ok been a day or two since i showed my ignorance about diesels .so here goes.....i have seen a few posts on the five and six speed manual trannys and several have mentioned pto covers on them ( mostly related to hawkeyes post of his six speed break down ...) my question is is the same type of pto that fire trucks with pump and drive characteristics or farm tractors use ?......and if so then that should mean a much more reliable pto driven winch could b connected to these transmissions right?

Correct. They are standard PTO's. It is everything you think it is. Problem is, how do you get something in it.. I have no room on the passenger side because of the exhaust, and on the drivers side, it is still just a tight fit to put anything in there. I've had many dreams of what to do with it also Air compressor, generator.. Just almost impossible to do.

not sure how much room is really need for some of the stuff ..mine didnt look that tight ...not wide open like back half of the bed but i figured there was room for some stuff.

Most common use of the PTO is for a hydraulic pump for a lift bed. IIRC PTO's cant be used while in gear, so it limits some of the use.

has anyone done anything with their pto ? trying to get ideas that might b useful ...not sure if a pto winch can b used or any thing else that might b useful to a volunteer firefighter/medic

is the gear or whatever in there already? i've wanted to use mine too for something, just have really needed anything!

good question not sure someone smarter than me needs to answer this one:shrug: