M715 or M726

Nice site, hope ya can help me.
I have a truck that I thought was an M715 till I got here. My truck says M715 on the title, the registration, the dash, everywhere, but it has the body with the doors and stuff on the back, it is not a pickup bed.
Is it supposed to be called an M726 but was mismarked? Is there an M715 with this body? How rare would it be either way? I dont see production numbers here anywhere and I have never found another good source, heck no one else seems to know what the heck I'm talking about. I hope you guys do.

If it's the utility bed with an open air cargo area between the storage boxes, it's a 726. If it has an enclosed small work area, it's a 724.

If the dash plate says 715 and the serial number matches what's on the frame, it's a 715 with a swapped bed.

Chris

the M724 was the cab and chassis model so it could have had almost any style of body mounted to it. The M726 is the maintenance truck and has a body like LuckyPabst described. M1028

Is there a slip collar disconnect for the rear drive shaft ?? This would be mounted on the back of the transfercase . M1028

Well I guess its the M726 type then cause it is open between the sides. There is a plate on the dash that says the box is by Stahl.
I did match the VIN to your list. It is 30551 and 10-68. But the Stahl plate looks like it was put on the dash with the other plates, not like it was added. Your saying someone would have taken a M715 and changed the bed and aded the plate I guess. I thought it was made this way.
What is a slip collar disconnect? It has a ring on the driveshaft near the transfercase that looks like it might unscrew or something, I'll guess that thing. Is it for taking the shaft apart easy or something? I would just pull u-joints normally.
Thank you for your help, glad somebody still knows about these old trucks.

wideload welcome. your only 216 miles from me.

With the way this thing drives, that makes us about 4 days apart. Reminds me of the covered wagon days!

I just shorten the trip up today, got a 700r4 to go behind my 350. its going to be nice to have an overdrive. maybe I can hit 65.

Wideload, yours may be an oddball. Mine is officially a 726 but there's no "Stahl" tag on the dash. Maybe yours was converted after military service?

Plus I think all the other 726's had early vins like mine is a 10230 but still a 69. Curious, do your cargo doors have locks on them?

I think the disconnect Barry is talking about is for the bed mounted generator/welder found in 724's (fitted with the workshop box).

Chris

I thought it was stock this way, but I dont know. I bought it back in 86 after 6 months of dealing with an old guy at a car lot who said it was a 58 or 59 truck no matter what the title said. They had taken it in on trade. I talked to an retired officer who knew it was in the M715 family and said it was built in the late 60's or maybe even 1970. I told him the date on the dash, he said that made sense to him. He also said he saw one like it before so I figured by that it was stock. Are there any records anywhere to tell more about it or something?
The cargo doors have locks on mine, is that good?
I dont have a welder or generator and there are no holes in there that are'nt being used. I'm guessing there would be mount holes in there.
If it was converted later, is there any way to tell when? How much work is it to change over to the truck bed? It would be more useful for me. Would it ruin its value? Not that it is a beauty, but it is all there and works, though the paint is faded, the engine leaks oil, and the top has got to be replaced this year. I found that New Life place on a different posting. That is what I been lookin for.
Thanks again.

Did it serve with a fire dept? They may have swapped the bed out. Look through the pics, members and misc photos and you should find some trucks to compare with. Dave

Wideload, They would occasionally take a 715 and convert it into a "726" configuration at a later date, I have one of these. Mine was converted in 76 if I remember right. Click the link in this text box and it should take you to my photo aabum if you want some pics of it to compare to yours.
Doug

The reason I asked about the locks is that the military beds didn't have any toolbox locks (as far as I know).

So in my mind yours was swapped over by a non-military user and happened to use the civvy version of the military utility bed and the company "Stahl" popped their tag on the dash so everyone knows who built the bed.

How's that for a theory?

Chris

Oh yea, swapping to a regular cargo bed is cake. I cut my utility bed into manageable pieces while it was still bolted in place, otherwise I would have needed a crane to remove it (I think it's somewhere around 1000 lbs more than the cargo bed). The bed mounts and fuel tank are the same between the two beds. The fuel filler hose is different as well as the filler neck. Beds aren't too hard to come by, I'm on my second cargo bed but beware of rust in the stake pockets in addition to any obvious rust. Also the tailgates seem to take quite a bit of abuse. The cargo bed can be manuevered with an engine hoist and some ingenuity if you don't have any willing friends.

The truck could have been rebuilt later in its life at an Army Depot. Some place like Red River or Tobyhana or even Letterkenny. The Army might have had a need for x number of M726 but its now 1971 or later and they aint making any more. So, they took x number of M715 out of service, ran them through the depot and converted them to M726. Not an unheard of thing.
That's my theory on it.
Call it an M726 and go for it!

Chris, The stewart avionics boxes I have seen have had locks on them., Mine was rebuilt at the Watervliet arsenal, The tag is on the front of the box close to the drivers door.

What's the Stewart Avionics one? My 726 had a Stahl box, I assumed they were all the same?

Chris

You fellas sure are helpful, thanks.
Mine does look a lot like JeepistDougs truck, except the faded paint and a few dents and stuff.
I'll guess then it was built as an M715 and later changed to the M726 type box. That would have been done by the military right? Guessing they would be the only ones who would have the bed for the M726 available?
If I change to a regular bed, is this bed worth anything or do people change to the regular one and throw this one away? It's a little big to leave laying around.

Hey Wideload,

One more thing to consider. My truck has the wrong data plate from the factory. It is a M715 built on 7-67. The serial numbers match on both the data plate and on the frame. HOWEVER, my main data plate is for a M725. All the other data plates are correct but the main one says its an ambulance. My truck was NEVER an ambulance. I guess someone wasn't paying attention at Kaiser/Jeep on that day. All the data plates are in the same condition, all the rivets are the same color and style. I even took the whole data plate bracket off the dash and it looked like it had never been off before(nice fresh semi-gloss OD under there). I considered changing the plates but thought is kind of unique that mine are wrong. :)

So, its possible that the data plates just got mixed up at Kaiser. Plus the M724/726 trucks are much more rare than a regular cargo M715 so you might want to keep it together.

Karl

Dang chris, didn't catch your question till now.

Anyway, you had a 726? or do you still have it?

Like I said, mine is tagged as a 715, but it was aresenal reconfigured in 1976. I assume they could have switched boxes and manufactures several times over the years.

I guess technically I still have it but I cut the box into manageable pieces and sent it to a scrapper. I have the opposite of you, tagged 726 in 715 configuration.

Wideload, You'll probably have a tough time finding someone that wants the bed, of course you'll find plenty that say it's rare and should be worth more.

Sometime in the 50's I believe the light truck makers tried to standardize the basic bed dimensions to make it easier on the specialty bed manufacturers. This is also why you'll sometimes see some farmhick with a chevy bed on a Ford or something ly similar. So most likely the utility beds aren't exactly unique to military use except maybe the lock delete that seems to be on the original 726's. I've seen the very same bed in civvy use but with locks on the doors, that's the only difference I've noticed anyhow.

Chris