Richie's Murray Widebody- "Orion"

So I went to a fellow atltf member's place and picked up some stuff...

In that stuff was this...a 90's (I think) 1st gen Murray Widebody which had a MST206 and Tecrapsuk engine



Before I even got the thing running I threw on these (which I got on rims from that same guy). Wheels came off no trouble! I also put some cheap go kart tires on the front because I had them lying around. I hadn't even pushed the clutch pedal in yet and this thing had decent tires!



I swapped on a Briggs 14hp 28ci OHV(also got that from him) because i hate any vertical shaft tecrapsuk(besides their Vtwins)



At first I had major issues with the needle and seat not doing their job...





I swapped the seals and gaskets from this carb to another I had, this one runs lean and therefore hot but it's been improving. At first the muffler would glow red with the lights off. I actually drilled out the side of the muffler to where it has a like 1" hole instead of all the tiny holes to let some heat out. I also undickered the muffler bolts by tapping the exhaust adapter holes to 3/8" and using some allen head shoulder bolts I had.

She's Hot!



I love unibits lol, just let em eat till the hole is the right size. Muffler is only slightly louder and sounds better than it did before



I had to modify the exhaust a little because of the hood, add a little piece of tubing to direct it out under the hood. I only had the stick welder so it came out a little messy, but it holds.



So whatcha think? I have yet to pulley swap it, add a foot throttle, or wire anything besides a kill. In fact I really don't wanna pulley swap it. It looks like a bear to fit a bigger pulley on the front and there's no way to really adjust any pulleys to make a stock belt still work. If I do pulley swap it, I'm thinking 6 to 4 pulleys.

I dig it...just try not to roll this one ok Rich?

Orion?? You're really gonna "Ride the Lighting" with this tractor!!! Haha I like it so far. It's about time Rich started a second project!

CraftsmanQuad19 wrote:

I dig it...just try not to roll this one ok Rich?

Ehhh no promises....I really dont like this hood lol, it's ugly af. Might put a snapper hood on this one too lol.

AllisKidD21 wrote:

Orion?? You're really gonna "Ride the Lighting" with this tractor!!! Haha I like it so far. It's about time Rich started a second project!

Yeah, I've been pretty bored not building something. I was gonna start another project but it turns out that something in the foote I got (from the same guy i got this stuff from lol) has a stripped gear. Soooo idk. I already have plenty on my hands with this!

just take a grinder to it and your pulley will fit

Warren Evans wrote:

just take a grinder to it and your pulley will fit

Yeah, but there's no place for extra idlers and belt keepers and such

Well, as a few of you have seen, I put up a video of my first romp on Orion. Didn't get stuck and actually barely had to rock it. she's pretty mint

So the next thing I really gotta do is a pulley swap. I have an about 7" cast iron pulley that should be perfect. Problem is, I don't have a 5/8" bore pulley, so I'm thinking of using the center of the stock pulley with an old engine pulley or something. Not sure what the speed is gonna be exactly, prolly somewhere over 30. But I'm fine with that. The brakes on this thing are actually pretty decent. I'll be doing some math on speeds here in a little bit.

nice

I got a bunch done on her in the past few days. Pulley swap is done (besides a few belt keepers) I think, I might use the old deck drive pulley on the back rather than what I have now.

Old pulley gave me a little trouble, had to heat it with the torch and give it some crayons to get it to come off. Even with the wax it took a well educated hammer to drive the input shaft out





Drilled the spot welds out of the old pulley and knocked it off of the hub, then i put the hub on a bolt in the drill press and filed it down to where I could fit an idler pulley over it snugly (sans bearing) and then drilled holes in the hub to bolt the pulley onto. Have you guys noticed I'm kinda cheap yet?   Literally the only pulley I have ever bought was the idler for the clutch on MUTT





So now that I had the rear pulley done, it was time to swap the front. I was kinda dreading this moment but it turns out Warren was right, you can just take your grinder to the underside of the thing and just ask it nicely (with a cutoff wheel) and it will fit. This is an 8" cast iron pulley, my rear pulley is 4-1/2". So that gives me a just under 2:1 pulley ratio.



