M715 for trail rides

Just got a M715 to make into a trail ride rig. It is to far gone to restore but will make a kick butt truck. It was burned in a range fire here in Idaho, it will clean up nice. I will put a new chevy 350 with a dana 60/14 bolt axles and power steering and four wheel disks. It is going to the shop this week end for a cage to be safe.

That one looks pretty nice and solid. I am sure a lot of purists would want to restore it. They are getting rare, a nice rust free example is hard to find. The original gears were good for trail riding, but the slow steering and width of the 715 made a lot of trails a lot of work. Keep posting photos, I had several over the years. It is hard not to buy another. Glen

its amazing what some people think is too far gone to restore and what those of us in the southeast where its humid and lots of rust would kill for!

yeah, i dont know what you paid for it, but in the northeast you would kill to get a truck that rust free to restore. "it is too far gone to restore" is a relative term.

Duane

Looks like all the metal is pretty straight and definitely not rusty! Blast it, rewire it, paint it, drive it......sounds easy I know, but rusty ones are expensive down this way. Good find, and best wishes with the build!

Its perfect completely all stock for a trail truck. Try it before you change it. Tons of power off roading. Also very fuel effiencient.

October 29th, 2011.


I loved the M715's, good power, good speed and built for serious work. I would suggest you think very hard before you start chopping as for a almost 50 year old MV, it's pretty solid and repairable. It's a pity the trail riders don't get their heads togather and buy a shipment of the KIA KM450's, same truck only diesel and brand new. Heck, why don't we put our pointy little heads togather and see if we can crack a deal with KIA.

saddamsnightmare said:

October 29th, 2011.


I loved the M715's, good power, good speed and built for serious work. I would suggest you think very hard before you start chopping as for a almost 50 year old MV, it's pretty solid and repairable. It's a pity the trail riders don't get their heads togather and buy a shipment of the KIA KM450's, same truck only diesel and brand new. Heck, why don't we put our pointy little heads togather and see if we can crack a deal with KIA.

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Maybe I've been living in the dark ages but I'd never seen a KM450 before your post. There IS a striking resemblence! Thanks for pointing that out.

This is not my first M715. Right now I use a 53 M37 for trail rides so I do know a little about stock trail rides. I have been restoring MV's for 35 years I have 18 MVs and 8 trailers WW2-Cold War years. I just want one with power brakes and steering and I do not want a hummer or CUCV. And M715s look very cool.

im with you swordmd.build that sucker the way you want. id love to have another one in stock form, but i love my monster m715. just like "too far gone" the trail build can be undone. your build sheet sounds just like mine. its a great set up. enjoy.

saddamsnightmare said:

October 29th, 2011.


I loved the M715's, good power, good speed and built for serious work. I would suggest you think very hard before you start chopping as for a almost 50 year old MV, it's pretty solid and repairable. It's a pity the trail riders don't get their heads togather and buy a shipment of the KIA KM450's, same truck only diesel and brand new. Heck, why don't we put our pointy little heads togather and see if we can crack a deal with KIA.

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I never thought the M715 had much power. They had a rod as long as a six foot man's forearm and as big as his thumb. Nothing with a 5.87 gear and no over drive has much speed. They had a Dana 60 front and a Dana 70 rear, while they were strong, the axles were oddly splined and not nearly as heavy as their civilian counterparts. They were plenty for the truck though. A lot of parts are getting hard to find. The clutch is odd, the transmission is a Ford design with a lot of interchanging parts, but the input shaft is overly long.

I always like the truck's look, addicted at first sight. The M37 wheel lug pattern and that cool combination of transfer case levers and park brake lever made the truck for me. I never cared for the battery box between the seats or the lack of a decent defroster.

The wheels look cool, that large bolt pattern and nuts adds to the look in my book, but it is also a pain for tire options. There are few aftermarket wheels available and even fewer civilian wheels. The safety ring wheels are safe enough, but many shops will not touch them anymore. It is hard to find fault with the tire stores, the numbers of safety ring trucks are way down and the techs are not familiar with them.

They are neat old trucks, a transition from the old flathead Dodges to the newer V8 trucks. I like the looks of the truck and their history, but I really think the M-37 was a better vehicle than its replacement.

