1.9 or 2.2?

Here's the new tractor in the driveway:








Pretty much brand new. Not a scratch on it at only 31 hrs, it's only just due now for it's first oil change.

Wow that's a beauty tractor, nice score!

They're Axial Ripsaw 1.9x4.3

Well, no one has offered to give me 4 grand and take the MUT away, so deconstruction has begun:





Just about everything will be pulled out of it. Electrics, hydraulics and anything else I don't want to form a layer of rust on will go into bins on the storage shelves in the back garage. It will be essentially stripped down to the frame, transaxle, front axle, tires and the oppy once done.

Once stripped, I'll throw the tins back on it and roll whats left out to the scrap metal pile behind the shed. There the carcass will live under tarp until I salvage the steel left in it for some other project down the road.

It was an interesting journey, but for the MUT, it's over.

On to bigger and better things......

Just working on my 3d printed Land Rover:





It's not all sunshine and lollipops though. It needs one heck of a lot of post print processing and I likely end up having to skin the whole thing in body fill to smooth it out enough for it to look decent....

And so ends the MUT:



Steel and parts for other projects yet to come…

It's sad but still somewhat satisfying to know where a build ends. Like you said, pieces to something new.