Dmazz, I went through the same thing a few years ago when I wanted to put a dump bed on a '49 Chevy I had. I looked for a while till I found a guy that just happened to have an old PTO laying around his shop that just happend to match up to my transmission perfectly.
The PTO itself is not very big. The case is Aprox 5-6" wide x 6-7" tall and sticks out off of the tranny about 6-7", and weighs maybe 5 pounds or so. It has a gear inside of it that is mounted on the shaft that sticks out of the rear of the PTO case. This gear slides back and forth on the shaft to engage or disengage the pto shaft. The engagement is controlled by either a lever or a cable, depending on how old the set up is. The old trucks used a lever through the floor for engagemant, later models are cable acutated.
The outside of the PTO will have a flange around it with bolt holes in which to mount it to the trans. On the side of the trans, there should be a rectangular plate that should match the same dimentions and bolt pattern as the PTO your wanting to use.
When you take that plate off to see if the PTO will work, make sure you have a drain bucket underneath it because when you pop that plate loose, all of your gear lube will come pouring out. If you get to a point when you have a PTO mounted up, then it's a matter of connecting the shaft of the PTO up to your hoist with a series of shafts and a flange bearing or two.
These old systems were reliable for years. And if you decide you don't want to go that route, you can alwys install an electric PTO to run your hoist pump. Many people use this set up when they don't have a mechanical PTO.
Rezman
