Murraymountain's Mountain Murray

#Buildoff2022

Welp guys, I originally joined this forum to participate in the 2019 build off. And that’s what I did. With a free beat up Murray Widebody. At the end of the 2019 build off, the Mountain Murray was completed… Or so I thought… I now introduce to you: The Mountain Murray Mark II:






If you’re just now finding this build, Click this link to read through the build thus far.

Now, you may be wondering how and why I’m entering a preexisting build… well, because the Mountain Murray is moving up to stage 2… a HUGE stage for this build. I’m revisiting most things that were done during the 2019 BO and adding much MUCH more. I have parts for this that no one knows I have. As far as 50% goes, I’m not there yet. I am close, but not quite 50%. When I left off earlier this year, I had just finished reinforcing the frame to no end and designing and fabricating IFS. Since then all I’ve done is dropped the trans.

You also are probably wondering what the plan is for stage 2… so here we go:

-Fresh paint (Same scheme, maybe slightly different details)
-Full hydraulic brakes
-Offroad tires
-Lots and LOTS of lights
-Rock lights
-Front mud flaps
-Beefier skid plates
-Fresh wiring
-Fabricate new cargo rack
-Winch
-Relocate gas tank and battery
-Full trans service
-Refresh motor

That’s the rough outline of everything that will be done. Sounds simple enough, but it’s anything but simple when you start getting into the details. They’ll be more I’ll think of along the way too.

Anyway, I’m exited to start digging back into this thing and see just how much of a beast I can turn her into! As far as I know, I am the second entrant for 2022, so to @MightyRaze and all of the upcoming entrants, good luck and have fun! And with that, let the wrenching begin!

[adm]Welcome to the PARTY!!!
[/adm]

Badge added and now in the Build-off group.  Username should change to a lime green.

What there's a build off? @Murraymountain I love the paint scheme

Joe_the_mower_man_1320 wrote:

What there's a build off?  @Murraymountain I love the paint scheme  

Yep!

See this thread:

https://www.atltf.com/t6780-it-s-back-2022-build-off-here

Join!

It took me awhile but i just got through your build and buildoff threads... man you've been through alot with this machine! I'm excited to see where the Mk2 version takes it! Good luck!

Brianator wrote:

It took me awhile but i just got through your build and buildoff threads... man you've been through alot with this machine! I'm excited to see where the Mk2 version takes it! Good luck!

Thanks! So am I! Hoping this next stage of it’s live will blow what it’s been out of the water!


And for the sake documentation… this thread will most likely be dead for the next year… here’s where you can keep up with the ol girl… I’ll bring this thread back when the 2022 BO is over.

https://www.atltf.com/t6790-22-bo-murraymountains-mountain-murray-mkii

For sure I'll be following it! That's actually how I found this thread but didn't want to ramble in your build off thread! Lol

Brianator wrote:

For sure I'll be following it! That's actually how I found this thread but didn't want to ramble in your build off thread! Lol

Oops I forgot to clarify that second paragraph was to anybody and everybody keeping up with the build and not to you specifically. I feel like an idiot lol. What a way to self-promote lol.

I'm going to go ahead and lock this topic while the B/O is going.  That way it can mesh better rejoined later! 

Link for reference!

[22 BO] Murraymountain’s Mountain Murray (MKII) (atltf.com)

Joe_the_mower_man_1320 wrote:

@Murraymountain I love the paint scheme

Thanks!

Welp, it seems like everyone else has started on their build, so I figured I might as well get my butt in gear here. So I went ahead and pulled 'er outta the corner, made a plan of attack, hooked up the welder, and went to town!

Got the first of the two rear plates welded on right off the bat. Turns out the whole issue with the welds not coming out right in the reinforcement process was due to the fact that we were running straight argon without any type of mix. Anyway, now we have the right gas.




That was the easy part. After that I proceeded to fabricate the new rear plate. So I grabbed the original one to use as my template and measurements.





It is a thousand times better than the original tin can plate. Here's a real 60 second comparison between the two:



Took me about two and half hours to get that point.

From there I ground down the welds on the top and bottom and welded it to the frame so that it is now a part of the frame.






Anyway, that's the progress for today! Not much but it's where my whole day went today and it had to be done so there ya go. Hopefully I can get a little more done on this thing this coming week!

Lookin good.  Come a long way from a couple years ago.  I can only imagine where you will be in a couple more years if you keep it up!  Many of us have started, but there is still a long way to go.

When I first started welding none of my welds came out strong or clean, they were just a bunch of big balls, when I switched one of the settings on my welder the started coming out perfectly civilized- (Sorta?) Anyway, it's a long learning process skill improves over time, and I kinda find it to be sorta fun...

