69 M715 Navy

Hello all,
New guy to the forum here.
Just picked up a 69 from a local usfs yard last weekend and cant wait to get started on her. She's all stock and marked distintly with Navy numbering and Seabees logos. The bed is a service/utility type that I have not seen before. I was wondering if anyone here has knowledge of these beds and their history. I'm not sure if I like the bed yet but it might grow on me. The height is a little lower than that of the hood and as wide as the rest of the body. It has 3 or 4 hinged compartment doors on both sides and obviously made for the vehicle. Any info would be appreciated. Great site!
-Osok

I own this type. This is the contact maintinance version.The one you are looking at sounds like the telephone maint. version.Please post some pics when you can. Scott

could it be the rare M726?.... I have a m715 so I am very interested in this conversation.

It looks very similar to this truck in the attachment but with the top of the bed rails being at or lower than the hood height (if that makes sense). Hopefully I can get some pics up in the next few days.
-Osok

FWIW I've seen M715s with the rear fenders removed and boxes bolted to the original bedsides.

If you scroll about halfway down the page on the link below - you'll see a photo of a M726.

http://www.militaryvehiclesmagazine...2&articleid=6816&articlemid=5695#5695Articles

Hope this helps,
David

Oh and welcome to the greatest site on the web.

My new rig is definately not the M726. The service bed on the M726 is a good foot and a half taller than mine, good looking truck though. I'll get some pics out to you guys if I can ever get home again.
Thanks,
-Osok

RICE670, that is one sweet looking Kaiser you have!!

man if you have the 6217 truck you need to contact me with an offer....

Your dataplate will indicate the source of your truck. Does the truck have a winch. It sounds like the utility box is something added later.
M715 - cargo truck
M726 - telephone maintenance truck (with winch)
M724 - chassis cab (with winch). These trucks are often found with the 6217 contact maintenance body (mine was manufactured in 1970) which included a welder/generator. Not all 6217's are M724's. Some were converted from M715 w/w trucks later. My later version has a 1976 manufacture date.

I am guessing now that it's a M724 chassis cab (with the braden pto winch) with the 6217 maintenance bed. Like I said I havent had more than a few minutes to check her out after getting it home. Does anyone have a pic of a 6217 bed? The left rear compartment is formed to hold some type of cylinder, about the size of a 5 gallon propane tank. Does that help any in figuring this thing out? Thanks for all the responses.
-Osok

Welcome to the addiction. Us -715 series owners are a rare breed. Oh, and by the way:

Rice

I really love the look of your truck...excellent work to restore it.

Andy

osok said:

I am guessing now that it's a M724 chassis cab (with the braden pto winch) with the 6217 maintenance bed. Like I said I havent had more than a few minutes to check her out after getting it home. Does anyone have a pic of a 6217 bed? The left rear compartment is formed to hold some type of cylinder, about the size of a 5 gallon propane tank. Does that help any in figuring this thing out? Thanks for all the responses.
-Osok

Click to expand...

The pic Rice posted is of a M724 with the 6217 bed. The 6217 has full height sides and a roof section. It sounds more like your truck was a M715 that has had a bed swapped somewhere along it's life with a civilian bed. Unless you can find a data tag on the bed somewhere I would say it's a civilain swap done by the USFS. If you haven't been there yet, stop over to the http://www.m715zone.com there is tons of info specificly about these trucks on that site. Welcome and enjoy your 5/4 ton.

OK, I haven't made it home yet so I called my son to track down some #'s. Heres what he gave me:

1969 Telephone utility truck M726
Serial # 10211
Registration # 94-75198
FSN # 2C2320-921-6833

After looking at Rices' truck and seeing mine is a telephone utility vehicle, I'm thinking my utility box was cut down and custom made by the Seabees. They did such a good job it looks factory. Again, I will get some pics up as soon as I can make it home. What can you guys tell me from these #'s and does anyone know what the right rear compartment was meant to hold?
thanks,
Osok

I bet the holder you are seeing is for a water keg.Drinking water that is. Mine is an oddity that it is a converted m715 done by watervalit arsonal in 1974.I actually met a guy at a show that works there and saw these trucks during the conversions.I have done alot of work on it and still not quite complete. Scott

I checked at the zone and there are only 7 of these registered. It also has the hood mounted air cleaner contraption, looks like something off a big rig! Is there a fording kit available for this air intake system?

RICE, got any more pics of your truck you could share with us?

osok said:

I checked at the zone and there are only 7 of these registered. It also has the hood mounted air cleaner contraption, looks like something off a big rig! Is there a fording kit available for this air intake system?

Click to expand...

That is the standard air filter system for them that was put into production starting with the 68' trucks.( along with a govenor) There is no deep water fording kit for those systems. The deep water fording kit for the M715 family of vehicles was designed to be used with the original style air filter that was on the 67' trucks. You can adapt back to a 67' style filter and then use the fording kit with that if you want. The question would be why add a fording kit? Are you planning to drive the truck through 6 feet of water. The truck will currently ford water up to the height of the air filter which is around 3 feet.