MUT: Murray Utility Tractor

Well, this is almost going to fall together all on its own.

I was thinking I was going to have to make mounts and brackets under the floorboards, but it seems all I’ll need to do is cut slots in the floorboard, make a simple right angle bracket and then cut/weld one brake pedal (so it points the opposite way to the other):  





The whole brake pedal pivot and master cylinder will mount as a complete unit with just a simple bracket. No geometry to work out, no aligning parts and pieces. Just weld up a bracket and bolt it on. It even has a brake return spring so thats another thing I dont have to worry about.



Then its just a matter of the right length brake lines and we’re off to the races.

Easy peasy!

Was moving right along machining out the center for the brake rotor carrier.

Then, i was stopped dead in my tracks: I need to remove the wheel hub from the 820 axle.

Suffice to say, we’re now locked in a fight to the death. Either me or that hub are not making it out of this garage alive...lol!.

Really cool Upgrades! How are you understanding all that complicated wiring, hydraulic brakes, complicated mechanisms,..? U learned that at your Job?

SebastianAlbrecht wrote:

Really cool Upgrades! How are you understanding all that complicated wiring, hydraulic brakes, complicated mechanisms,..? U learned that at your Job?

I’ve been a gearhead pretty much since I could crawl. Mom used to joke the first I made a beeline for was Dad's toolbox. LOL!

I just as the kid who took dads lawnmower apart one day when he wasn't looking, except I could put it back together and it would work. Machines and I just get along, it’s one of my “gifts”. It just comes natural to me.

I’m also a licensed auto tech, as well as an aviation tech and a flight engineer. Jet, ducted fan, recip, wiring, hydraulics, electronics, nv systems, communications, supersonic, helicopters, etc. I’ve pretty much worked on it all at some point or other.

53 years young and retiring in 2019.

So I’ve been around this type of stuff just a wee bit....lol!

Well, guess I get to leave the garage alive:



Thats one defeated hub!

But it put up one hell of a fight. I had to use all the tricks I had, but it came off. Suoer glad it did, I was not looking forward to the thought of ripping the transaxle apart so I could take the hub and axle over to the hydraulic press....

So with the hub off, I was able to take some measurements and started machining the disc carriers to size:



It looked like cast iron with a machined center pressed in. But it turns out they machined the center out of the cast iron itself.

And its one tough casting too! Put my HSS cutter to it and it just rolled under the edge. So, out came the carbide cutters and we’re making chips again. I just dont like carbide becuase it leaves such a rough finish and chips fly off super hot and just go everywhere.

Thats where I left it for tonight. I’ll get back on it tomorrow and get it fit to the axle/hub.

My self imposed goal is to get at least the RH wheel set up with a disc brake by the weekend. The tractor will at least be safe and functional with one brake. The LH brake will just make it that more jammy!

Moving along nicely.

The brake rotor holes were only so deep, so I had to chase them through to the other side:



Quick run through with the right sized tap and rotor will bolt on just like stock.

The carrier is cut down to size and fits nicely:



I need to cut a .120" spacer to go between the axle bearing and the carrier. Easy stuff. I cut the carrier down so that the rotor will have a min .050" clearance when installed.

The stack up fits the rim with ample clearance for the caliper:





That's the back of the rim, the hub sitting on that (where it would when installed), the carrier sitting on the back of the hub and the caliper on the rotor.

All going together like it was made that way!

There we go:




8” rotor and carrier mounted to the Murray wheel hub.

Its held on by its own bolts, the rim bolts are only there so I could clearance the carrier for them (they stick out the back of the hub when the rim is mounted).

Next up: mount the caliper and then get the pedal module done.

Heres a little gem I’ve been wanting to install for a while now:



I’ve always called it a “reel light”. Its from gmt800 trucks in thier early years.

