Murraymountain's Deal Flipping Thread PT2

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!

Well I have a big update for y’all. We’ll start off by getting this out of the way… both mowers in the last pic are sold. Stamped frame sold for $380 and the Widebody for $360! We’ll also say that the first gen Widebody is up for sale at $375. Thing runs and cuts good! I kinda wanna keep it but I got no reason to lol.



The Troy Bilt was for sale but no one likes the $1500 price tag which is low for the market. Regardless, the trans is having major issues and slipping when it gets hot. So I naturally dropped it and am hopefully going to change the oil tomorrow and put it back in test it. Hopefully it works out! If not, then I’ve got quite a problem on my hands…



I pulled the what I call “Ghost Murray” out of the woods a little while ago… got to wrenching on it a couple days ago. Pulled the front wheels off, the deck, got a good overview of what it’s gonna need to get running again. Hoping to get it to the point where it runs and drives and cuts decently and then sell it as a resto project for someone.




To make an update for the RER Snapper, it is gone. I traded it for this load of stuff (minus the GX)!



What we have here, is two Murray Widebodys, both are supposed to be parts mowers cause I told him I use Widebody parts like I do water. One is for sure parts, and the other one is supposed to be too because he thought the engine was locked up. Turns out it is not. So, I have this terrible feeling, that there’s about to be another Murray Widebody ATLT added to my duo to make it a trio… we’ll see what happens there. Both are believed to have good transaxles! I also got 3 other transaxles but those are to be discussed in 2 other threads. I also tried to get magnets for the Kohler Murray, so he had a “locked up” complete Kohler there, so he gave it to me and then we found out it wasn’t locked and appears to be a good motor. So he gave me another Kohler that is very much shot. Definitely should have enough now to get all the mowing mowers up and for sale and even stuff to spare! And for anyone wandering, my brother bought that JD GX  for $100 been sitting for a solid 6 years. Trans is severely rusted internally.

Plans have changed. As most of you know, the Widebody that was DEFINITELY a parts mower, is now Alfredo. So the other one is getting rebuilt. I bought a deck and a couple other miscellaneous things for it for $70. I put a starter, coil, and carb on it and tried to fire it off with starting fluid. Didn't fire but I only tried once. Still need some other things and definitely have some hours to put into it but hopefully it comes out pretty nice.




The first gen Widebody sold for $325 this week. Also gave him an extra pair of wheels with bad tires on em and he's gonna put v-treads on it and give me the old wheels back.


The Ghost Murray is done in more way than one. As you know, the rear frame section is completely rusted out. I put a carb, coil, valves, starter, TCA, fresh oil in it, etc. Got it to finally run! The thing is ear-deafening loud. Why? Hehehe. It's almost all rod knock. I've never ever ever heard a rod knock in person or online as bad as this one. I put around 7 or 8 minutes of run time on it with fresh oil in it and the oil is now the greyest shiniest metallic oil I've ever seen. So, this ol' 11 horse is finished. I did a few other odds and ends on it to tidy it up and stuck it outside and threw it on the internet for $100 as a restoration project or parts mower. Hoping someone'll bite and take it off my hands.





The Troy-Bilt transmission oil change was a fail. The trans is definitely bad. I was able to mow a thick completely flat field last night as it does fine on flatland. So I have it up for $900. Do yall think that price is too high or no?

The Murray GT needed shift keys and some serious trans cleaning and servicing. That's all done now and it is just needing a few odds and ends and it will be sent down the road with the rest of them.




The Kohler Murray is finally done after 5 months! I ended up putting a new flywheel on it and after going round and round with new carbs, I went to the junkyard and got me an old OEM carb and it runs perfect on it! Polished her up and got 'er on the market at $350!




Hopefully I can add the other Widebody to these guys next week and have them all sold! Finally getting some things cleared out!

Sold the Kohler Murray for $350!

On the other hand, I still have another Widebody needing work. It keeps blowing fuses and I don’t know what to do right now. Here’s a video to explain… what do y’all think it could be?

