Murraymountain's Deal Flipping Thread PT2

Toro is for sale. $400 OBO.

Here is the new JD 318. My brother is going to repaint it. The 18 horse Onan needs points.



Snapper now has a 33inch deck off of an RER. He fabbed some mounts, sharpened the blades, and threw it on and now it cuts grass! Just needs choke cable, raise the front of the deck, a rear tire, and a light lens and it's ready to go. We will be selling it.

Welp, we just picked up an army of pressure washers from a friend of mine. They were all free. There’s 9 of them. 2 electrics, 7 gas, 2 hondas 3 ryobis (honda engines) and a few more that I don’t even know what they are or what’s wrong with any of them.

Sell a couple and you can make it rain…literally and metaphorically.

Rustbucket Garage wrote:

Sell a couple and you can make it rain…literally and metaphorically.  

Oh for sure!

Well, both electric ones work. The Ryobi electric needs a tank and then both can be sold. One of the Honda/Ryobis just need a pull start and it runs and washes perfectly. One of the Hondas run, but I haven't had a chance to wash with it yet. The horizontal shaft homelite runs like a top and has a good pump, just need a fitting to run the hose on it. The Yamaha/Powerstroke runs but the carb is bad and therefore we haven't been able to test the pump. The other Honda runs but we haven't put any gas in it so only on starting fluid. And the other Ryobi and the horizontal Titan we haven't tried. The Titan is rusted so I probably won't really try to do anything with it.

JEEZ I need to update this better. The Murray sold last week for $300. So did the Poulan for $325 I think. The Toro sold about 2 weeks ago for $400. The YS sold for $600. Now it's just the Husqvarna which kinda sold but fell through when it didn't fit on the buyers trailer. So now they are going to buy the LX when it's done (which has a big package of parts arriving soon). Snapper is still the same.

nice man on the pressure washers... i have been looking for one all summer no luck.... you got a years worth of them in a day...

We sure did! I need to get them fixed up and sold. I haven't touched mine.


I managed to find/buy all the missing parts for the L110's deck. Put a brand new chute and pulley cover on it. All it needs now to be complete is a new hood.




I don't think I ever updated the LX176. My brother bought a busted up hood and some front wheels online for it. He got a dash assembly from the junkyard and got a deck from the same guy we bought the 318 from. He put a new carb on it and a new sump seal. So it's coming along.



Not very much has happened to the 318. My brother did get it running for a few seconds. Still needs work on the points. The seller has screwed us over and never gave us the new power steering pump he promised. So unfortunately we'll be paying him an unexpected visit and will go home with a new power steering pump within the next couple months.



Time to get back to those pressure washers lol.

Welp, unfortunately the JD 318 has left the chat.    My brother got it running and then sent it on it's way. He got about what he had in it.

The LX176 has been broken down and repainted and is now back together running and driving. I believe the final list for that is a new PTO switch, hood, and a whole new deck.

The Husqvarna is still for sale and running good. The Snapper is also for sale. Has a new offroad rear tire, new belt, and some mount work on the deck. It's ready to go.

We have also, just received a Bolens MTD that is already running and driving and mowing. It's my brother's so I do not know what all it needs. It's in really good shape, especially for being free.

It also came with 3 free push mowers. I'm gonna mix up my pressure washers and push mowers to have some sort of concoctions that leave me with one bad push mower and one bad pressure washer, lol.

Here’s the free Bolens my brother got:




I found this piece of crap on Marketplace for 80 bucks apparently running and driving. I can tell that it’s very much not at the moment. Haven’t fooled with it yet. It’s been swapped to a 14 horse Kohler and the hood was from my parts pile. The rear wheels are 15 inch and are welded to the axles. The body is folded because someone didn’t put the rear covers back on… etc. It needs some serious tlc but I know Widebodies inside and out so it shouldn’t be too hard.

Welp, as far as the Widebody goes, I am going to have to cut the rear wheels off myself and try and save the tires as they don't have dry rot. The motor does run. All it needed was gas, so that's good news. I did pull the trans so that I can get to everything easier.

On another note, we went out picking today!




My brother picked up another Snapper LT16 for $250. I think he over payed. It has the 49" deck though. This time the hood is identical to ol' Richie's hood . I picked up a Snapper RER with a 9 HP Briggs and a 30" deck. The motor needs to be completely assembled on the outside and the deck needs to be put on. But it's mostly complete. Not bad for $40 if you ask me.






