dowel pin

[JFringer]

im lookin at a 92 ram 250. i was wondering if this year truck was affected by the killer dowel pin?

 

[Skydiver]

If I can remember correctly all B-series Cummins have the KDP up until the 98. 5 improperly valved engines. A few of the 24 valves had the KDP but I have not seen one of those engines.

 

[Bob Beauchaine]

^^^ I second that ^^^



Bob

 

[Joseph Donnelly]

You can read about the dowel pin fix on my 1990 Turbo Diesel in TDR Issue 68, p. 87. You probably should replace the exhaust manifold also, as discussed in Issue 68, p. 85.

 

[JFringer]

thanks for the help guys

 

[MMeier]

Thats what we are here for !!!

 

[Ncostello]

Cummins redesigned the timing cover for the 24V engine to stop the dowel pin problem. However they did use up remaining stock of old 12V raw castings... and didn't keep track of IF a particular 24V got the new cover or not. Part numbers won't help. Cummins told me in an email the only way to tell is to look inside. Some trucks as new as 2002 had been found with an early cover design. Although very very rare for that late.

 

[Joseph Donnelly]

Actually the VP44 pump is positioned a little differently from the P7100 so the castings are different. However, some 24 valves reportedly did have gear cases with no restrictor to contain the dowel pin. some have reported dowel pins coming out on their 24 valve engines.

 

[Ncostello]

In an email from Cummins technical assistance to me, thats the way it was explained as to why some 24V castings didn't have the new 24V ISB casting improvements for 1999. The castings aren't cast... then machined for the pump requirements later?

 

[Ncostello]

And please don't get me wrong J. Donnelly... I absolutely trust your word. I'm just repeating what I was told by Cummins way back when I had concerns about my 99 2500. I was hopeful Cummins could give me a way to identify the improved case so I wouldn't have to open it up. But they couldn't.

 

[Joseph Donnelly]

It is unlikely that a real engineer wrote that. If you look at the two gear cases you will see that they have a cast in boss for the injection pump and it is in a different place, lower down, for the VP44 vs. the P7100. Whoever wrote that is just covering up the fact that the change for the 12v cases began in 1999 and so they didn't fix their issue with gear cases until then, after some 24V cases were made (my supposition).

 

[JLEONARD]

What's real interesting is the dowel pin is absolutely a non issue in the marine application. A loose dowel pin has never been heard of according to the experts.

Marine apps use many different pumps including the P7100.

 

[RedRamAndy]

Maybe the marine engines don't vibrate as much as a land engine since they're hooked to a 'softer' driveline?? Just a guess.....

 

[JLEONARD]

I'm sure it's a function of vibration. Marine engines are also mounted at 4 points.

 

[Ncostello]

The salt air corrodes the pin in place for marine applications.