When you say a 5amp fuse will blow instantly does that mean with the tractor and ignition off? That would indicate a dead short. If I were you I would get a 15amp ATO circuit breaker (same style as a fuse and about $10) to use as a diagnostic tool, you could not only use it in place of a fuse in the holder but with a seperate ATO fuse holder you could get creative and put it in line between other things to try and track down where the short is.

I'm lucky enough to have a PowerProbe3 and it is without a doubt the absolute best 12v diagnostic tool that money can buy. It takes some getting used to but once you master it, it's a breeze and allows you to track this kind of stuff down much quicker and easier. If you find yourself in this situation often when it comes to anything with a 12v system, you should consider getting one it's a life saver!

After watching the video, that kind of eliminated a grounded-out stator idea.  Hmm....  Both my Murrays had a bare spot on the battery cable worn by the belt.  That would show itself when you connect the battery.

Just a secondary thought... if you have a wire.  Run a jumper ground from the battery to the engine.  Just curiosity.  See if it sparks when the ignition is on.

Try cleaning all your connections. The keyswitch and the terminal seemed kind of loose. Maybe a vibration issue?

If all else fails it might be a good idea to give Alfredo a new harness.

Brianator wrote:

When you say a 5amp fuse will blow instantly does that mean with the tractor and ignition off? That would indicate a dead short.

Yes and that was Alfredo. Everything off, key out of ignition, blows it instantly on a 5amp.

MightyRaze wrote:

After watching the video, that kind of eliminated a grounded-out stator idea.  Hmm....  Both my Murrays had a bare spot on the battery cable worn by the belt.  That would show itself when you connect the battery.

Yes I believe both of these have that bare spot you’re talking about. The MM, Ole Blue and all the ones that have come and gone in this thread have had the bare spot. Flawed design. But none of them shorted out. I’ll still give them a close look tho.

MightyRaze wrote:

Just a secondary thought... if you have a wire.  Run a jumper ground from the battery to the engine.  Just curiosity.  See if it sparks when the ignition is on.

Will do!

Rustbucket Garage wrote:

Try cleaning all your connections. The keyswitch and the terminal seemed kind of loose. Maybe a vibration issue?

If all else fails it might be a good idea to give Alfredo a new harness.

I tried cleaning some connections too but it didn’t work. The reason I cut the safeties out of Alfredo is cause I wanted to pertain the keyed ignition. Which I did on Ole Blue. If I absolutely must I’ll put the MMs harness in but that still doesn’t fix the problem at hand on the other one…

I know I’ve already introduced this car but I need to go ahead and say this. As you see the title of this thread has been tweaked. It is no longer confined to LT and GT repairs. I plan on moving mostly out of the LT/GT realm as far as that being my primary form of income. I plan on starting on classic cars and trucks. That’s where the Mustang II I Just got comes into play. I plan on buying classics cheap and then selling them in a little better shape than what I got them as and for what they’re worth to someone who wants the project. Expect to see many more cars and less tractors in this thread. I know that’s not what you guys like to hear but right now it’s looking like that’s gonna rack in more profit than tractor flipping and faster too. Don’t get me wrong when I see good deals on tractors I’ll still snag them and do a little wrenching but that’s why I’m opening this thread up because I didn’t feel like the cars will be around long enough to have their own thread… so I merged the two. Anyway, I’ll throw a pic of the Mustang up, the plan for it, and a few details.



We’re gonna pick it up in about two weeks. Get it home, try to grab a nice set of wheels to go with it, swap those on, put the front on blocks, wash it and clean it reeeeeal good, throw whatever parts that come with it back on, and throw it on the ol interweb.

And since we’re here I’ll go ahead and mention it. The guy also has this Camaro that has been sold for a while, but the guy won’t pick it up. We’re gonna see if we can grab it from him. It’s obviously a third gen. I’ve seen it without the tarp and it looks pretty solid and almost road worthy. Hoping to snag that if possible.