Engine/Transmission (1994 - 1998) Timing gear case bolts

[BigPapa]

I was talking to a man today about tabbing my KDP. He suggested jigging it. I told him I wanted to check the timing gear case bolts. He said to leave them alone, that when people have a problem with them is when they tighten up all the bolts they can get to which tends to loosen the ones you can't get to. This does make sense to me. He said if I wanted to check them and put some Loctite on them to check how tight they are before I pull them out and put them back to the same torque. This would not loosen the others. What do you fellas think?

 

[MUDDY]

i would pull em one at a time, locktite, and put em back in at the tq that they are supposed to be



i sure wldnt just leave em alone as below pics show what can happen



this is a 92 that harold fixed





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and the bolt that fell out and caused all this carnage

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[Joseph Donnelly]

Don't listen to that "man" too much. Jig or tab, either works; I like the jig if properly done as the tab adds another part inside. I also spray clean, loctite, and tighten all 5 of the bolts inside the case. After all, you will tighten the rest of them anyway--the ones going through the case to the cover.

 

[HBrunton]

with all the talk of the timing gear case bolts and the dowl pin issues,how many of you are checking the bolts that also hold the oil pump to the block? I have seen 4 engines that this was the failure in. one broke the cam,one broke the case,two other ones had lube system failures(crankshaft,cylinder walls,con rods etc... )Just something that I think everyone should be looking at if they are going to have the tin cover off when they are checking the case bolts. All of these failures were in off road engines for what that is worth. ( two were in rotary bosh pump motors two were with inline pump motors)

 

[Joseph Donnelly]

Sure, I always check and tighten the oil pump bolts and the cam retainer bolts. None have been loose so far.

 

[BigPapa]

Mr. Donnelly, welcome home! I read about your accident. Hope your lots better soon.



Since you like the jig AND tighten the bolts, does this mean you do the jig and then remove the cover to do the bolts? How many bolts can you not get to?



Thanks,

Scott

 

[Joseph Donnelly]

I made my own jig years ago. I put an allen set screw through the gear case at an angle so it ends up just a bit from the end of the pin. I have the cover off so I can use a terry cloth towel to collect chips, then I gently spray clean the hole I tapped, and check with a light, mirror, and Q-tip to get anything that got inside. I tighten all 5 bolts that are inside the gear case and holding it to the block, then the 4 on the oil pump and the 2 on the cam retainer. I can get directly on all but one. The bottom case bolt is below and to the right of the lower cam retainer bolt hole in the photo above, that bolt head is white in the photo for some reason. That case bolt is behind the cam gear but I get to it through a window in the gear with a custom bent open end wrench.

 

[hbowers]

I have removed the gear cover on several 2nd gen trucks since I

had to put a new camshaft in a 92. here is what I have learned.

I kept a log on the last ones. the 1st was a 97 w/build date of Feb 97.

the bolts were loctited. then a 96 w/build date Dec 95. the bolts were

loctited. another 96 w/build date &-96, bolts were loctited. then a 95

w/build date Jan 95, bolts were loctited. they all had brown loctite on

them. or some kind of thread sealer. I didn't know there was brown

loctite. any how that's what I have found out so far. I'm still keeping

a log on all I do. I have never seen a 1st gen yet that had loctite on the

bolts. so in my opinion the 1st gens are the ones to worry about.

I worked on another 92 after the one w/a broken camshaft and the bolts

were so loose I took them out with my fingers. Harold

 

[Joseph Donnelly]

I have seen 1994 and 1995 second gens without any sealer on the bolts. I don't recall for sure if 96s did or did not have sealer; I think some did not. I re-seal the later engine's bolts too, and some were not very well retained by the sealer.

 

[bmoeller]

There wasn't any Loctite on my case bolts either. Truck was built 7-97. There is now. I did have to tighten them. They were loose and the dp was out 1/16- 1/8".