Its got about 20 feet of cable in it and the light has a magnetic base:




I always grab them when I can find them in a scrap yard. This is the last one I have and unfortunately, I don’t have the connector. I’ll dig one up somewhere or just adapt a weatherpack connector to it.

It’s great as a general work light. Perfect for finding things you dropped, fixing something on the tractor or just anywhere you need some light after dark.

Only problem is its rather large and ugly to just bolt on such a small tractor. I just can’t  bring myself to bolt it on where its an eyesore. Normally I’d put it under the seat,  but there’s not enough room to mount it and still be able to use it easily. So I think the only place left to put it is on the seat back:




It’s mostly hidden there and easy to use by flipping the seat forward. I though about mounting it on the seat bottom, but room becomes an issue again in that orientation. I dont want to plop my fat butt on the seat and chance crushing the bulb/cover against the battery.

Caliper mounted and aligned.:



I was going to custom build a caliper mount, but then thought; "why re-invent the wheel?" The CBR caliper bracket is already the right geometry, maintains the factory disc clearances and is a solid, ready to go package. So I just adapted it to mount to a piece of 1/4" angle. The angle bolts to the outer case mounts for the 820 and I'll add a tab to it to help carry the axle and brake loads up into the frame. So the axle loads will go up to the frame through both the outer and the inner case mounts, making the rear axle even better supported:



The brake lines are even the right length to reach the brake master cylinder, Which will mount with another simple angle iron bracket:



This is turning out to be almost too easy....

I'm so impressed with all of the electrical and brake work.  You're building your own compact tractor here and doing a nice job of it.

I spotted this little alternator on a John Deere B pulling tractor at a tractor show.  I think it's the chinese version of the GM 1 wire alternator.  Put the part number in ebay and you can find it for $60 and it's rated for 35 amps.  The easiest way for you to mount this as I've seen a couple guys do is mount a pulley on the flywheel of the motor and mount this on top of the motor somehow.  I know you have the skills and tools to accomplish this.

Crazy_Carl wrote:

I'm so impressed with all of the electrical and brake work.  You're building your own compact tractor here and doing a nice job of it.

I spotted this little alternator on a John Deere B pulling tractor at a tractor show.  I think it's the chinese version of the GM 1 wire alternator.  Put the part number in ebay and you can find it for $60 and it's rated for 35 amps.  The easiest way for you to mount this as I've seen a couple guys do is mount a pulley on the flywheel of the motor and mount this on top of the motor somehow.  I know you have the skills and tools to accomplish this.

Yep, I've seen the top mount pulley method. But I don't like it. looks a bit too "red-necked". I'll figure out a way to get an alt on there, but it will look like it should be there when I'm done, not a tacked on thing.

I'm thinking add a third pulley to the stack under the deck. Then running an electric clutch PTO off that to drive things like alternator, hydraulics, etc. I have to put some more thought into it before moving ahead on it though.

35 bucks at the local yard will get me a GM 55 amp alternator, so....

And we have brakes:









Good and solid. Locks it up on dry pavement if I come on to it hard enough. Falls right where i want it for my foot. Works great!

I mounted the resevoir up in the clear so I can see the fluid level easily.

I still have a few things to finish up, like the floorboard rubber pad and adjust the angle of the pedal a little bit, but its essentially done.

The rh side will take a little longer as I have a few small pieces to dig up before I can build a second brake system. To be honest, I’m kinda tired of working on it so I can use a break from it for a while anyways. Even with the one disc brake, it’s 100 times better than what it was with just the tiny transaxle brake.

COOL!

That's a nice setup. Should be much better carrying those loads .

This looks factory!  Really pro!  I'd like this on my C-125 that has an open diff.

Have all the parts together to do the lh side.

But finding the motivation to go through all that again is a different story.

Did a little more testing today as the pedal travel kept changing. First thought was air in the system but a good power bleed revealed none.

Found a few bolts had come loose a little and tightened those up.

