The M-715 Jeep Truck is undoubtedly the biggest vehicle to ever carry the Jeep name in stock forum. Build for the United States Military this 1-1/4 ton truck was often referred to as a 5 quarter ton and carried the stoutest drivetrain ever to come stock under a Jeep. In recent years the M-715 has become sought after in the Jeep community as they supply of them has begun to dwindle. There is little not to like about a full size jeep truck with factory steel fender flares, a brush guard, a soft top and the ability to run 35 inch tires from the factory. The truck was built in three versions for a period of 3 model years from 1967-1969 at which time the government contract ended and would not be renewed.

The M-715 was Kaiser Jeep's answer to a military contract for a truck that could serve both as a cargo carrier and a personnel carrier. To meet these needs Kaiser set about to build a truck with an unbreakable drive train and they most certainly suceeded. The transmission was a T-98a "granny" first gear transmission. The 6.32 to 1 first gear would allow the truck to creep over anything it needed to. This transmission was the predecessor to the very popular T-18. Power was sent to the NP200 transfer case via a short driveshaft. This divorced case made replacement of either item a bit easier since the two were not attached. The NP200 was the predecessor to the ever popular NP205 and featured the same 2 to 1 low range ratio. From here the power was transferred down to a set of bullet proof axles. The front axle is a closed knuckle Dana 60 and the rear is a full floating Dana 70. Both axles are stuffed with 5:38 to 1 gears and a Power-Loc limited slip differential.

With a drive train like this one might imagine finding either a fire breathing V-8 or a torque filled diesel residing under the hood. Instead Jeep used its 230 CI over head cam "Tornado-OHC" straight 6. This engine only produced 140 HP and 210 LB-FT of torque. While this engine was certainly no monster the 210 LB FT of torque which was reached at 1750 RPM combined with the 5:38 to 1 gears meant that the truck would have just enough power to get out of its own way yet not enough power to break axle shafts or drive shafts. The engine definitely had some shortcomings however. The exhaust manifold on just about everyone would crack after a short period of time which would her performance and allow exhaust gasses to find their way into the cab. The other little known problem with these motors involved the carburetor. There was so little clearance between the air cleaner and the inside of the hood that every time the hood was shut with any kind of force it would smack the top of the air cleaner and often knock the carb out of adjustment. Because of the engine problems the M-715 was not very popular with the troops who used it.

There were several versions of the M-715 built. They came in the form of the M-725 ambulance and the M-726 which from what I understand was a weapons carrier. The M-725 is considerably more common than the 726 although both are rare in comparison to the M-715. All three share the same drivetrain and front clip although the other two have a large breadbox appearance that you can see in the Fire Rescue M-725 pictured here. In addition to these two specialty versions the M-715 had a host of power take off applications that would allow it to serve in a variety of roles besides that of troop or cargo carrier. The most common of these PTO attachments would have to be the bed mounted 20,000 and 40,000 lb PTO driven winches built by the Tulsa Winch company. There are many an M-715 which have one of these in the bed and it is not uncommon to find front bumper mounted PTO winches, albeit smaller versions.

Although produced in relatively high numbers considering the length of the production run there are not many to be found today. They were used widely in Vietnam though by the time the conflict was over the trucks were old enough that many of them were left behind as "donations" to the South Vietnamese government. Those that were brought home or which never left the states were used, abused and then either sold or given to government agencies and foreign militaries. There are still M-715s being sold in the government surplus auctions that were used by forestry services and other land management organizations for the last 30 years. This extended use means that in many cases what is being sold is pretty worn out. Some of the nicest examples of these trucks in a non restored format can be found among the fleets of fire departments around the country. These trucks along with Dodge M-37s were often offered to rural fire departments to be used as off road brush trucks where many are used up to this very day.

In the off road community the current trend with these trucks is to build them for mud bogging and trail riding. The unbeatable combination often tends to be either a healthy small block or big block Chevy under the hood and lockers for the axles. Other than that the drive train is usually left stock. By doing a spring over in the front and a shackle flip in the rear enough clearance is gained to mount tires as big as 44 inches with enough clearance left over to get the job done. Now THAT is a TRUCK!

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