OPEN TOPIC, Talk About Anything Here.

I have a dim monitor actually, but it looks pretty good.

Thanks... I put the green back in.

Awe...I liked the red....

It was really hard for me to read on the portal page.

Not to mention... does anyone have red/green colorblindness?

Awe. Its completely back to the way it was.

For those who didn't get to see it.

It was an experiment. LOL

Pulled from the "How many tractors do you own" thread...

Double W Cross Ranch wrote:

Haha, I might as well join in the fun!

Craftsman LT100-more or less scrapped, might revive it.
Weed Eater-Scrapped.
1977 Rally Roper LT-scrapped
POS Murray Widebody-scrapped, plans for destruction on the 4th of July with tanerite
1970 John Deere 110, parked, I keep shredding the belt and have no idea why.
1975 MTD 990-Runs great and I can't break it, lol

Double W Cross Ranch wrote:

POS Murray Widebody-scrapped, plans for destruction on the 4th of July with tanerite

You know, I'm beginning to think you hate Widebodys more than a stamped frame Murray, or a Vari-Drive MTD for that matter!

What is so bad about a Widebody?!!!!!!

Well, they're stamped-steel bolted together frames. They're like 1/16" thick, and they flex a lot. They have MSTs, which I absolutely hate MSTs now. The things are so light they don't have any traction, and they're super easy to flip. I don't have any problem with other people running them, they're just super not for me, and they're extremely over hyped.

Not to start anything, but you also just described an AYP perfectly, except for the MST part. They normally use a peerless 900 series which I absolutely hate, and AYP frames are no better if not worse than a Widebody frame. I guess we all have our differences.


Anyway, I'm finally ready to scrap something!!! We stripped the AYP parts mower down and filled the parts pile to the top so it's time to scrap that old AYP frame and about half of what's in that pile.

It's not about whether the frames flex. All mower frames flex stock (don't even start about your deere tj i don't care). Its about how easy they are to reinforce. Craftsmans just need a little work around the front axle. Murrays need reinforcement all throughout. Their front axle mounts are hard to work with, and their front axles are just cookie sheets.

Only thing Murray's have on craftsmans is steering. Not the double tie rod setup, the bushings and steering gears. Although 2nd gen steering is still better than murray stuff.

All imo

2nd gen steering is Murray steering. AYP front axles are trash, and I'm not talking about their strength, I mean in general. The AYP I'm scrapping is the only one I know of that hasn't worn out. The Craps-man almost has 360 degree play in the steering and only half of that is the steering gears, the other half is all the axle pivoting back and forth, not up and down. Same with my brothers GT6000. And if the frame cracks up by that axle where they like to, I wouldn't be able to use it until I can get it to a place that does welding. I look at everything from a different perspective than most of you, if it breaks, I cannot just fix, I have to replace it. Not possible on an AYP frame, whereas a Murray I can just go get a new front half. And as for being bolted together, just change those self-tapping bolts or in your case just weld it and then you have solid frame. And if it's flexing too much and it's too light, reinforce the frame and if it's still too light then you did not do enough reinforcing.

TJ showed pics awhile back comparing his JD, his AYP, and his Murray, showing the amount of frame flex they had. The JD of course did not flex, but the Murray beat the AYP BY FAR. The AYP wouldn't even lift a wheel.

Richie, if I was here when the era of Orion went down, ohho boy....

Murraymountain wrote:

Not to start anything, but you also just described an AYP perfectly, except for the MST part. They normally use a peerless 900 series which I absolutely hate, and AYP frames are no better if not worse than a Widebody frame. I guess we all have our differences.

Yeah, however I'm not really a fan of AYP anymore either, hahaha. And AYPs frames are 1 piece for the most part, murrays are like 6 pieces. I've never seen an AYP with a 900, I've only seen MSTs and spicers. I hate all 3 of those.

RichieRichOverdrive wrote:

It's not about whether the frames flex. All mower frames flex stock (don't even start about your deere tj i don't care). Its about how easy they are to reinforce. Craftsmans just need a little work around the front axle. Murrays need reinforcement all throughout. Their front axle mounts are hard to work with, and their front axles are just cookie sheets.

Only thing Murray's have on craftsmans is steering. Not the double tie rod setup, the bushings and steering gears. Although 2nd gen steering is still better than murray stuff.

All imo

I agree here. The 2nd gen steering is quite good, I have it in one of mine. I also have 1st gen and it sucks.

Murraymountain wrote:

2nd gen steering is Murray steering. AYP front axles are trash, and I'm not talking about their strength, I mean in general. The AYP I'm scrapping is the only one I know of that hasn't worn out. The Craps-man almost has 360 degree play in the steering and only half of that is the steering gears, the other half is all the axle pivoting back and forth, not up and down. Same with my brothers GT6000. And if the frame cracks up by that axle where they like to, I wouldn't be able to use it until I can get it to a place that does welding. I look at everything from a different perspective than most of you, if it breaks, I cannot just fix, I have to replace it. Not possible on an AYP frame, whereas a Murray I can just go get a new front half. And as for being bolted together, just change those self-tapping bolts or in your case just weld it and then you have solid frame. And if it's flexing too much and it's too light, reinforce the frame and if it's still too light then you did not do enough reinforcing.