I also picked up this beauty! Troy Bilt 25 HP Kohler Courage V-Twin and a 54" fabricated deck! Runs and drives good! All I know it needs at the moment is the lock bar for the PTO, the PTO wires need to be reconnected, and the seat mount has busted through the body because of how thin the metal is. Gotta love MTD quality! But either way, I think it's a freaking STEAL at $200!




Hoping to get $2k this spring!

Let me know what ya think of my new finds!

I think you had a good day! Lol. That Troy built is a beauty! I really like that old Snapper your brother scored, I have a thing for old stuff though!

No way man, that troy was a freaking steal!

Brianator wrote:

I think you had a good day!  Lol. That Troy built is a beauty! I really like that old Snapper your brother scored, I have a thing for old stuff though!

Yeah it’s pretty cool. We’ve determined that it was made in 1969. Almost identical in the way it’s built to his other one from the late 70s/early 80s. It’s worth what he paid but it’s just a lot for a non runner compared to what we normally pay. He wants to put a bush hog on the front. That’s what he bought it for. Idk why cause he could’ve and should’ve used his other one but it’s his money so I could care less.

TechnoChicken wrote:

No way man, that troy was a freaking steal!

Thanks!



Anywho, on the subject of the Troy Bilt, it turns out that it’s about the easiest project I’ve ever had! I’m very happy with this deal! Here’s the list of what I did (and I should note that I did all of this today): Replaced spark plugs, air filter, deck spindle, welded up seat mount, cleaned deck, sharpened blades, adjusted steering wheel, popped dash cover back in place, fixed oil leak, pto wires, reinstalled pto, and put a deck chute on. And just like that $200 has hopefully been turned into $2k+! It’s now in the portico awaiting spring, a pressure wash, and a new owner!


I moved some stuff around as I am about to start getting into my other 2 tractors. The Murray is ready to blown apart and built back up correctly, Snapper is awaiting the engine stand so I can start assembling the motor, and the Wizard is waiting on a new belt so I can finally get that out of the way!

Got a bunch done on the Murray! Pulled what I needed off of a parts frame I have and got the rear all put back together and straightened up! Got the trans done too! 15 inch wheels off, 20 inchers on! Still gotta get one swapped to the correct rim. Got the brakes rebuilt, and headlight buckets installed.







Finally pulled that ol locked up 15 horse Kohler apart today. Crankcase was in great shape, everything else was beyond repair. Hoping to scavenge the con rod and internals before we throw it in the scrap pile. I've never seen anything so badly rusted/corroded in my life.


Anyway, Supposed to be a little cooler tomorrow so I'm gonna leave my truck alone and try and finish up the Wizard and get the Murray pretty close to finished as well. Got a whole bunch of parts for it so hopefully I have what I need to get that done. Snapper will require another parts trip but I'll wait till I get it running before I go dumping more money into that thing. Also got a hood for the L110 that needs a little work but might be able to do a little something with that tomorrow if time allows!

Welp, got the Wizard ready for spring! Threw the new belt on, twisted it the wrong way and ended up with 3 reverse gears and one forward gear, so after some contemplation I figured it out and twisted it the other way and that fixed all m y gear/clutch issues. From there put the deck on and adjusted it some. Still could use a new top deck belt but I'll get that later on when it really wears down. Did some other random oddball things on it for a bit and then went and tested it and parked it until spring!



Also finally put a battery and some gas back in the L110 and fired the ol' girl back up! It hadn't been started since the last time I mowed with it which was like, September I think. Been a long time. Fired right up! Had to twist the carb bowl because a dent was holding the float open. Anyway, like I mentioned beforehand, I got a hood for it! Gonna wait for some rainy nasty day and work on it in the house. Needs to be glued back together as well as the grille. Not sure what I'm gonna use to bond it back together yet.



Here's the Murray... I finally turned some of my attention to the motor... what did I find?... surely not a Briggs carburetor?



So I was gonna try to stick with briggs carb since it had already made it this far, but the governor on the Kohler and the butterfly on the carb work opposite of each other, so I'm just gonna order up a new Kohler carb and have everything fit like it was designed to. So I did away with that jankiness.



So I managed to finally get the new drive belt on, everything oiled up underneath, got the trans all hooked back up, got my other rear wheel finished up and installed, changed the oil, hooked up the headlights, installed the hood, clearanced some stuff to fit hood, removed the crappy exhaust, added a fuel shutoff, put new floormats on, cleaned the deck and sharpened the blades, changed the deck belt, adjusted the deck, cleaned the corroded pullies, and that's where I'm at now with it! All I have left is to add some more oil, carb, install all the air box assembly and throttle, fab up exhaust, and fix two tire leaks.



