Factory Winches

I want to put a winch on my M-715, and would like to put a stock one. How reliable and strong is the stock winch, and how hard is it to get hold of? Would I be better of to just get a Warn winch or something comparable? Thanks

The stock winch is a power take off type, runs off a driveshaft, a Braden LU4. its very strong but rather expensive to obtain since you will need not just the winch but all the frame adapters, pto, driveshaft and miriad other parts to complete it.

Yeah I kinda figured it would be pretty expensive. Well maybe I'll just put a Warn winch on their temporarily until I get the money together to go with an all stock one.

By the time all is said and done, it may not be all that much more expensive than going with a Warn winch. I've seen the $1,000 figure tossed around as being about what to expect to pay for the stock winch setup. Probably a bit more than that, but you'll be into it at least that much with a 12,000# Warn electric winch once you add in mounting for it, etc. :dunno:

Ask around a while before you settle on a decision.

Oh, one more thought on the factory winch vs. Warn: You can set the Warn winch up so you don't kill your approach angle nearly as much. Those factory winches stick waaaay out there.

A couple of other little items to consider if you haven't already:

If you are not running the stock transmission then you won't have the PTO port anymore.

There are pros and cons to PTO vs. electric winches. Mostly it is a matter of personal preference, but there are times when one is better than the other, so it depends on your wheeling style.

The weight savings of a Warn, vs. a Braden is immense.

I used a stock PTO for the t-98 transmission, they are out there. I found the stock driveshaft for the stock winch and shift lever. I've only every seen one of these on the for sale board and I bought it. I was given a 8,000lb Ramsey Pto winch. I built my own bumper for it and mounted with the stock driveshafts and pto unit from the transmission. It is tucked up and inside the frame in the front and only added a couple inches in the middle of my bumper.

I would post pictures but everytime I go to Imagecrap and come back here my script has been deleted or is missing somewhere so sorry no pictures.

Sign up for google email. The post your pictures to google videos or something. That's how I posted the video of the m109 recovery trip.

notice: opinion follows,

for what it's worth...i have electric winches on my 715, one in the bed and one on the fr. bumper. i had to winch up onto a trailer once after killing the stock motor and would not have been able to with a pto powered winch. another time i stalled the truck in a swamp, proceeded to burn up the starter motor, then used the electric winch to get out. again, a pto winch would have been of little use. after a few years of using the 715 as a working ranch truck i would not want a pto powered winch. having said all of that, i think a pto powered winch is the only way to go if you are restoring your truck, electric for practical use however....al

You just helped make up our minds. Our 715 is a hunting/ranch truck, and I serious doubt we'll ever be able to completely restore they way we want too. So might as well go with the electric winch. Do ya have any pics of how and where you installed your winches especially the one on the back?

I say PTO or hydro winch. As long as the motor is running you can winch. Over and over again all day long. Even with the motor running the electric will kill the battery. It will also get very hot and you will have to let it cool before winching any more.
Yes electric will get you out of a real bind most of the time if the motor will not run.
I found my LU4 in the back of a civi wrecker, $50. Bought brackets and then found some for free. I made my own drive line from an old gas delevery truck because I am running a sbc.

I own a 72 Ford F250 W/ PTO winch, I've had the truck 25 years, and never had a problem with the PTO winch, With a pto winch you dont have to worry about burning up the winch motor, I also have 4speeds in and 1 speed out . It is true that the truck engine has to be running,but I have yet to have a problem .I used the winch for getting firewood (pulling large trees out of piles,so i can saw them up),Pulling others out of bad spots, getting myself out of bad spots, setting poles for the barn ....... etc. The nice thing about a pto winch is you can run it all day without any problems of wearing down the battery, or heating up the winch motor,I also have a pto on my M38A1 JEEP, and the M715. The electric winch can be controlled by a remote either wireless or wired, which is a nice feature if working by yourself, they both have advantages and disadvantages,Then theres the hydraulic......