Murray to IH 1568

[sjoemie himself 3,068]

First of all I again wish to say 'thank you' to you for checking in on this project. Just saw that the viewcounter surpassed the 7000 views and more than 220 comments. 

 

Now for an update. Been working on the 3-point some more and beefed up the upper liftarms.

Since that is were all the force will be applied I made sure that this will not break. Again probably overkill but hey.. more weight over the rear axle is not a bad thing. Anyway here's some pictures for your entertainment.

Any comments, questions or remarks are very welcome.

 

Greetings from the Netherlands, Mark 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[SylvanLakeWH 25,535]

[Oldskool 6,643]

Those are purty. That's alot of blending right there. Absolutely a piece of art. I can't wait to see a video of this running and working.

[sjoemie himself 3,068]

Thank you both. Yes that was indeed a lot of blending. Welding, grinding, diegrinding, filing.. all the good stuff. I tried to make the arm look like it could be a cast and machined piece once it's all painted. Probably going to give the big round parts some more attention. They aren't as smooth as I would like yet, stand out in a negative way.

 

Still a few hurdles to go before I can lift implements with the tip of my fingers but slowly and surely we'll get there.

[Handy Don 12,213]

2 hours ago, sjoemie himself said:

Been working on the 3-point some more and beefed up the upper liftarms.

With the amount of work and craft going into this, I'm amazed you have time to do anything else (work, social life, eating, sleeping, etc.)

Even without the paint, those arms do look like worked castings or even CNC'd components.

Thank YOU for the entertainment.

[ebinmaine 67,422]

5 minutes ago, Handy Don said:

work, social life, eating, sleeping, etc

work, quit

social life, what friends?? 

eating, starving 

sleeping, 2 hours a nite is plenty 

etc, what etc?? This build. All.  

 

 

@sjoemie himself 

Seriously Mark. 

Just superb work. 

 

[sjoemie himself 3,068]

@Handy Don and @ebinmaine thank you for the compliments.

In all honesty..

social life is.. well non existant 

eating..  i'm pretty skinny so I don't need that much food anyway

 

Seriously though.. i'm currently unemployed so have a lot more time on my hands than normal.

Chances for getting another job are looking pretty promising so although i'll have less free time it will be good getting back to a regular job.

 

Edited September 19, 2022 by sjoemie himself
Typo, thanks to lovely auto-correct

[Stormin 9,981]

 Just been catching up on this. Really superb work, Mark. 

[Pullstart 62,834]

So much art in every picture!  Awesome stuff!  
 

On a side note, I subbed to the thread (not sure why I wasn’t?) so I don’t have to catch up a month of posts at a time!  

[sjoemie himself 3,068]

Thank you very much @Pullstart 

You just now made me aware that there is such a thing as subscribing to a topic. Very humbling to see that there are 14 others who did the same thing!

 

Thank you all for following along and commenting, feels very rewarding that other people also enjoy my crazy ideas 

[sjoemie himself 3,068]

It's been awhile since I posted an update. Lost motivation after going to the harvest-show this summer and had some other things to do, life happened you could say.

 

Anyhow.. worked on the hitch/drawbar thingy off and on for the last couple of days and this is what came of it.

 

 

 

 

 

[Pullstart 62,834]

Fantastic welds!  

[Oldskool 6,643]

I can say this.....it is absolutely obvious you love the hobby. 

Everything looks  great

[19richie66 17,500]

I guess I have been sleeping under a rock. WOW what a build. Fantastic job. 

[ebinmaine 67,422]

10 hours ago, 19richie66 said:

I guess I have been sleeping under a rock.  

There are worse places to go...

 

 

17 hours ago, sjoemie himself said:

worked on the hitch/drawbar thingy off and on for the last couple of days and this is what came of it.

Absolutely excellent 👍.  

 

 

17 hours ago, Pullstart said:

Fantastic welds!  

 

[peter lena 8,609]

@sjoemie himself  like your build strength detail , common sense  view of where you are , use some cable / wire wrap as you set up your wiring runs . referring to that mower deck , the collective drag possibilities  on all the pulleys and drag belt routing , could easily be a nightmare on that deck , would just verify every stage , for smooth easy function .  if I  had a shop like that , I  would be in more trouble than I  am already in !  good going , pete

[Zeek 2,286]

That is beautiful fab work, great job! Can't wait to see the finished product!

[sjoemie himself 3,068]

Thank you gentlemen, all these kind words are much appreciated! Keeps the motivation up there 

 

I was able to test the tractor today in a nearby horse arena. Let's say there's room for improvement. 

 

The hitch could be a little higher and wheel weights are definitely desirable.

On hard and damp ground the tractor pulled well but in the dry loose sand I had quite a bit of wheelspin.

 

Was lots of fun though!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[sjoemie himself 3,068]

..aaand some pictures.

 

Was a bit too optimistic in the beginning 

 

 

Aftermath:

 

[ebinmaine 67,422]

32 minutes ago, sjoemie himself said:

wheel weights are definitely desirable

How 'bout fluid filled tires in addition to the weights?

Sounds like you've got oodles of power and looks like the implement really wants to grab in.  

Get that rig to bite ground and you'd be off n running!!

 

[Oldskool 6,643]

Man that looks sweeeet out and about doing its thing.

I agree with Eric. Fluid fill is a good way to go. Weights would help and always look cool of coarse. It does look like you have plenty of power to the wheels. Again, looks great. It looks like a successful first trip.

[19richie66 17,500]

Still so impressed with this tractor. I love all the fabrication photos. 

[sjoemie himself 3,068]

Thanks guys.

 

As for liquid filling, I am still a bit skeptical. Not because it wouldn't work but 1. I have no experience with this and 2. I have tubeless tires, which I understood is not really ideal.

 

With any luck I'll find a pair of matching wheel weights. I'd rather try that first before possibly starting with liquid

 

I am also looking for a couple of bigger but narrower tires for the tractor to make it look even more like the big example. Probably a 14 or 15 inch rim, possibly with duals.

 

The 18hp B&S oppy performs well although it smokes a bit. I drove it in 3rd or 4th gear (out of four gears total) and the engine handled it just fine.

[Oldskool 6,643]

On my Hiram tractor I used Chevrolet 16in wheels from a dual wheel truck and mounted some 7.00x16 AGs on them. I made and welded spacers in the centers and redrilled the lug holes. Garden tractor 12in wheel weights fit perfect. You could do something similar and have duals

[Pullstart 62,834]

1 hour ago, sjoemie himself said:

As for liquid filling, I am still a bit skeptical. Not because it wouldn't work but 1. I have no experience with this and 2. I have tubeless tires, which I understood is not really ideal.

It more or less depends on the liquid used, and it’s tendency to be corrosive.  Tubes are always a good idea when fluid filling, but not required.  Some people even break just one bead on their tire, then fill it up and re-seat the bead with a little air pressure.  I prefer to pump the fluid into a tube, and run zero air pressure, just fluid.