The Snapper on the other hand... I finally started digging into this ol girl since the Murray is almost done. I am very skeptical about this one. It has a LOT of problems. And the problem with that is that I do not have many Snapper parts or much knowledge on them. I know it's fixable, but they are only worth no more than $300 tops. And that's on a good day at the right time of year. So I am on the fence right now about this one.





Anyway, things are coming along!

Nice work man looks like you've been pretty busy!  

I do alot of plastic repair on stuff and would say depending on the usage of the tractor would dictate how to repair it. For general use you can use a soldering iron to plastic weld it back together and it will hold fine, I've even done it on dirtbike fuel tanks with success. If it's going to see the rough stuff I'd plastic weld it then use fiberglass matting/resin on the backside so it's good and reinforced. To stop any cracks from spreading I always drill a small hole at the end(s) of the crack in plastic and just past it in metal (you may not be able to see the fracture "growing").

I agree with those suggestions. Plus, if possible on the grill, add a back plate. The grill on my LT4000 is cracked (from an apparent collision) and I plan to add the plate that should have been there to start with.





The hinge support should have (and will in the future) gone all the way across.

Thanks for the suggestions guys! I will definitely keep those in mind! I don’t really want to use anything like metal or extra plastic as it is a ‘restoration’ project so I’ll probably plastic weld it if push comes to shove.

Anyway, here’s a little update photo on my brothers Bolens… pretty close to being finished. Not sure what all it’s needing at this point but it’s almost ready.



He also scored this Murray GT for $50! 18.5 oppy that apparently runs, peerless 820, 4 good tires, newer belts and pulleys, just needs a little tlc. Was quite a score!



And now I have a lead on 4 abandoned Murrays that have been sitting for 6 years. 3 of them under cover the other one I don’t know. $100 for all 4 and they all look very complete! Will be picking those up this week too hopefully!

Welp, $100 later and half a tank of gas, we have 4 pretty complete Murrays!





Story is, an 84 year old man lived at the place and died a few years ago. These folks just bought the property and are clearing everything out to build a cabin. They didn’t want the tractors or anything else there and are sending everything to the scrapyard so they threw them all on FB for $100 and I ended up with them!

The first one all the way at the front of the trailer is a 5spd 12.5hp briggs 40 inch cut (appears to be the best of the bunch), the second widebody is a 14.5 hp, hydro, 42 inch cut, the third one is 12.5 hp 40 inch cut 5spd, and the last one is a 5spd 38 inch cut and unsure on hp. It is very rusty and missing some parts. That one was also stuck behind a shed and the only way out was down a vertical hill. Took us an hour to load them all but we got em! Not sure if I’m gonna work on any of them just yet but if I do it’s gonna be the one furthest up on the trailer. Definitely excited about this deal!

Welp, got them all unloaded and washed down (except the oldest one, there’ll be updates for that and the Snapper in the next post).










Finished up the Kohler Murray. Or so I hoped. I put the new carb and everything on. Put a new longer throttle cable on to fit the new throttle control assembly. I swapped the rear tires off the new Widebody on and a front one off that too. Then I fabbed up a new exhaust!








So I fired it up and whataya know, it’s off to the RPM races! So I took to carb back off and checked everything to make sure it was all hooked up right, made sure the carb linkage wasn’t catching on something, etc etc. It runs away no matter where the governor or throttle plate on the carb is. It just constantly runs away. The thing is, it ran good with the janky briggs carb on it and would respond correctly.

You have been busy! Looks like a good deal overall.
Some of the rigs appear to have those new fangled airless tires too!

Nevadablue wrote:

You have been busy! Looks like a good deal overall.
Some of the rigs appear to have those new fangled airless tires too!

I don't like those ones too much, have a ton though...

Well, I have an update on the way… should be out before next week. But right now I need a little information from @MightyRaze…

Back when I was building the 12 horse Kohler for the MM, I had to JB weld the magnets back on the flywheel… I didn’t know they were supposed to be in a certain order. Right now I am in the same situation with the Kohler Murray. First question is what the order is. Should all the magnets attract each other or repel?

Second, a Kohler Command is supposed to have 6 magnets on the flywheel. I only have 3 left. So obviously it will have a weaker charge.. but then I noticed this…



Only half the alternator is wrapped. So would I be fine with only half the magnets if I only have half the alternator??? Sound logical?

Magnets should be alternating in each location.  Start to finish does not matter I don't think.  Looks like a lower amp winding.

Repair Broken Kohler Flywheel Magnets to Fix Charging System - YouTube


Same on briggs.

