Murray 18/42 buildup

This is my first mower build. it is a mid 80s Murray 18/42 with a 18hp Briggs opposed. I bought it back in 2021.

Mods. (so far)
  New front axle bushings with roller bearings
  19x7-8 front tires (Ocelot p340)
  25x11-12 rear tires (Carlisle at489)
  6inch engine pulley (stock rear pully)
  kevlar drive belt
 
Mods needed.
  battery hold down
  new seat
  rear reviver hitch  
  frame reinforcement
  new carb (china carb doesn't run right)
  front bumper
  gas pedal
  possibly split rear brakes or locked transaxle

Nice!  Square or round headlights?

I've had both to some degree.



My only complaint is belt changes.

Love the 2300's in them.

Nice!

I am happy to see someone else recommend dual rear (split) brakes instead of locking the axle. IMO, much better if you can fit it in.

@MightyRaze Square headlights. It looked exactly like the stock one in your photo.

And split brakes just seem much more useful and help maintain steering with aggressive rear tires.

Side note does anyone know the bolt pattern for the rear wheels?

Cool tractor dude!

I don't know off hand but it's easy to measure

Standard Garden tractor 5x4.5.

I'm starting the frame stiffing and I'm not sure how to proceed. My thoughts were to run 1x2 tubing inside each frame "flange". the problems i see are the brake linkage is on the way on one side and the clutch is in the way on the other side. i could run the tubing on the outside but that gets in the way of body panel and hood mounting. Anyone have any advise?



And you can see the odd belt routing

Angle iron should work perfect and not cause any clearence issues, easier to weld or bolt on too. 1/8" thick is probably perfect

Here are somethings I did.


I changed out the foot braced with 1/4 flat bar that is gusseted.  


Sorry for the bad pic but I also made an exobrace across the top under the back portion.



These helped me quite a bit. not 100% but could help.

MightyRaze wrote:

Here are somethings I did.


I changed out the foot braced with 1/4 flat bar that is gusseted.  


Sorry for the bad pic but I also made an exobrace across the top under the back portion.



These helped me quite a bit. not 100% but could help.

Thanks Raze. I like your ideas. I'm mostly trying to keep my hood from bending worse then it already is. And i like your suspension set up. That's a future plan.

@Doug ran some rectangular tube on his.  It's where I got the idea on mine.