Chill Murray aka the test dummy and beater

Picked up this ole 90s Huskee(murray) for $30 bucks with flats, and non running 12hp flathead briggs.  Figured it would be good to have something I could just cut and weld on at will for offroad ideas, and good backup/loaner offroad mower.









Pop the Hood!







Also doubled as a nice Mouse nest for year or so:








Had to make a Pull Start of course:






Had some 20x 8.50s that we were free to replace the 18s on the rear temporarily:







My lovely wife made up some vinyl for the mower:





Built a free quickie bumper at work for it to get me by for the meantime:




Testing on one of my Jeep Trails at my house:






Last weekend, I got kinda creative (stupid) on the build for fun.  Ill try to post up some pictures tomorrow of the "mods" i did on Saturday/Sunday

haha love that mouse, I have pulled so many out of those type engines....good beater mower.

Hey hey, it's finally here! LOL, I like how you describe it as "test dummy"... Very fitting.

So here's where I start to get silly, starts out innocent






Then I said "why not use 15" wheels" lol








Heres the mower with the 18's from the rear on the front and some 195/65/15 car tires temporarily mounted til I mount up some 31x10.50 mud tires I have for the rear.







It has ground clearance now for days! First im gonna weld up the diff to get use out of all the traction I can and then onto the next experiment or two. I love this test dummy/troll mower.

LOL. I'll bet it goes a wee bit faster now!

How's that seat? I have an identical one on my gray one. I hate it........................... Oohhh how I miss my Widebody LOL.

Im not a fan of the seat/spring setup, probably get the seat/spring setup off my 13' MTD parts tractor and put on it.

Yeah, I tried putting a spring on mine but it's helpless. The seat on my red Widebody is SOOOOO much more comfortable. It won't be my 'daily' for long so I guess I survive.

13'? What does that mean? You have 13, or you have 1 13 foot long MTD?

Murraymountain wrote:

13'? What does that mean? You have 13, or you have 1 13 foot long MTD?

Its 2013 model parts tractor that a guy gave me so the seat is still in good shape and has all the hinge etc minty.

Ah okay. Yeah them newer MTD seat setups are nice.

Took out the ole transaxle last night and prepped it for welding today.











Finished up cleaning it today and welding it before I leave work, so i can reassemble later and test it out.

Remember to weld (at least tack it) in place (in the trans with axles in) so your gears mesh up.  

Yep. I learned that the hard way.

Well, I had a good weekend after I got the rear in back under the Murray. Took my friend Chad out and let him ride my horse while I led him thru some trails. On our way back up I was sitting at a weird angle waiting for him to do a climb and as I pulled away the motor lost power and locked up. A little tiny puff of smoke in the dipstick and the exhaust and that’s all she wrote. We had a good laugh and then I hooked up recovery and he towed me back to the house. I will post up some pictures of our ride and the engine teardown later. Needless to say the crank and the rod are junk.

Oh the good ol' Powerbuilt. The junkiest Briggs engine I'll ever have.

Haha, seriously though, the Powerbuilt should've been called the junkerbuilt. LOL.

I would be so sure it's junk, I just recently acquired a Widebody with what was supposed to be a blown motor and it wasn't. It was apparently locked up and before I got it my friend told me it had unlocked itself.

Thought has crossed my mind to file a few places to free it up and send it for a few more miles. Probably will do that while im looking for a donor motor. Have push mower engine i have thought about temporarily retrofitting in to see what i can do with it. Good thing about a 30$ rider.