Oh, yeah that might be a factory option, you just use the same stator for all your engines and wind it different?

MightyRaze wrote:

Magnets should be alternating in each location.  Start to finish does not matter I don't think.  Looks like a lower amp winding.

Repair Broken Kohler Flywheel Magnets to Fix Charging System - YouTube


Same on briggs.

Thanks! Looks like I’m gonna have to go find some more magnets…  

TechnoChicken wrote:

Oh, yeah that might be a factory option, you just use the same stator for all your engines and wind it different?

Not sure if this was directed toward me but I’ll answer anyway. I use whatever stator that’s on the motor. Most motors have different stators and are not interchangeable so that’s why I always steal them off of my scrap/junk motors… never know when you’re gonna need them. As far as winding them, that’s just how this one was. Thinking maybe this was for manual engagement mowers (like this Murray) and a full wind is for PTO mowers. Makes the most sense to me but I can’t say for certain.



Anywho, time for an update. Since we’re already on the topic of the Kohler Murray, we’ll start with that one.

So the last thing I think I said about it is that it was having major governor issues. Welp, after much pondering and little work, it is running correctly now. Turns out I just needed to adjust the throttle control assembly. I also changed the front tires now to the MMs old wheels since the round edge turfs would match better on the stamped frame Murray and the MMs are more beat so they would fit better with the look of this tractor. Now the last 3 things left are an OHV gasket, fix the flywheel magnets, and fix some carb issues. Then I should be ready to put this thing on the market.



So now we’ll get into the 4 for $100 Murray deal. I don’t remember if I mentioned it but the oldie Murray has been stashed away in the woods with a few others (including the Snapper) while I decide what is to happen to it. So it won’t be back out until wayyy later in the year at least. So now we’ll move on to the stamped frame Murray. It turned out to be the first one I worked on. I have been very pleased with it! I’ve done a full tune up and deck service, had to change a deck belt and spindle bearings, fixed the broken light lens, changed the wheels, and a bunch of little easy things. I definitely enjoyed working on this one as well as the other Murrays. Long story short, I’ve done my testing and am calling it good to go! So when I get back in town I will give it a good wash, take my pics and put it on the interweb!



So the first gen Widebody (the hydro one) was an absolute wreck. Maybe not as bad as the Kohler Murray but still really bad. So when I finally started wrenching on it, it had no clutch, and no power. I had already looked everything over and due to the extent of jank and my knowledge of the anatomy of a Murray Widebody, I decided that the best thing to do would be to partially strip the mower down, so I of course took the deck off, the wheels off, the engine off, the hood off, and the wiring out. Made everything much easier to do. So I cleaned up the wiring, stripped out all the jank in the clutch and drive train, hooked up the clutch the way it was supposed to be, tightened and replaced some bolts, then I put the motor and hood back  on. Sourced some fuel line, swapped a good carb on, and got it running nicely! Put new floor mats on and a headlight wiring harness.




Recently put a rear wheel and two front wheels on. Still need clips for those. Got the deck serviced and replaced a spindle. Would have it on now but I need a drive belt. I now need a choke linkage in order to install the air box, I need to change the oil, I need a rear wheel, and a starter cover. That’s about all it needs to my knowledge right now.

2 out of the 3 decks getting serviced:



As the two that still need work sit right now:



And that just leaves the 2nd gen Widebody… the one I said would be the first to work on and needed the least. What I’ve found out about it is that it had an engine swap to an old style 12 horse. Had the 1 piece carb and all. It ended up being cracked and fatally messed up. I had all the parts needed from new style motors… So I attempted to swap it over to a new style carb which required a new intake, muffler shield, carb, air box, linkages, throttle control assembly, governor arm, and throttle cable. I spent a few days at the pace I felt like going and got it all finished. Had to change the carb again as the one I had put on it was trash. But after that, everything worked as it should. EXCEPT, it also decided to have governor issues. Let it be for a couple days and came back to it. Ended up modifying the governor arm and spring and throttle assembly a little bit and got it worked out! Also tuned this one up, had to rewire the kill and lights, changed most of the wheels, put floor mats on it, cleaned out the mud dobbers from the ignition switch several times, welded the deck some and welded a deck mount back on, did some mega major cleaning on the deck, put it back on and yesterday was able to have the whole thing finished and tested! It’s also now waiting for a wash and pics!

The completed carb swap:





Finished:



As the two completed tractors sit right now awaiting their wash and pics:




And that pretty much sums up this update! Yes I’ve been very busy this week. Been working pretty much all day everyday Monday through Thursday this week. I’m quite pleased with the progress that was made!