i have two 97 twelve valve trucks and one spare motor out of a 97 and all three had the dowel pin come out at around 150,000 miles cracked the case on all three got the back of a gear on one but no internal damage wow what luck

 

I personally don't believe it but have heard others say that the KDP will eventually get every 12 valve.
Maybe we can meet halfway...

 

i dont believe it either i have owned a 92,93,two 94's,a 96,and 3 97's all twelve valves and ran all but the 97's to over 200k with no trouble but the i know for a fact that the 97's had a lot of idle time on them so low end vibration must play a big part

 

gkrossander, are you saying that you never had a KDP fall out on you in any of the eight 12 valves you have owned?

Some say around 200K is where it starts to get more and more likely. Obviously that depends on numerous variables and the sheer chaos/randomness of it.

But none of your eight 12 valves had the KDP dealt w/ either?

You should move to Vegas and get RICH cuz your luck is lookin' pretty good! Someone is smilin on you.

 

Also, I posted in another current KDP thread, ("Killed by the killer Dowel Pin): https://www.dieseltruckresource.com/...d.php?t=232244

... to say that I've just learned that all Cummins 6BT's (12 & 24 valve) and 4BT's have the KDP (timing case w/ thru hole) . Even though the timing case was updated somwhere around 2001, there are many in that year (and evidently some 02's) that have the old timing case. So the only way to know for sure is to pull the timing cover. And even if yours has the new case w/o the thru hole that allows KDP to walk out... you should still pull the other 5 bolts in the case and put them back in w/ blue Loctite and snug 'em down. Any of them can walk out and do the same damage the KDP would. I'm sure that depending on the bolts' locations, they would land in a different gear or fall thru to the oil pan more easily than another, but you can't be TOO sure w/ this problem.

I'm not trying to double-post, I'm just feelin the need to raise the awareness level for those people who thought they were exempt from this problem. If it saves one 24-valver the cost of a new engine, it was worth me bein' the squeeky wheel.

Check this KDP thread out.

http://www.dieselbombers.com/24-valv...-question.html

In post #14 the poster attaches a scanned Dodge Dealer receipt from his dad's 02' truck that had the KDP take out the whole case practically. In another post he says he has an 01' that he bought from the same dealer lot (earlier build, upgraded model) and the engine was made at the same factory as his dad's. His has the new timing case while his dad's later build motor has the earlier (bad) timing case.

That is very weird! Must be because he has the upgraded (HO) motor and his dad's wasn't. Even though same factory and later build, his dad's got the crap case. ?!?!?! LAME-O on Cummins for that one.

Also, this is another new thread w/ a 1st gen that had the KDP take a chunk out of the top of the case:

https://www.dieseltruckresource.com/...d.php?t=232673

This is such a huge problem, we shouldn't have to go to 20 different forums and spend days searching multiple web knowledge bases to get the real story on this one. Looks like no Cummins owner is truly safe on this one except for 3rd gen owners.
I think the big Cummins used in semi's, diesel pusher RV's and other heavy duty trucks do NOT have the KDP, but I couldn't seem to find that info.

Anyone care to disagree with (or flame) me on this one?

 

Back when the KDP problem first became evident UPS was spending hundreds of thousands repairing damage in their delivery trucks with the 5.9.

I remember they ended up buying loads of KDP jigs to solve the problem the easy way.

 

hey algea eater if you read my first post on this subject you will see that the pin came out on all three of the 97s i ran all but the 97s with no problems sorry about the wording on the other post the spare motor had the updated case and broken gear one was fixed with jb weld and i robbed the updated case for my 97 when my pin fell out and busted my case 3 weeks ago trust me i dont need to go to vegas ive been had no luck especially with 3 kdps

 

While doing the repair did any of you / anyone find the other bolts loose ?

 

i found no loose bolts on my recent kdp repair on the inside. a few were not as tight as i would like but i removed all of them and applied loctite. two of my cover bolts were about to fall out. i have read on here about others finding loose bolts on the inside

 

Oh, sorry.. for some reason, I did misunderstand your 3rd post and didn't realize you also posted the first one. I must've been tired while reading.

A friend tabbed my KDP for me over the weekend and it was protruding maybe 1/8" out the hole. It wasn't easy to whack it back in.

I'm not too confident in the tab that I picked up from Cummins. I was already ordering $60 of parts (seal & gasket) so I just figured I would get their $1.39 tab. Let me tell you: anybody who says it's a piece of tinfoil isn't lying... exaggerating? Maybe... but it's no more than 0.030" thick. I know there isn't any force behind the KDP that would push it out and bend the thin tab, but it's also that it isn't shaped like the other tabs (teardrop-shaped). It's like an "L" that barely covers 1/2 of the dowel pin. It doesn't really contact the contour of the timing case either - to keep it from rotating.. so that bolt better stay tight! We used red Permatex so hopefully it'll stay put.

 

A friend of mine has a 1990 cummins although he bought it in 1989 the truck is a two wheel drive dually looks like hell but runs great. He has over 400,000 and still the original clutch and he like many others always starts out in second gear- he has never had a problem and really is not worried about the Kdp not sure why- why didnt cummins have a recall on that

 

Recalls are only for safety issues and usually forced upon a manufacturer against their will.
Cummins has never really fessed up to the problem even though they sell the revised case, a tab and a bulletin out with repair instructions.
At one point Cummins blamed the supplier of the actual pin for giving them a batch that was .0001" smaller than spec.
I have a hard time believing that after encountering a few pins that were very far out but very hard to pound back in.
Think the problem has more to do with expansion and contraction of the aluminum the pin is pounded into.