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Picked up a complete PTO powered MU4 winch kit for my M43 ambulance this morning from the UPS freight depot in Jacksonville, Florida.

And, I just finished dragging the pallet into the shop tonight. Hmm....someone on this forum once said the the “L” in LU4 stood for light. Well, it didn’t seem light to me. I wonder how heavy the steel version is, if there was one. Anyway, I’m going to unpack it all this weekend, study the manual and start figuring out how to install it. I have an M37 with the same winch so I will be able to cheat a little and use it for a pattern if I can’t figure something out.

Otherwise, perhaps those of you who are students of U.S. Army truck history would tell me what color olive drab they used in 1952, the year of my M43. This vehicle underwent a full restoration about 14 years ago and still looks pretty good, but I don’t think they used the right color because it doesn’t match the interior which is a factory finish circa 1952.

The exterior color kind of looks like Federal Standard 24087 which I think is more modern. Maybe not. I think I want to repaint the truck starting with the winch so I would appreciate any advice so I can paint the winch and bumpers the right color before installing them.

By the way, the palletized MU4 kit comes from John Bizal at Midwest Military. The kit includes the auxilery PTO, shaft, winch, bumpers, bumper extensions, universals, etc. It’s a nice value especially if one doesn’t have the time or expertise to piece a kit together themselves.....although I am always looking for derilect M37’s just for that purpose.

Cheers, Jerry

The guys may weigh in with differing info but I recall the earlier paint code is 23050 while the later is 24087 (which I have on my '54).
Gary

When the wire rope is removed from the drum it's not too heavy. I lifted mine up on the work bench.

Is that a rebuilt unit? How are the seals on it? The seals on mine were really bad.

Unpack that puppy and lets see more pictures.

Thanks Gary for the paint code referral.

I took a peek this morning. A bunch of the parts are in sealed boxes with dates on them going back decades. Some parts are obviously take offs. The winch bumpers and extensions are new. The winch is not rebuilt and the seller guessed it would need seals. In terms of condition, if the winch was used, then it must have come off of a used museum truck because it is really clean and appears like factory paint with only handling wear.

There is no cable on it, still heavy, but not as heavy as other winches I have with similar ratings. For example, I have a couple Mercedes Type C winches which go on Unimog Type 404 S trucks. They have pull ratings of 3,500 Kilograms (7,700 pounds) versus the 7,500 pound Braden rating. While the winch ratings seem close, their weights are substantially different in that the Type C winches weigh in at about 380 pounds. I think the difference is the LU4 was designed for occassional vehicle recovery, whereas the Type C for a 100% duty cycle application such as forestry perhaps. Only speculating.

I’ll post some pictures over the weekend. Jerry

LU-series winches use alloy bodies, much lighter than the cast iron MU-series.

The work ratings are full-time on either, but no level-wind really slows down the application without two people.

Critical to their longevity is lube retention...without proper sealing, it leaks out and goes almost dry when you really need it.

The seals stay happier with periodic running. I like to tie the cable off to a pole or such, back the truck until completely unrolled and engage it to pull it back in.

Let it do some work now and then.

PoW