Printable View
Very nice! . . I like the conversion, . .using the mounting for the blackout light on the hood for the siren mount!!
diamond plate on fenders? ? ? ? Of Course!, . it is a fire truck, after all, ..that is what firemen do, . .decorate with treadplate, . ..LOL
Thanks for the warm welcome and all the comments!
Yes, it has been converted to 12V. The tail lights are not original, the inside marker lights were removed and covered with stainless steel plates, and the dash has been slightly modified... though, fairly nicely done. The military style light switch was replaced with a pull knob for the lights. I think the turn signal switch broke and was removed at some point, and there are a couple extra switches for the "emergency lights" -- two pairs of red halogens, one set facing forward and one rearward, that alternate slowly when turned on. There's also at least one scene light mounted facing rearward. The siren on the hood works as far as I know, though its been so long since the thing's been in service that I forget where the control for it is. Since I am a member on the department it is leaving, they're not worried about removing the red lights and siren since they're legal for me to have anyway (though I'll have to add a new vehicle to my permit) and they're so old we have no use for them on any of our current apparatus.
Hmm, what else? Yes, it is diamond plate over the wheel wells. I'll have to look closer to see if it's an overlay or standing on its own...
While in the fire service, as you can see in one of the pictures, there was a large water tank in the bed, along with a small pump with electric start, and lots and lots of brush hose, some of which was kept partially charged and coiled in the basket above the tank. The tank and pump have been removed, but the shelf/basket thingy is still there. Apparently when we got it, there were troop seats mounted in the bed. Those are long gone, though. (Although, who knows, I should dig through the attic of the old fire station and see what I can find!!) Also in the current pictures there are no mirrors. They are probably still lying around somewhere, just taken off so it was easier to get around the Jeep while it was in storage, so I'll have to find them.
The drive train is all original stock as far as I know, though at a quick glance the alternator appears it may have been upgraded to a high output unit to run scene lighting and other equipment on scene.
This is the only M715 I've actually seen in real life... the rest of my experience is only from looking online at all of yours, so I'm sure I'm missing plenty of things. That, and I haven't given it a terribly thorough going-over yet. When I take delivery I intend to take full inventory (and pictures). Hopefully you guys can help me tell what else is stock or not.
As for paint-- I haven't decided yet. I really do love these in OD, but I gotta admit, I'm partial to the white and red. The town will probably let me keep the current paint scheme for now, though if they ask me to remove the town seal I'll probably replace it with a Maltese cross for now and keep it white and red.
Haha yes, that is what we do :) C'mon you gotta admit a little chrome diamond plate makes a truck look sweet. lol. Yeah I gotta decide if I want to keep the siren or put a blackout light back on... maybe I'll fab an identical mount for the other side for the siren, and put the blackout light back where it belongs.Quote:
Originally Posted by moosejr
I always love a balance between stock and modified-- a moderate lift, reasonable tires, nice touches like the siren, more comfortable (and safer) seating, bring back the blackout light and military style head and tail lights, maybe a nice roll cage, but only if it looks like it could've been stock. Ya know??
My mint, near perfect troop seats came out of a rural fire district attic. If I remember they had 3 M trucks at one time for fire fighting rural brush fires. The troop seats were found in their attic a few years back and I lucked onto the fellow selling them. What a score. Keep the posts and pictures coming.
Definitely! That's exactly what this truck was used for in the fire dept. I'd almost bet the seats are sitting in some dusty corner somewhere, the more I think about it. I need to do a search or two and see if I can find some good pics of the seats so if I can't find any, I can build some. I'm lucky enough to have access to a fairly well equipped weld shop that I used to work at and am still friends with the owner and foreman, so I can get in evenings and weekends for quick projects (or at least ones that I can pull out of the shop for the workday...)
That's a really nice looking truck. The FD did a nice job on it. Give all the OD 715's around and since yours is so nice, I would leave it in the FD configuration. Make a unique truck. The siren is way cool.
Eh? :confused:Quote:
Originally Posted by syzygy
What "permit" is this you mention?
Up until Monday I had my troop seats out of the truck and hanging on a wall. Too bad I didn't get a picture of them that way. It would have been a great example of what to look for! Oh well, someone here will have a picture to help you out, I'm sure.
Red Light Permit. In most (if not all) states you need a permit to have any colored aftermarket lights on your vehicle, especially red and blue lights. Since I'm a call firefighter I have a red light permit for my Grand Cherokee... and could file an "addition" to add this Jeep to the list...Quote:
Originally Posted by Binford
I'll be posting more pics in a few minutes, in which you'll see large red lights mounted at the base of the windshield, and hanging from the basket over the bed... No permit = several hundred dollar fine.
Great advice, thanks! I think I'm going to take it. One of my friends is looking into fresh gold leaf for me for the lettering, though I doubt I'll be allowed to keep the actual town seal on the doors...Quote:
Originally Posted by kwai
Went to autozone this afternoon (napa was closed) and spent $100 on fluids, then to the station to change 'em. One of my friends was excited to play with his camera, so there are tons of pics available at:
http://m715.djb.eml.cc/
A few of my favorites:
http://m715.djb.eml.cc/0005.jpg
http://m715.djb.eml.cc/0009.jpg
http://m715.djb.eml.cc/0010.jpg
http://m715.djb.eml.cc/0011.jpg
http://m715.djb.eml.cc/0012.jpg
http://m715.djb.eml.cc/0013.jpg
http://m715.djb.eml.cc/0018.jpg
http://m715.djb.eml.cc/0019.jpg
... image limit ...