Engine/Transmission (1994 - 1998) KDP Strikes Again

[AMelvin]

Just got my kdp kit from tst this week and went to put it in today. Got the fan hub off and S. O. B. , it already came out. Housing has a big crack in it and the oil leak I thought was the crank seal wasn't. All the gears looked fine, no nics or anything. Cam didn't seem to be bent either. I cranked it over and it seemed to run straight. Found the #*$@% kdp laying by the oil pump gears, hardly nicked. I drove it back in, put the tab on, checked all the other bolts, which were barely finger tight, epoxy puttied the crack and siliconed everything i could. I put it all back together and just drove 80 miles at about 70mph. Doesn't appear to be leaking-yet, and it still runs as good as ever. Has anybody ever had this kind of good and bad luck at the same time before? Is this a DCX ticking time bomb or what?

p. . s. if anybody has been thinking you need to get the kdp done, don't put it off one more day. I first read about it a year ago and always figured i'd do it next weekend and now look. :--)

 

[DJb]

Have heard of them pushing out and not doing any damage whatsoever. Also, it's more of a Cummins issue than it is a DCX issue. I guess Dodge could have recalled it had they wanted to but most recalls are made if it's a safety issue or if it's something that's going to really make the company look bad. When you look at the overall picture, there's not that many engines that are damaged from the KDP vs how many engines that are out there... .

 

[fortunate1]

Fixed one like that in March...

It was for one of a fleet of mini-reefers that a local seafood company uses. Ram 3500 chassis cabs with a cold box bolted to the back. The case was broken, but the gears were fine. Used Belzona to seal the broken piece back into place; has worked great since then. Earlier in February, we also fixed a cracked 53 block next to the ATF cooler on another truck. That was also fixed with Belzona, but you've got to watch out for micro-cracks that "spider web" out from the obvious one. That main crack was almost 12" long.

 

[DragonflyDriver]

AMelvin--what's your mileage?

 

[AMelvin]

17-19 depending on how I drive

 

[firemanmarc]

Earlier this summer I pulled mine off thinking (hoping) it was the front seal. I found the same thing you did, case already cracked, no visible problems with gears, and the case was JB welded or something. I ground off the putty, and made a plate out of aluminum, threaded the case, made a gasket, and put it over the crack with Rtv as well, and no problems yet. Though I am planning on pulling it back off this winter and fixing vacuum pump oil leak, and most importantly overhaul motor, 277k and time to up the ante on pulling next year... ... . Good luck, Marc

 

[DJb]

That Belzona is good stuff! Use some leftover at work to 'repair' some very rusty door bottoms on my old 79 D300. The skins were flapping in the breeze. Didn't even remove the rust, just knocked off the loose stuff and piled it in lol. 5 years later it was still holding on and the skins were still being held by it.

 

[Dave M]

That Belzona is good stuff! Use some leftover at work to 'repair' some very rusty door bottoms on my old 79 D300. The skins were flapping in the breeze. Didn't even remove the rust, just knocked off the loose stuff and piled it in lol. 5 years later it was still holding on and the skins were still being held by it.

Is "Belzona" like JB Weld? I never heard of the stuff. Were do you get it?



Thanks.



Dave

 

[DJb]

It's a two part system like JB Weld but they have products that will blow JB Weld out of the water. Not saying JB products are bad but there are different products that work for different things. JB Weld is a general purpose epoxy and is very good for that. Check out this site. . http://www.dbrassociates.com/

 

[Joseph Donnelly]

I saw one case that had been JB or equivalent fixed, and it proceeded to break under the vacuum pump from the vibration and lack of support due to the upper break. Plan to replace the gear case sooner or later.

 

[DragonflyDriver]

17-19 depending on how I drive

My bad, I should have been more specific.

How many miles on the truck?