I like that 20 times
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It will be a freightliner…
this found me yesterday while i was running ice.
4 good tires and working water heater
tires are 18" though. they’ll fit something sooner or later…or we’ll use for barter goods.
.
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I’m the same way. Anything I can grab off the side of the road I’ll jump out and grab. Found two hot water heaters and some spare wheels that way.
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This followed me home in the back of the geo last week. Missing gas cab and one wheel was seized on the shaft, fifteen minutes of heat and beat with some panther piss and the wheel was freed up. Throw some 1203 in it and it kinda farted a little, bumped the primer a few times and it popped i kept pushing the primer to keep it running few seconds later it wound out and started runnin and i started mowing! Side of the road goodies. Never mind its been sitting for several years and had enough pine needles under the fan shroud it started smoking like a forest fire, its fine!
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forum member thierry trigaux from canada is also a proud owner of a nice oliver crawler…
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Not with an updraft charcoal gasifier. I never tried it with a downdraft gasifier but no big deal because you said it started on coalgas very easily.
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Good Morning MarcusN.
Nice find on the walk-behind mower.
Just what you need for our variable conditions heavy early Spring growths here PNW Wetside.
Working and commuting a fellow has to slam-out a full mowing in limited amounts narrow time frames.
Get behind, or want to mown areas growths expand you know well you can force a powered machine like this to hog out dense growth stuff. (have to bungie cord pump up open; or stick wedge open the side discharge flap to do this)
Why a reel-type sweat powered push mower is unrealistic for anyone truly Rural. Only as TomH said you have teener kids you want to keep busy after school on postage stamp lots.
You, JacobN and his brother Luke saw my shop stack up of old used up until unusable walk-behinds. I have decks, handles bases, and wheel axles complete worn out those out doing our actually 1/2 acre around the house “yard”. And the mandated added 3 acres of former cow pastures down at Yacolt home. Very uneven ground with poking up rock shoulders and remains tree stumps roots hollows.
I hadn’t yet brought up the two old beat to sh#t JD rider mowers I’d worn out in the last decade since I turned 60 y.o.
Here some tips to make it live useable longest.
Use Casterol 5W-50 synthetic engine oil. Machine tipped over spill dumped it out as soon as it colors. At gasoline ran out until engine stopped
Before every use, spray can wet down with plastics safe silicone spray those plastic wheels at the steel axles insides and out. An oil or grease there will attract dirts and dusts Increasing wears. No-No.
Last. Do store inside of some type of building. Out on the ground even drape covered the rising ground moistures will react with the clinging grass trash underneath, and the deck corrosions thin greatly. The deck then tin-can rips at the axles base mounting points.
Enjoy the pushing sweating mowing. Just the thing after the hour and a half ass-sitting commute.
Steve Unruh
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Bought this Murray off of my Uncle Otis.
These lawn tractor mowers have a significant problem of letting rainwater collect in the air cleaner and rusting away the carburetor. I’m buying a totally new one to put in here. Also draining the oil in the chance some water got inside from the pulse breather.
I know it starts and will run, it needs two new rear tires. Too bad it isn’t 4x4" golf cart lug pattern I could swap those wheels out in a heartbeat.
This must be a 90s model, not as square as the 80s models.
Oh if I had the money for a Vertical Shaft Predator v twin. This would be a hellacious woodgas mower.
Looking at the date code looks like it’s from 1990. Checks out with a quick Google Image search for a 1990 Murray.
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Manual transmission or hydrostatic Cody?
S.U.
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I am not sure but I think it’s manual, has multiple gear modes. It’s a rear transaxle. Feels like a Peerless detent shift style.
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Update on the Murray: changed the rusty carburetor out and replaced the dry rotted valve stems in the rear wheels. Inflated tires to proper 12psi max. She runs like a scalded dog now!
I can see why everyone that builds a gasifier for a lawn mower mounts them up front, with my fat butt in the seat if I pop the clutch in 5th gear it does a wheelie.
Only thing I’m having trouble with now is either the battery or the charging stator. I am pretty sure the battery is just dead, I need to grab my multimeter and see if I’m getting charge voltage. I’m considering adding a rope start cup to the flywheel.
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I can comment on that (before I get kidded about that happening to me at Argos). Thankfully there were enough men around that were not laughing to set me back straight again. 
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The voltage regular could also be the culprit.
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Ten years ago something we was a bunch of guy’s arranging a lawnmower race, nothing fancy, swapping pulleys and stuff, some of us had wheelie-bars on those tractors, using ordinary rubber-belts don’t help, they really grip, so it’s impossible to slip on the clutch 
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We used to have lawn tractor racing, but also there was lawn tractor pulling. I have a tractor set up for racing with the pulley swap but the gear in the transmission is toast. It is hung with steel ubolts which froze to the aluminum transmission case. I’m not sure how to get it out.
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This followed me home last weekend:
Guy offered to trade this to me for the flatbed truck I had up for sale. A loader on the farm is pretty handy. This one is a circa 1959 Ford 881 Powermaster tractor, with a Select-O-Speed transmission… basically an early powershift. 540/1000/ground speed PTO, 56hp diesel engine that was also offered in a gas version. Needs a shaft for the front-mount hydraulic pump, but it runs and drives fine.
Because the engine was offered in a gasoline version, there’s a possibility to convert it in future to be a high-compression woodgas spark-ignition engine with readily available parts. For now though, I’m just excited to get some work done using a loader.
The SOS transmission is a bit of a rare bird, so I’ve done some research on them. Apparently Ford released them before getting all the bugs worked out, and they got a bad rap. Actually the guy who designed the SOS quit because he felt it wasn’t ready to ship yet. He went on to work for JD and designed their first powershift. All the Ford SOS tractors were recalled and updated, and the later models were rock-solid. Still, if you do have an issue not many can work on them. I’ll do as much preventative maintenance as I can while everything seems to be working.
Here’s a cool old promo video showcasing the Select-O-Speed when it first came out:
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Nice score.
I have never seen that type of Ford, it does not appear on tractordata.com. Not sure how accurate that site is though.
Its a lot of wheel weights, if you take those off the rear tires will hold a bit longer 
but I agree, a front loader is handy, once you have one you don’t want to be without one ever again.
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Oh, it is a variety, found it by going in through ford and series.
It says there was a lp gas version too, I like the 1000rpm pto, you can run 540 stuff on low rpm that does not need lots of power, almost idle.
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Chris, does it have power steering? I have a similar tractor, a Ford 850 that does have the power assisted steering and I love it.
Garry C
6 Likes