Richie's Murray Widebody- "Orion"

Well part of the red wagon ana logy(ffs doug cmon) was that it just rides like a rock. It just rattles and bangs and skips if the ground is anything but solid pavement. It seems to be a common thing with Murrays and other light rigs. Mutt, in both her stock and current form, ride well. A good bit of weight just seems to make things move very fluidly, none of the jerkiness this thing has. Not to say the tires don't contribute to that.

Pic I forgot I took yesterday of Orion & Mutt on the chargers

I prefer heavy mowers so they don't roll so easily, my murrays will go over so quick because of the riders weight is all on the rear and no front weight. the craftsman i used to off road with never flipped . Of course it had a cast axle and opposed twin with the battery in front of the engine so it was balanced really well, almost even with me riding it .

I used to roll my craftsman so much because it had a pretty high center of gravity. Murrays actually are a lot lower to the ground, and have a lower center of gravity, but they're really lightweight. I guess it'd be interesting how it would actually pan out, I haven't taken put this one through any real tests yet.

My murrays always have a high center of gravity from having either oppys or big front tires on them

My little Ford used to be super top heavy when we first put the engine in and got it driving. I'm thinkin' the 16hp opposed and super narrow track/short wheel base was the cause of that, hahaha.

Took Orion out for a rip in the snow today. Once you get some momentum she goes nice. Tipped her once, was drifting and caught a pothole in the snow. Of course, she didn't start til i dragged her back to the shop haha. She needs a locked diff though, would be a lot more fun that way lol. Bright headlights sure are nice.

Locked is super fun in the snow! We ended up missing out on the snow.

If i get an 820 i will doc lock it , maybe some more aggressive mud tires so i dont get stuck so bad like the last time . Not sure if a murray is worth putting an 820in tho lol

Post-snow damage/performance report:

-Clutch works pretty well
-Trans gets warm enough to melt snow off it no matter oil level. Not sure if a normal thing.
-Rear side dash mounts broken off, will weld dash to fender pan as soon as I get the mig welder back
-Brakes need adjusted
-Did surprisingly good for having an unlocked diff
-No weird noises

So...cool I guess. Wish somebody'd come get this thing before I trash it completely.

Lmao I’m trying bud I’m trying

RichieRichOverdrive wrote:

Post-snow damage/performance report:

-Clutch works pretty well
-Trans gets warm enough to melt snow off it no matter oil level. Not sure if a normal thing.
-Rear side dash mounts broken off, will weld dash to fender pan as soon as I get the mig welder back
-Brakes need adjusted
-Did surprisingly good for having an unlocked diff
-No weird noises

So...cool I guess. Wish somebody'd come get this thing before I trash it completely.

Sounds like the typical stuff I ran into.

My mst gets pretty warm too.
Dash mounts, 3 of the 4 main ones on mine broken,  Have mine held down with bigger bolts and washers.
Brake adjusted?, probably wont do any good.  LOL

Brakes work pretty well on this. Would stop better if she had a locked diff though lol. But I've had her stop me going 30mph downhill, after some minor vibrations haha.

Nice, Mabye this will give the person who needs to pick it up more incentive lol

Finally kicked myself enough to get back out to the shop. Actually ended up bolting the dash back down in the rear with two bolt holes that only go into the fender fan and not the frame that I didn't bother with before. They were actually meant for like 1/4" bolts but I stuck the 5/16" self tappers that were from the mounts that broke off, they fit right in nicely. Didn't bother welding it. Also I noticed that the charge wire had come unhooked and hooked that back up. Oddly enough she started with the electric start for once and I drove her up outta the shop into the store building so I could work on other stuff. Carb needs cleaned lol.

Yeah it can take some motivation to get out and work on stuff sometimes.

Especially with cold weather

Well it was reasonably warm here today, which is why i overhauled the foote ,reassembled my mst 930, welded a longer tongue on a mower trailer, made my parts pile, and cleaned the garage a bit lol

sounds like a busy day!

Remembered that since my new phone works right, I can use a speedometer on it. Somehow this thing started right up. Gotta clean the carb again though lol. Hit a max of 29, wasn't fully wound out though.



For anyone wondering, this is the DigiHUD app. Works excellent, and is free.

Water in the carb...gross. Cleaned it and it still runs like trash. Oh well.


Made a zero f*cks hood latch. Zero f*cks as in I don't care enough about this thing to make it look nice.






Turned the ags back the right way too, and added a return spring to the gas pedal. Hate this junk so much. I'm done with riding it.

Yeah I am sick of murrays. I wish I would have done the suspension on the LT4000 and left the Murray alone. Oh well. I like the attitude ! Even good days in the shop end with you wanting to blow the whole dang machine up.

The front Tires you have from a ATV, I also want to use for my Mower. Rear Tires i also want to use AG Tires, but with a bit more thread. My Peerless MST-206-502C came out of the same Murray Widebody your Orion is.

Traded off the ol' onion today. Good riddance.

(Sorry @CraftsmanQuad19 )

Well this is the end...

I mean it's still 20min away, not like i wont see it again lol. I can still post updates of abuse on it.