I did some business with a man who has a diesel shop. Works on fords and dodges and big rigs.

I mentioned to him that I had a 93 12V and a 98 24V and had not dealt with the KDP on either one of them. And asked what he would charge to do both of them. He told me that he had NEVER had one broought into him with that issue. But he did say he had done two or three similar ones on dodges where a bolt had come loose and torn up the timiing gears. So he did not recommend me worrying about that issue...although he was aware of the tab part# that cummins makes.

He also mentioned one other thing. He said: I AM LUCKY THAT FORD DOES NOT BUILD THEIR DIESELS LIKE DODGE BUILDS THEIRS....IF THEY DID...I WOULD BE OUT OF BUSINESS.

 

His customers might be lucky- or for these vehicles like 2000 or earlier a lot of roadside techs who see that the cover is split will assume that the block is done for... And give the advice to scrap it and move on.
When I did mine ot was a time when everyone and his dog had proof that the 24V had no issues. My KDP already had come out a good bit and could be wiggled with a finger.
My point is that my personal experience on the KDP is that it does exist, that it can wiggle out and that it stands to reason that it can wreak havoc within your engine. (But I must admit that I didn't personally see an engine damaged by the pin falling out.)

His story about the bolts coming lose.. I never heard about this one, but can imagine that this can come from the kdp not holding the parts in place anymore or from shoddy workmanship during assembly ore repair.

Just my 2c

AlpineRAM

 

It happened to me on my 93. The bill was almost $1000.00

 

Once the dowel works loose and into the gear-train, the case expands and breaks, also breaking the bolt bosses in that area - naturally, the involved bolts would be loose.

The case cannot move if the pins are in-place - the bolts hold the case against the block with purpose of sealing the gasket.

If the dowel works loose and drops into the oil pan with no damage, the various tensions and pressures of the gear-train on the cast-aluminum timing case can work the bolts loose, with resultant oil leak(s).

I impulsively bought a used Cummins\Dodge at random - short trip, totally unrelated mission - saw it, bought it - original engine had been replaced, reason unknown - oil\dirt mud coated the underside from the front suspension to the rear axle, rail to rail, min 1/8" deep - looked like someone had over-zealously under-coated everything, like for salt-water service.

Investigated to find the dowel-pin face just outside it's bore in the timing case, all bolts tight - based on that experience, alone, I recommend investigating the fix - this 'unknown' will be a very expensive surprise.