Somewhere in the midst of this I wired her and stole a battery out of my Snapper. Believe it or not, the headlights work! (they are on 12v rather than the stator output btw so they are waaaaaay brighter) I welded in like 2 belt keepers, added an idler to keep the belt off the shifter, and off I went. She throws the belt when you let off the clutch after a few times, I'll just keep adding keepers till it stops. This thing is REALLY fast. I think like 30mph, maybe more. Brakes still work ok at speed, surprisingly enough. Right now I'm making another gas pedal, the bike brake I put on just doesn't work for me.

With those Ags on there and that kinda wheel speed, ya better get some mud flaps!! Haha, looks good Rich.

Nice tractor!  That's how my Li'l Red looked except I had a Twin Briggs!

mightyraze wrote:

Nice tractor!  That's how my Li'l Red looked except I had a Twin Briggs!

Yeah, they're pretty much the same tractor! This one might get a governed 18hp oppy if I can get a carb together for it. The single just doesn't do it for me, lol

Any updates on this thing? Its the exact same tractor I picked up while I was in Kentucky a couple weeks ago. 17.5 Teccy with pressure lube, MST-206 (in the CQ now) and the same front tires. Original I assume. Mine didn't come with back wheels though. After looking at the teccy more and more I'm finding it kind of similar to a briggs single. But i like a few things about the teccy. Plastic carb bowl so the bowl doesn't rust, and the pressure lube. I would've at least ran it till it blew, but I do love a good ol' briggs 28ci single

I'm not sure what I'm doing with this yet. I did end up putting a 6" pulley on the back to let off the speed some but I need another belt and clutch pulley. As of now it's just sitting in the store building. I plan to get on it after I get the craftsman put together and I fix the trans in my grass cutter.

This thing hasn't been touched in months, just sitting in the store building. Kinda tempted to use some of the parts off of the parts murray gt to make this thing drivable before @CraftsmanQuad19 finally comes and gets it. After I finish the exhaust on Mutt, of course.

Now that I have Mutt outta the shop, I figured I'd waste my time on something else...

Put Mutts old fronts on because I wanted bigger fronts that actually held air lol.. 8" front rims make everything better! They clear everything too! Murray don't flex lol.


Very nice high back seat from the parts Murray.


Given a good rinse, 14hp junk Briggs off.


21hp oppy also from parts oppy on. Bolted right up. Took a bit of doing to set up the foot throttle but I got it done. Also swapped out the carbin it for another 4 screw that I'm hoping works. Actually have two fuel filters on this thing for whatever reason haha


This is where I'm at now. Pretty much gotta work out the belt system(ugh, what I hate most about this thing), and hook up the wiring.

It will flex. If like mine, the frame will flex. You'll want to probably stiffen that up in the future. Looks good Rich!

Yeah, I'm sure i will. not sure how I will lol. Wanna get this thing moving before I worry about that stuff.

So...it not for sale anymore?

What model is it My murray widebodys dont have enough hood space to fit an oppy in .

Looks a lot better with those fronts Rich. Gotta get some more acticulation outta that front axle though, haha.

biggasmowers wrote:

What model is it   My murray widebodys dont have enough hood space to fit an oppy in .

This is one of the earlier model widebodys. @Mightyraze has the same one, but with a different hood.



MOD Edit: (Mightyraze) Mod got careless and messed up this post.  Sorry Rich.

cool little build man, I need to get my garage done so i can get back to building mowers, really looking forward to a "rally" type build like this

Thanks CC.

Mighty over here going crazy wit the mod edits.

This one's a 42515X92A. Manufacture date 00136. 136th day of 2000? Came with a 17.5 Tecumseh OHV single(have it, bunch of parts were scabbed off it before I got it.).

That was a weird one?  I didn't mean to edit your post. I meant to hit quote and it overwrote your post? I would fix it if I still had it cached but I closed that window.

if it has a peerless tranny i dont think it will be a 2000 year , more around 96-98 i would think, all the murrays i have gotten with peerless trannys were under 2000.