Widen fenders on M101

[sapper043]

I recently discovered that the space between the fenders on my M101A2 were not wide enough to fit a sheet of plywood or drywall. I was at Home Depot to pick up 40 sheets and discovered this the hard way. I am curious if anyone has widened thier fenders and if they have any pictures of the process. I plan to lift the bed off the frame soon to media blast everything before treating with POR-15 and bedliner.

 

[hndrsonj]

I believe Nickd did that on a M116 so that his mule would fit. There was a write up either on here or in MVM.

 

[Nick]

I recently discovered that the space between the fenders on my M101A2 were not wide enough to fit a sheet of plywood or drywall. I was at Home Depot to pick up 40 sheets and discovered this the hard way. I am curious if anyone has widened thier fenders and if they have any pictures of the process. I plan to lift the bed off the frame soon to media blast everything before treating with POR-15 and bedliner.

From experience I wouldnt use POR-15. I used it on my M101, and on my Dodge Power Wagon.
Its holding up well on the 101, cuz its inside my garage all the time, although it is peeling in some places. But not bad.

Now on the Power Wagon frame, thats another story. If the top coat is done when the primer is completely dry, the top coat will not stick. It sits outside in my driveway. Its peeling, and faded and is eventually going to hafta be repainted. I blasted the 101 frame and all its accessories, which the instructions of POR 15 say not to do. I didn't blast the frame of the Power Wagon, as it says in the instructions and its not working. If your going to put a bedliner on over por 15, it may peel off, and besides, putting por 15 under a bedliner is pretty expensive. For the bedliner on my 101, I blasted it and primed it with an Alkyld (sp) metal primer I got from the local Benjamin Moore paint store. Like 10 bucks a gallon. Por 15 is pretty expensive to cover up. And if it peels.......

So the last few parts I did on the Power Wagon frame I blasted, primed with Rustoleum rusty metal primer, and painted with either Rustoleum flat black or gloss black. Looks 100 times better, and can be touched up very very easily.

from experience

Nick

 

[Recovry4x4]

Devilman96 is doing this mod right now. Was by there the other day and he had the fenders removed from the box. It was a simple (relative term) process of cutting all the stitch welds. It now has 53.75" between the fenders. I'll try to get by there soon but I'm thinking the fenders are already stitched back in.

 

[ranchhopper]

You can take an angle grinder with a cutting wheel and cut the welds on the fenders they are just stitch welded in and will come out in one piece. Take and position them where you want them and weld them back in then just weld steel back in the floor where the gap is its pretty simple I have done a few this way..

 

[Nick]

sounds easy, now i wanna do it!!!!

 

[sapper043]

Thanks for the info on the POR-15. I was only planning to use it on the frame rails and then bedliner the bed inside and out.

I wanted to not have to work on it again once I get it blasted and painted.

The work is easy I have a plasma cutter and welder but I was curious how many other had done it. I think I am going to use 14 gauge steel on the floor when I weld it back in. I have a number of other holes in the floor and sides (from a genset and jerry can mounting hole drilled) to patch before the bedliner will go on.

 

[wdbtchr]

From experience I wouldnt use POR-15. I used it on my M101, and on my Dodge Power Wagon.
Its holding up well on the 101, cuz its inside my garage all the time, although it is peeling in some places. But not bad.

Now on the Power Wagon frame, thats another story. If the top coat is done when the primer is completely dry, the top coat will not stick. It sits outside in my driveway. Its peeling, and faded and is eventually going to hafta be repainted. I blasted the 101 frame and all its accessories, which the instructions of POR 15 say not to do. I didn't blast the frame of the Power Wagon, as it says in the instructions and its not working. If your going to put a bedliner on over por 15, it may peel off, and besides, putting por 15 under a bedliner is pretty expensive. For the bedliner on my 101, I blasted it and primed it with an Alkyld (sp) metal primer I got from the local Benjamin Moore paint store. Like 10 bucks a gallon. Por 15 is pretty expensive to cover up. And if it peels.......

So the last few parts I did on the Power Wagon frame I blasted, primed with Rustoleum rusty metal primer, and painted with either Rustoleum flat black or gloss black. Looks 100 times better, and can be touched up very very easily.

from experience

Nick

I just wanted to make sure I understand your failure with POR15. Is it coming off the metal or is the topcoat peeling off the POR15. I've been having good luck sandblasting the metal then preping with a high PH degreaser(like Dynamite or Butyl cleaner) and finishing with diluted phosporic acid(the kind you get for cleaning the haze off of ceramic tile). I don't use the Marine Clean or Metal Prep from POR15 because they're crazy expensive.

For topcoat I use either Epoxy paint or urethane over well cured POR15 or if using enamal I've used the tie coat primer from POR15 or urethane primer which is the same thing but cheaper. So far(knock on wood) I haven't had any peeling problems.

That being said, I have a heavy civy metal trailer I painted around 20 years ago before I had a set up to sandblast or even heard of POR15. I primed it with Rustoleulm Rusty Primer and topcoated with implement paint in John Deer Green. It sits outside under a big oak tree all the time and apart from fading it still looks good. As so many have said on here, "It's all in the prep."