91W350 I have had a few M37s over the years and love to drive them on trail rides. They are one of the best MVs you can have. But out west here it can be hard on them to dive them to club rides hundreds of miles just to get to the trail heads so you have to trailer them. That is why I am building the M715 and a off road camp trailer using a M116. Odiegreen that is a very nice M715 one of the best I have seen. I am building mine with 37-38 size tires, chevy rear springs, under frame mounts( like your ) spring over. Are you useing drums or disks on the rear?

swordmd, are you shure you want to use a over 40 year old truck for off road trail? This truck is a good one, usable for every day (if rebuilt to a minimum standard of quality (bejond ex factory). However, to use these trucks for trail is for my understanding something out of range.
Swordmd, for your info according to my knowledge and feeling: a truck over 40 years old is not realy suitable for a good match of modern trucks for trail. These trucks are in the range of 2 1/2 t deuce when I started with MV. And nobody by that time had the idea that a Jimmy will bee good to compeed in off road trials, also never ever someone had the idea to use a WC series truck for such purpose (even 30 + years ago they have been realy cheep over here).
So iff you want to do off road trails, use something made after 1990!
Wolf
I know something about the M715 with some 90.000 miles with the truck in 30 years.

November 6th, 2011.

I used to get our M715 up to 50-55 with four pallets of solid common brick on the level, BUT the CD director had never had the truck balanced or aligned, so she would start bouncing pretty good if you hit a pothole. This was in 1982, so the truck wasn't all that suerannuated and it would run the wheels off of an M37 that the City had....

swordmd said:

91W350 I have had a few M37s over the years and love to drive them on trail rides. They are one of the best MVs you can have. But out west here it can be hard on them to dive them to club rides hundreds of miles just to get to the trail heads so you have to trailer them. That is why I am building the M715 and a off road camp trailer using a M116. Odiegreen that is a very nice M715 one of the best I have seen. I am building mine with 37-38 size tires, chevy rear springs, under frame mounts( like your ) spring over. Are you useing drums or disks on the rear?

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You obviously have not driven a 715 very far. Jump over to the M715zone and see what they recommend. That is where the die hard 715 guys hang out. I spent a lot of time and money on these trucks, 45 is leaning on them pretty hard. We had trouble with transfer cases getting hot, we ran Amzoil in them, which helped a lot. There is a reason so many 715s have slotted blocks, you know, the kind where the rod exits.

A 38" tire requires 3200 rpm to run 60.

saddamsnightmare said:

November 6th, 2011.

I used to get our M715 up to 50-55 with four pallets of solid common brick on the level, BUT the CD director had never had the truck balanced or aligned, so she would start bouncing pretty good if you hit a pothole. This was in 1982, so the truck wasn't all that suerannuated and it would run the wheels off of an M37 that the City had....

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A 900 16 is 35 inches tall new, that would also be 3200 rpm at 55.

I will have a chevy dana 60 in front and a 14 bolt in the rear with 410 gears that will give me 55-65 with out a problem. I will run the stock NP200, but if it does not work (heat) I will use a NP205. I went to the junk yard to day and got 2 1/2ton M35 front bumper I am going to cut down a little and mount on my M715 I also got the heater and ducks from a 68 jeep wagon. Here in Idaho it gets cold. P.S. I like Steel Soldiers and I am also on the Zone.

4.10 will make a huge difference. You know that the transfer case and park brake levers mount to a bracket cast into the transmission case? That is not an impossible deal to work around, but it does take a little fabrication. You are going to lose the large bolt pattern wheels that makes a lot of the truck's tough guy looks, but your axles will actually be much stronger. Glen

Hey, neighbor!! Nice truck!!

I almost bought (SHOULD have) a 715--saw it in California while on a trip in 2009. I was trying to be a good boy and waited till I got home before I called the phone number to get the particulars. I had already spent that year's rust budget on Cletracs and did not think I would be able to afford the Jeep-didn't want to be tempted into another purchase.

Got home, then called---guy say's " it was owned by an old guy that passed away. I bought it thinking I would use it, but ain't got time---all there- runs needs fuel sytem cleaned. You could probly drive it home to Ideeho with fresh gas and new battery--no rust to speak of, pretty good tires" How much I asked. " Oh- $500.00 I'm thinking, heck the winch is worth that ain't it?? "

do yourself a favor and leave the truck intact untill you get all the parts for your build. you wouldnt believe howmany m715's i,ve bought that was dissasembled to modify and never got done and because it was dissasembled they had to sell it for far less $. also the m35 stuff is way too heavy for the m715.