TJ showed pics awhile back comparing his JD, his AYP, and his Murray, showing the amount of frame flex they had. The JD of course did not flex, but the Murray beat the AYP BY FAR. The AYP wouldn't even lift a wheel.

Richie, if I was here when the era of Orion went down, ohho boy....

Not really. 2nd gen steering doesn't have the double tie rod set up that is famous for being toed out. Mine wasn't toed out when I got it, 5 miles later, it had a lot of toe (and the shift keys were messed up).

The other difference you have to take into account is not just frame strength, but weight. An AYP weighs more than a Murray, and there was not battery in the Murray, which probably made a difference as far as weight on the rear axle. You can just weld it and have a decent frame, I just see it as more work than is nessesary when you can just buy an old GT.

And flex doesn't kill your tractor, the 1 piece AYP frames flex, but they don't brake. Murrays are notorious for having frame panels pop off because the self tapping screws give way.

It does just come down to opinion. But uh... #gardentractorsrule

God that rig was trash. So light duty. Felt like i was riding a shopping cart. If I'd have ran it any more than i did the axle would have been twisted far out of repair. And such a pain to pulley swap. Gotta cut everything to get a front pulley on and actually drop the trans to get the rear pulley off. The dash was cracked in every corner. So much garbage

As for MSTs? Anything with ¾ axles isn't worth anyone's time

RichieRichOverdrive wrote:

God that rig was trash. So light duty. Felt like i was riding a shopping cart. If I'd have ran it any more than i did the axle would have been twisted far out of repair. And such a pain to pulley swap. Gotta cut everything to get a front pulley on and actually drop the trans to get the rear pulley off. The dash was cracked in every corner. So much garbage

As for MSTs? Anything with ¾ axles isn't worth anyone's time

That's a perfect Miami for what it's like to ride mine, hahaha.  And yeah, the frame fights you the entire way.

Yup!  1 1/4" axle FTW!!!  



For those who don't know, that is the Eaton 100 series pump mounted on a Peerless 2500, commonly found in MTD 990s.

Edit: I put in A N A L O G Y and I got Miami.

Wheel horse had 1-¼ axles. Those were the most sturdy belt drive trans ever made

Oh God help me. I shouldn't say anything about that Richie, I literally disagree with EVERYTHING you just said except the column mounts. That's just something you have to deal with. Mine was the same way and with some actual work, it's better than any other column I'll ever see.

Ya see the difference between you and me is I don't mind doing the work for a pulley swap. Cutting the front is a one time thing and if you know what pulley ratio your running then so is dropping the tranny.

TJ I really don't care about your GT frames and trannys because they will always be better than any LT frame. So in this case of Murray vs. AYP, GT's are cheating. And 1 and a quarter inch axles are ridiculous.

There's a bunch more of those over at the fail thread, this is just stuff on the first page. I kinda like my super heavy duty transaxles.

Lol my 820. Classic

Haha, yep. Probably the most overhyped transaxle in existence.

The mk2 is an AYP and I like it, my buddy and I built him a widebody and he likes it. Everyone likes different things and rides different terrain, so it really doesn’t matter. As long as you’re offering actual useful information I don’t see a problem with this debate, but it’s only a matter of time before mighty or AK step in IMO

I’d pick an AYP if given the choice, but I’d take a widebody no problem

Haha, well I guess the title does say "Talk About Anything"!

CQ's right though, everybody likes different things. I feel like we've had this discussion ten times on here in the last two months...

'Course if you're like me you just take whatever you get and try to make it work somehow instead of having preferences.

I kinda realized that with budgie. Yeah it's an MTD but i saw it had potential. Now it might be the third best MTD on the forum after Redline's and Allis' lol

Now this does come down to a debate over preference but there are some facts here. AYPs are the easiest to modify which doesn't make them better there are plenty of badass murrays out there but there all heavily modded. If someone without a welder was just getting into mower modding I would tell them to get an AYP because parts are super common and tend to last awhile. The steering is another debate but murray front axles are paper thin and the bushings and spindles are junk. Also widebodies one piece fender footboard things makes them harder to work on.

As for the trabsaxle debate I know for a fact that MST series are the heaviest duty 3/4in shaft transaxle besides 600s and maybe 801s. Now 3/4in axle trans aren't junk they just aren't for mudding and big tires. My Spicer and liveaxle swapped and has axle supports and I beat the piss out of it. But it only has 18in tires.

Just my 2 cents. I love these debates.

RichieRichOverdrive wrote:

I kinda realized that with budgie. Yeah it's an MTD but i saw it had potential. Now it might be the third best MTD on the forum after Redline's and Allis' lol

Yours is the 4th best. Hahaha.

Spoiler:

Also you guys talking about those 1 1/4" axle shafts are an 1/8" off, haha. They are actually 1 1/8" in diameter.

Cleaned up a couple unneccessary posts, didn't realize what I said would start something like that...

Let's keep it civil people, talking about who's tractors are better than who's is beyond immature and is most definitely not what this forum is here for.