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I have a PTO winch on my M37. I have a couple of questions about the winch.
Does the winch have a free spool on it?
What does the small lever on the passenger side do?

I was moving the truck around the yard, I went to hook up to the winch cable to pull it. The cable just pulled off the drum.
I reached under the front of the truck to turn the input shaft and it spun like it wasn't hooked up.
I'm hoping that nothing is broken in side.

your second question is the answer to your first question

that lever is the engage/free spool lever, and you'll need to get it free'd up and moving to get the most out of your winch. sounds like it's stuck in the free spool setting. lift the round handle to disengage the catch from the hole it sits in, and then wiggle the lever to get the knob to drop down into the other hole. you may need to tap on it with a hammer or block of wood, and you will probably need some penetrating oil. mine is seized up pretty bad, doesn't want to move at all. i am currently disassembling my winch to fix that!

If the lever is in the outboard hole, it is in free spool. The inboard hole is engaged. You may need to turn the drum to align the dogs to allow engagement. If it is stuck, don't beat on the lever. It is aluminum and has a very small key to the shaft. You will damage the lever and ruin the key slot. The lever is an expensive replacement. Make sure there is WORM GEAR OIL in both case halves. Aything else is wrong and will cause damage. If the lever is rusted or corroded in position, at a minimum, that side of the winch should be dismantled and serviced. (It is the easy side to service, at least.)
After rebuilding my winch, I made a full cover to help keep the weather of it and cause that problem again.
The old leather seals on the shaft just let water pour into the housing.

Very good advice here. I was also considering making a new shift shaft from stainless, since I seem to like unnecessarily difficult projects. I've not looked into how stainless and aluminum would react with each other, but stainless bolts are used in aluminum marine engines.... So I think it would really slow down the corrosion.

vpw recommends john deere corn head grease for lube in the winch gear box

52PLOWERWAGON wrote:vpw recommends john deere corn head grease for lube in the winch gear box

VPW sells parts to rebuild them, too. I went to Paccar (parent company of Braden) for their recommendations and they specifically warned against corn header grease or ANY grease. Hypoid gear lube is also a no-no. If you want anything like service life in your expensive winch, you will use what is called for by the Mfg. I posted a full list of their recommendations for lubes at various climates and a list of a few other refiners whose product met the specification.
Corn header grease was recommended by VPW to stop leaks. While it will stop leaking (because it is grease, not oil) it will destroy the bushings in the winch as they are no longer getting lubed. You are far better off to spend the time and money to rebuild and reseal the winch with Speedi-sleeves and modern seals. Then, it isn't just a decoration on the front of your truck.

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=8106

52PLOWERWAGON wrote:vpw recommends john deere corn head grease for lube in the winch gear box

NEVER USE corn head grease.

Use ISO 460 Worm Gear Lube. Depending on your operating temps this may vary slightly.

Bert

that's what vintage power wagons recommended

they probably recommended that so you need to rebuild your winch

I took everyone's advice and went with the correct oil last year when I drained and refilled my cases. Same with the steering box and no grease...

Thanks for the information.
I'll have to dig into it farther.
The free spool lever does move, I can't recall what position it is in right now.
I tried it in both positions, but no go. It's probably stuck. I don't know how long the truck has been sitting.

Here is a good site with lots of information on the LU4. The site owner has generously posted this and other interesting information that may be useful.

http://www.imageevent.com/moosecreekmaple/lu4winch

just getting my winch back together after following all the pictures in the link at moose creek maple. I know i saw them somewhere, but i need to find the dimensions for the top plate. the holes in mine are way oversized and i'd like to try and get it back where it's supposed to go. or... i can just guess and make it square and probably get it pretty close.

one thing i did differently was how i installed the end housing. with the cable off the drum it's not too hard. He mentions thick grease to hold the ring and clutch in place, but what i did was lay the clutch end housing on the table, drop the ring in, and install the clutch so it's lined up with the hole and the fork, but just sitting on the hole. then, with the drum on the shaft, and the ring and keys in place to hold everything together, rotate the worm so the keys line up vertical, and rotate the clutch so it's vertical (so you know what you're aiming for) and then just lift the drum half vertical and drop the shaft (with drum, gears, and housing attached) into the hole. mine went right in on the first try without any frustration. it's probably easiest to do it with two guys for lifting, since it's heavy, but with it on a table at working height it was manageable by myself.
I didn't get pictures of the critical moment but i did get before and after if anyone else is working on this and wants to see how i did it.

I hope you caught the error he mentions in his pictures and didn't install yours with the "Error".

Somewhere on this forum, one of our members posted the dimensions of the top plate and the round rod so we could make our own. Tom @ Snake River 4x4 has the top plate in original or checkerplate and the round rod available. When I got my winch, it had some angle iron on the top, twisted and the round rod was missing. I rebuilt the winch with new seals, a couple of bearings and fixed the seized shifter shaft. It now works like new and no longer leaks all over the floor...

I did a quick search but couldn't find the link. It may be posted on one of the members own web sites. Maybe they will see this and get the link posted for future reference. I did find a number of threads where the dimesions of the plate were identified but not the bottom rod.

I'll have to look back and see which error you're talking about, i didn't follow his re-assembly, i just put everything together the way i felt like it should go...so now i'm going back to look and see which part he mentions

*edit*
oh, you mean photo 8? i installed both rings on either side of the clutch keys, and didn't add one between the drum and housing though i i could see why someone would think they needed it...with no fairlead, both flanges of my drum were spread open close to a half inch each, causing the drum flange to wear into the housing. a spacer ring could have been (wrongly) installed to prevent that, thinking the drum flanges are meant to be flared that far. I trued my flanges in a press, it took about 30 minutes going round and round getting them straight again and checking the angle with a wooden gauge block i made. the drum rolls perfectly on the shaft now with no binding.
*end edit*

the dimension i needed was the distance between the hole centers for the top plate (14.5")
everything else can be measured, assuming the two cases are supposed to be square to each other