orakeljoe

I bought a '93 Murray lawn tractor via ebay last week and brought it home today a few hours ago Since the rear axle seems to be completely wrecked I just have to get a new one.

I hope to find some useful tips and tricks here in order to refurbish the old Murray so that it can cut some lawns next year in the summer again.

Totally forgot to introduce myself: I'm 30 years old and I live near Vienna (Austria). My english ain't the best so please forgive my mistakes

And here it is - hope to get some more pics during the daylight and with a more cleaned up Murray.

cheers!

dangeroustoys56

Actually that looks like just the axle is broken - the trans is up on top of the chassis ( probably a peerless 700 type- lower input, side output gear) - you should be able to just get one of these to be operational again:

Heavy-Duty Differential Axle — 38in. Length | Axles + Components | Northern Tool + Equipment

Its just an axle with a differential is all that is broken.


I have one similar, mine used to be a mower but ive decided to make it a offroad/trail tractor:



Mine has an actual 3 speed transmission under it , came with larger tires then yours ( when it was stock) , was just too slow and the main deck hangar was worn , so i decided to modify it - i added the larger yet tires as it sits in the picture - its still a work in progress.

orakeljoe

Hm...I thought that the rear axle looks like this and that the housing is broken (including the damaged guts in there)


I'll try to seperate the rear axle from the tractor in a few hours. It now stands in the garage since we have very cold weather now so...not that much I can do for now. I'll take some pics again then! I never worked on a tractor before so my technical understanding (apart from how things work like motors etc.) tends to zero. Unfortunately it came without a manual :( and the previous owner treated his tools like junk.


Nice machine u have there! Looks mean with the bigger tires on the front!

dangeroustoys56

The chain to the axle and the pulley separate was the giveaway - your transmission looks similar to this:



The input shaft ( comming out of the top - actually its the bottom of the trans that sticks thru the chassis and bolts to it- its upside down in the picture)- one of the side shafts is the brake ( brake rotor mounts to it) and the other uses a sprocket .


The motor drives a pulley mounted on the input shaft with the belt - then its directed to the axle with a chain. You should be able to see it under the seat/rear fenders .


Thanks about the comments on my agway - those are actually rear tires on the front- i had to weld bolts on the axle ends to mount those on the tractor - only issues with the setup is its got a large steering radius ( takes forever to make a turn) because it contacts the footrests.

Ive been considering making it 4 wheel drive by mounting another trans up front , ill get it in running shape first, then work on the 4x4 part- ill probably have to lift the tractor's driveline a bit for things to line up right.

orakeljoe

I've taken out the battery and I now see what you mean - it is indeed the gearbox (its so small it looks literally cute) you've mentioned.

I think I will try to completely take the tractor apart in the next few days, but the overall refurbishing will take place next year in spring when I can work outside, it's just more comfortable.

What will be done:

- After taking the whole tractor apart, the chassis and all damaged metal parts will be fixed, I want to get rid of all dings and dents.

- New paintjob (candy apple - I think that would give the tractor a modern and good looking finish keeping up the spirit of the original paintjob).

- Every screw, nut and bolt on this is gonna be thrashed and instead new ones are to be used.

- Refurbishing the engine

- New Battery

- New Amperemeter

- New steering whell

- New seat

- New tires

- white powder coated rims

...I think that's it for now.

dangeroustoys56

Itll look sharp all redone - specially with new paint/powder coated pieces. Another thing is you might want to check how much oil is in the trans - it dosent need much- just up to the case half- you can fill it by taking out the sensor on the top , then replacing it.

Keep us posted when you get updates.

Im actually in the middle of 'rebuilding' a 90 MTD Task force ( in addition to multiple other tractor projects)- the original rear of the chassis was so rusted, i had to use a spare MTD chassis - i had to do a lil work on the donor chassis, almost done painting it , i plan on cracking open the transaxle to inspect it and clean it up. All the deck hangars and other chassis stuff will get a coat of paint before being transfered to the 'new' chassis - the sheetmetal will have to wait till i get replacement decals. I plan on doing a 2 tone paint on the rims - black in the dish part and silver on the rim edge - i saw another tractor with wheels like that and it looked sharp.

Heres the link to the thread if youre interested:

http://www.tractorforum.com/f166/90-mtd-task-force-project-18373/

orakeljoe

Does the differential axle you've mentioned fit on the Murray? The differential housing is placed in the middle of the axle on the one in the link, but the housing on my broken axle is like...place more to the left.

Which modifications are necessary in order to make this new axle fit?

I like your MTD project! You're all lucky to live in the US where you can buy these for such a low price often (used). In my nearby area there was the same type of Murray sold a few months ago for 1100 Dollars (DOM '89), apart from my broken rear axle, these two tractors were in the same overall shape. I was so lucky finding one for approx. 300 Dollars (despite it has a broken axle).

In the US you can find so much stuff when you need certain things...here in Austria you visit a local hardware store and often they never heard of the stuff you need - heck I've ordered some ordinary pump spray bottles (where you pump to increase the pressure in the bottle) from the US last year because I couldn't find them here!

dangeroustoys56

The one in the link actually is for a go kart - the sprocket mounts right to the housing - im not sure if you could mount a separate sprocket further out on the axle or if itd need to be attached to the housing. You might want to ask about that before ordering.

A way to mount the sprocket to the axle would be using a 'weld together ' hub and sprocket - a local TSC carries them ( i plan on getting a couple when i get my mod projects going) - heres a link to their web page :

Tractor Supply Company - Hubs

Depending also how good of shape the rear bushings for the axle are- you might want to upgrade to a set of pillow block berings :

pillow block berings from Northern Tool + Equipment

I did that when the factory 30 year old bushings ( 10 years ago) were gone on my '70 toro tractor - basically a direct replacement and a whole lot stronger.


Its odd theres such a hard time finding parts , and how expensive stuff is there .

Lately since the economy is so bad, people have been buying fixing and selling tractors for premium amounts of money - i havent seen anything under $400 lately - back when i first moved here i was picking them up under $75 to free. I actually have enough projects, altho i could use some more parts tractors.

A few projects are modifed type tractors- theres a few stock rebuilds also id like to get done - just cant get enough shed time to work on them.

orakeljoe

Back again

Sandblasted all of the chassis parts, going for a new paintjob - hopefully the next few days!



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dangeroustoys56

Wow - all clean now. Are you having it painted or doing it yourself? Id suggest using clear coat over the paint to protect it.

I just finished my MTD recently - what a pain that was , while it was apart, i painted everything before reassembling it - probably shouldve just swapped everything and just left it alone, altho it does look tons better- i still had to leave the hood original, in order to get stickers for it- i dunno, might just paint it anyway eventually. It was alot more work then i expected.