MightyRaze wrote:

Lookin good.  Come a long way from a couple years ago.  I can only imagine where you will be in a couple more years if you keep it up!  Many of us have started, but there is still a long way to go.

Thanks! It definitely has. I am so looking forward to seeing where it's gonna be in another 3 years!

TechnoChicken wrote:

When I first  started welding none of my welds came out strong or clean, they were just a bunch of big balls, when I switched one of the settings on my welder the started coming out perfectly civilized- (Sorta?) Anyway, it's a long learning process skill improves over time, and I kinda find it to be sorta fun...

Yeah mine still are really crappy, but I consider them decent for a beginner. They usually hold pretty well. About 30% of the time I get really good beads. But that still leaves 70% to go so I have practice to do lol.

Thats pretty much exactly how I would describe my welding...

Honestly, a this point I consider a good weld to be a strong one, not a pretty one

Fore y’all get too worried about your welding skills just remember some of us haven’t even learned yet. (cough) me.

The ol gal’s coming along nicely! Can’t wait to see er ripping around again

@Murraymountain i like the gussets on your diff mounting brackets looks like it could add some good strength to it. i think i'll add some to my build. it's amazing what a gusset can do. 

diddie wrote:

@Murraymountain i like the gussets on your diff mounting brackets looks like it could add some good strength to it. i think i'll add some to my build. it's amazing what a gusset can do. 

They are totally worth it! I somehow managed to break a trans mount bracket on Ole Blue way back when the hydro was in it. I've always had the braces on the MM here and I've yet to break a bracket. They're a must have for hardcore romping.


So I finally got the bolts and stuff needed to complete the IFS and front end!




Also tried to get some 10x10 4 lug golf cart rims for the rear but instead came home with 8x7 4 lugs for the front... (free)



Anywho, the IFS stuff is on standby presently because I am trying to wrap up the frame itself. Loaded it up on the back of Ole Blue today and took it outside to grind down all the welds and actually shape some stuff. I worked on that a little tonight but am going to try to really get some work in on it tomorrow morning. Once I can get these all ground down, sanded and shaped right, I'll probably slap a coat of $1 black paint on it to protect it from rusting.





Hopefully I can really get into it tomorrow. I've been dreading this part of the build. It's pretty rough bending over for hours with safety glasses fogging because of the respirator that starts dripping on the inside from condensation and tight earmuffs all while putting pressure on the grinder. Not a fun time I tell ya. Can't wait till this part is over lol!

Got a couple more hours in on the grinding today...







I had to stop early and that's about how far I got. I had somewhere to be so I ended up taking a shower of course. When I got back I wanted to get a little more done but didn't feel like getting dirty again. So I decided to start on the motor. I've never seen inside this motor cause this is the first time I've pulled it apart. The head looked pretty good. Had a really good seal on the head gasket. To my surprise, there was 0 piston slap. It wouldn't budge. That was the last I expected to find on this motor. The only thing I found so far that was a red flag for power loss was that part of the o-ring on the intake manifold was missing, so I may have had a vacuum leak. Anyhow, the piston was actually pretty clean.





Anywho, here's everything in it's current state. Hopefully I can get out there tomorrow too and keep on keepin on with it.

Have you tried flap wheels instead of hard grinding wheels? I never use a grinding wheel since I found flap wheels.

Nevadablue wrote:

Have you tried flap wheels instead of hard grinding wheels? I never use a grinding wheel since I found flap wheels.

Do flap wheels work well for grinding down welds? They don't seem like they would hold up too well.

I find they're great for finishing touches because they're less abrasive than grinding discs so they leave a smoother finished product. The drawback is not being able to use the very edge of them which as I'm sure you know is required at times.

Brianator wrote:

I find they're great for finishing touches because they're less abrasive than grinding discs so they leave a smoother finished product. The drawback is not being able to use the very edge of them which as I'm sure you know is required at times.

Okay yeah that’s more what I was thinking. I meant to be kind of aggressive with the grinding wheel this time around and then I’ll spend another 2 or 3 hours with a flap disk just giving everything the correct finish and actually smoothing things out.

I use coarse (36 grit? And 80 grit) wheels and find they work MUCH better for me, faster, easier to control and just do a good job. Anything that is shown on the rat rod thread that has ground down welds is done with the flap wheel. I tried the hard wheel one time and realized the flap wheel was the answer.

Nevadablue wrote:

I use coarse (36 grit? And 80 grit) wheels and find they work MUCH better for me, faster, easier to control and just do a good job. Anything that is shown on the rat rod thread that has ground down welds  is done with the flap wheel. I tried the hard wheel one time and realized the flap wheel was the answer.

I guess it can’t hurt to try one. I’ll pick one of up and see how it does.