Killer Dowel Pin

[Joseph Donnelly]

A few clarifications: The end of the dowel pin is visible once you take off the stamped steel cover. This doesn't help much as you still can't tell how tight the pin is. Recently, say in the past year or so, Cummins has begun making the boss in the housing thicker so the hole in the aluminum housing is deeper with a step down so the pin presumably won't fall through onto the gears. The hole is still there, though. I don't know why they didn't just make it blind like the lower locating dowel's hole in the aluminum case. You don't have to remove all the gears to take off the aluminum housing. You do have to remove the camshaft (meaning all the lifters have to be held up in their bores with long wooden dowel pins after removing all rockers and pushrods) and take the gear off the injection pump. You can just loosen the injection and vacuum pumps without completely removing them. To remove the camshaft you have to take out the bumper, intercooler, radiator, and AC condenser.

 

[HEMI®Dart]

Last year "bboxall" had some GREAT pictures of the dowel pin and his destroyed timing gears. He does not have them online anymore.

Go to the 12 Valve Archives to read 2 good threads on the Dowel pin.

[This message has been edited by HEMI®Dart (edited 04-22-2001). ]

 

[Hootguy]

All this talk of dowel pins falling out is a little scarry,,,i drive my truck to motorcycle races all over the country and the thought of me being stuck in Podunk somewhere at 3 in the morning has mr thinking i better check it before it happens to me,,,,can i remove the front cover and peen over the hole or maybe tap and red loctite a allen plug in it as suggested before...
appreciate any help i can get
Thanks

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blacked out,96 3500,black,ext cab,KMC Slam,chrome aluminum wheels,continuous wheel balancers,Diesel Dynamics fuel plate and AFC kit,16cm housing,Bill Kondolay DTT torque converter and valve body,K&N filter,Mag-Hy-tek transmission and diff covers,Isspro triple pillar gauges,60 gallon transfer tank,Rld topper,

 

[dustoff]

boy it sure would be nice to know if all of these problem pins came from a certain assembly plant or if it was common throughout all locations... believe it or not my 7 yr. warranty expires next week... . have only 80,000 mi. on her... . now i will worry everytime i crank up... . i might call my dealer to see if i can convince him to go into it and do a fix... probably pi$$ing in the wind to hope for that... . boy some sort of peace of mind would be good on this... .

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'94 2500 4x4 3:54 auto prime-loc tst #6/230 DiPricol egt/boost, cat amputated

 

[JEmmons]

A follow up to earlier post. The oil on the front of my engine around crank ended up being due to the gasket behind the timing cover. The dowel pin did not get me, yet, thank goodness. All repairs covered under warranty.

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1998 RAM Cummins Diesel 2500 4x4 club cab/long bed, auto with 3. 54 rears. Horton electric fan clutch, fuel pump up 15%, K&N air filter, Kitty and muffler MIA. Rhino liner, Centerline comet III,s (16x8), Kelly 285/75/r16, Smittybuilt nerf bars, Lund bug shield, auxillary back up lights, Combo Pyro/egt gauge on a-pillar, Pioneer system w/ 12-disc changer, two amps and a pair of Rockford 10" under seat. Factory OEM fog lights.