But the big problem turned out to be the caliper alignment. The bracket had tweaked a little bit on the bolts to the transaxle mount and the caliper was out of square with the disc. A little “re-adjustment” and the pedal is back to rock solid and locks the rear tire again.

Well, the missus is going away on a deployment for the next week, maybe two.

Seems like the perfect time to tear the MUT down and do the paint and bodywork.

MUT will get Tremclad “fire red”:



Where it’s already red and a gloss black where its already black. The decals I’ll heat strip and save so I can reproduce them later on with custom paint.

Probably do the snowblower too. I’m thinking of painting the blower the same “fire red” that I’m going to use on the MUT and black for the linkages and bits. While I’ve got the blower torn apart, I’ll line the impeller housing with hdpe plastic and close up the impeller clearances. Be good to have it all done before the snow flies!

Should look good and will finish off the MUT build except for a few small details.

Nice piant choice for everything.  The snowblower attachment for wheel horses is red which looks great so I think your piant will look great all said and done.  And you're even to go hot rod the snowblower impeller and chute!  Nice!

Mocking up the second master pedal and the “cassette” that will hold it all:



I’ll need to make some proper spacers to hold the two units apart at the right clearance, “re-arch” the levers and weld the second pedal on its arm in the proper orientation. I’ll need to open up the hole in the floor board a bit in order to fit the teo pedal arms.

I’ll have to pop out tomorrow and get some proper length socket head bolts.

The second master is pretty mungy. I’ll have to open it up and give it a good going through.

Then its on to cutting down the second rotor carrier and fitting the brake caliper.

I’m toying with adding a foot throttle to the hand throttle. The hand throttle will ne the master, essentially setting minimum rpm and the foot throttle will be able to increase rpm up to (but not over) the max governed speed. I only need the governed max rpm since this is a work tractor and not for racing or something else where I would want more rpm than the governor.

Coming together nicely.

I did that throttle setup on my plow, worked great for that extra boost in speed when slamming into the snow pile. Well till you suddenly stopped, LOL. The other foot was ready for the clutch so when you are thrown forward, your foot smacks the clutch in, LOL. A little jerky but fun.

There we go, getting closer:



Also, during mock up and “ergonomic” testing I discovered that with the pedals the size they are (and as closely mounted to each other) it allows me to “roll” my foot and apply either side brake more than the other.

The advantage of that is I can “load” the brakes but not apply them and just roll my foot towards whichever rear wheel is spinning to force power to the other wheel. Then I can roll my foot back and forth as required to get power to the wheel with grip. That will also transition the power through the diff much more gently than having to grab one brake or the other seperateky.

Going to be pretty slick!

Very nice. I am at a loss of words for this build. Very nice fabrication and engineering of the added parts and capabilities.

Yep, looks pretty good:



I’m happy with that!

Now to rebuild the master cylinder and start working on the disc carrier and caliper.

I also picked up a cheap little “tool box” at the local thrift store for a couple bucks:





It looks like it used to hold a drill and some bits at one point, but I need it for a sort of “glove box” for odds ‘n sods so I just pulled those pieces out. Its just thin gauge metal and I pretty much just broke the spot welds by hand. I’ll weld up a little support on the cage under it, make a release mechanism for it and paint it up to match the other side. I may take the little handle off the top too, just to make it look less like a tool box and more like part of the tractor. Probably figure out some graphics for it that will match the engine cowl graphics...

Started working on a pedal for the clutch lever:



Doesnt look like much at this point, but I’m machining it to look similar to the brake pedals:



It wont be an exact match, but close enough to look like it should be there.

The foot thottle is really great for shifting on the fly.  I don't know if you'll really need that.  A dual throttle done right can be really complicated but judging from the amazing work on the brakes I know you can handle it.  That toolbox was a great find.  Reminds me of the ones on my Dad's diesel compact tractors.

Well, so much for the clutch pedal. Just snapped my last 3/16" end mill. I'll have to order more and wait now.....