Alright....you know one time or another, us diesel owners have to face the fact that the VP44 will go out. And for my friend, it was at 32K with a tapped pump wire! SOOOO it is up to us to replace the pump ourselves. I have a pretty good site that i got most of my info on the R&R from. BUT it did leave out some minor things. Like how to take off the crank case vent to gain access to the pump bolt. And does the key way just fly out of the shaft or is it a “Don’t be extra rough with the pump while removing it, and the key way will stay in” type of thing? Any trivial info would be great. I am going to post this site (even though I did get it from DTR) to help others find easy help. Thanks in advance!VP44 Replacement in a Nut Shell

Dan

 

On the breather tube, use a pair of pliers on the clamp ,so you can pull the hose off. Use a filter wrench to loosen the breather assembly,and rotate off. Use a 27 mm socket and remove the pump nut and washer. Useing a 22mm socket ,On the alternator nut , rotate the engine around so that the key way in the pump gear is straight up. Then you can get started on removing lines ,throttle control box, intake ,gridheater assembly,dissconect pump harness and supply and return fuel lines. Pop the gear off the pump . A 15 mm chrome wobble socket comes in handy for removing the 4 pump mounting nuts. Wiggle the pump and remove slowly ,and set on a table. Don't try to rotate the shaft , you need use it for key way refference for the new pump.
On the new pump install the new mounting o-ring place the pump side by side with the old pump ,and rotate the shaft so that the key is in the same location of the old pump. Oil the oring and install the new pump. As you are pushing the pump up to the gear housing push in on the gear to make sure the key is in the grove, check with a mirror to verify. If all is fine and the pump is up to the gear housing install the mounting nuts 35ftlbs or calibrated elbow tight, install the support bracket. Install the pump nut and washer, torque to 94 ftlbs..reinstall breather assembly.
Then reinstall the rest of the parts removed and bleed fuel lines. and drive

As far as the key falling out , What I said above will lessen the chance of it falling out . But out of the 700 some VP-44 I've replaced at work , even doing as discribed above they will sometimes fall out , some get stuck in the gear . Just if in does get stuck in the gear take precaution when getting it out or it will fall in.
Hope everything works out ,
JBHale

 

Everything looked good there, but the last time I looked up the torque of the pump nut it was 125ft lbs. (I'm going to have to look this up again, maybe I'm messin up!). Also when you are removing the nut from the old pump you may want to have a pocket screwdriver up against the end of the pump shaft. This will allow you to remove the lock washer without any fear of it dropping into the front cover. Also be sure to remove the lower pump support bracket bolts before you take off the pump mounting nuts. You'll see this to the rear and bottom of the pump. On alot of the older pumps you'll find this broken so order up the new revised one. I use my steering wheel puller to get the front gear "popped" from the shaft. Make sure to clean the shaft and inside of the gear with brake clean to degrease the surfaces before assembly.

 

The torque is 94 ftlbs, this is the recommendation we got from the factory. As far as brake cleaning the shaft and gear it is not necessary , the gear is not going to slip, the key takes care of that. On p-7100 pumps I don't recommend using brake cleaner either, use contact cleaner. It doesn't leave a film, that can cause the gear to slip. Yeah , I forgot to mention taking the support off, but I did say to put it back on. and if it is broke you can weld it back together, so you don't have to spend any more money.

 

27mm socket on the VP44 securing nut.

You can also just take the TDC mark to 7 O clock and that should put your pump key right at the top.

-Justin

 

Sweet! Ill have this thing out by tonight I hope! The truck is a 2002 so its fairly new...so i dont think i will have any cracked bracket issues. We just got done installing Diesel Performance's FASS system. SO we are excited to see how that will work with the current mods.....Thanks all and wish me luck! After this, Ill be a pro! haha..........well sorta....got to start somewhere!

 

http://www.dodgeram.org/tech/dsl/mt_...specs_isb.html
This list agrees with my torque spec for the injection pump nut, and I still say make sure it's clean and grease free to acheive proper torque.

 

Ok....well i got the pump out and while taking the puller off the gear, it moved quite a bit. I am wondering if this movement would be enough to jump teeth to the Cam(?) gear? Is it posable to dislodge the gear while the fnt cover is still on? I am checking before i put the pump back in soooooo please help me! Also....we contacted Bully Dog....something about while we have the pump out and lines off.....Stage 5 injectors . Got all 6 of em out and waiting for the over night! I want to drive this thing tom to see if i am going to do this set up to mine! haha....HELP!!! Thanks!

Dan

 

J-Body , that spec is old ,the 94ftlbs comes from a update from the factory(i.e CUMMINS). I'm pretty sure that they wouldn't want us to go more if there wasn't a reason.
As far as moving the gear , it is highly unlikely it moved , I've tried to do it once on a rebuild and I couldn't get it to do it.

 

Ok torquemech how bout we settle on 109.5 ft lbs . No worries about the gear moving around. I guess we are used to it dropping a bit and didn't think to mention it.

 

Torque it to what ever you want , just tring to help ,not cause a War.

 

Thanks all! HAHA....as far as the torque....i once torqued a valve cover bolt to 75 ft/lbs..........notice i said once! BUT that was LONG LONG ago.....in a galaxy far far away......


Again thanks! On to finish the project....and get some smoke pouring! BTW...my T-wrench only goes to 75 ft/lbs..........so ill rely on my German Moto....Gut en Tight! Or just run to Autozone.....

Dan

 

that'll work

 

You want to replace the bracket with the updated one as the old style will be craked, and if it is not it will be. So replace it now and save your new pump!!!!

 

come on Torquemech! I put the laughing dude in there ! No wars here, just a poor attempt at humor I guess. Nothing wrong with spewing out info that we both hold true. I've not looked at any recent manuals to see what the spec is. For all I know it's changed since 99 or maybe Dodge thinks they know something Cummins don't . I'm sorry if it looked like I was getting "uppity" about the spec, but I was smiling when I typed that last post.