dampner and front main
 

well last night i went to change my dampner and front main cause mine was wobling and leaking pretty bad. i thought i was gonna jus pop out the front main and drive the new one in. man was i wrong. well anyone who has done this knows you gotta take the whole front of the motor off. when i had the timing cover off i checked the kdp and it was still recessed pretty good bit and i didnt feel like pulling the cam out at 11 oclock last night so i left it as is for now. anyway i went with the cummins parts and i would recoment this to everyone else because they fit nice and the front main comes wit the liitle piece to help itslide up on the crank.it was worth the extra

Why would you have to pull the Cam for the KDP? just tap it back in and peen the case so it can't come out or make a little tab and use the bolt by it to hold th etab.

i figured it would just be a pain to try to put the tab in behind the cam

It's beside it...not behind it. Right out in the open once you pull the cover off.

how big is it? if it was that little thing im thinking about im gonna be pissed

It's probably on the site somewhere here but this article will show you too:

1997 Dodge Ram KDP - Diesel Power Magazine

The KDP is not big - but it can cause big expensive damage. Fix it while your in there. Use loctite on the bolts, as well pull all the other bolts that hold the timing case on (one by one), clean it with brake cleaner and put them back in with loctite.

see i was looking at that little thing but i figured it was bigger than that so i didnt think that was it. i thought it was the bigger round thing behind the cam. i feel like a dumb ass and now im pissed cuz i didnt fix it while i was in there.:argh::argh: