So this is a new one to me. I inherited a 96 Durango that runs and drives with cold AC. Hadn't driven it much because I was fixing small issues and upgrading some stuff here and there as I had time and money to do. I knew there was an oil leak somewhere in the front of the motor but had a hard time tracking it down because oil was all over the front of the motor. It only actually dropped after it got shut off. After a little research and many many gallons of degreaser it seemed to be the main seal. The balancer had also let go a while back and was spinning freely in the crank . I bought the seal a few days ago and started the process . I thought I'd be able to install the seal on the truck but this morning decided to bite the bullet and pull the water pump and timing cover. That's when I saw the deep grooves that had been cut into the cover by the balancer. I don't have a ton of Dodge experience and I'd never seen anything like that in any other make. Is this common or am I just lucky? Anyway, I went and bought a dorman timing cover for the low low of $240 and went to install the seal on the new cover. Other videos I had watched everybody seemed to just take a block of wood and tap it in. It's not the case with this one. I cannot for the life of me to get the seat evenly to start with. Am I going to have to go get the special installer or is there a secret that I haven't discovered yet. At this point I'm out a little over $400 on a job I thought was going to cost me about 20. But that's life. If anybody can provide any insight into this I greatly appreciate it. It's the 3.9 liter as well. 96 Dakota two-wheel drive SLT 5-speed..

 

You should have taken the old one to get welded or get a used oem one. Can't say what's the issue with the Dorman one but check if the new seal will start in the oem one. Maybe a wrong seal or an issue with the new cover.

 

I usually use a humongous socket to tap it down then finish with a large drift to seat it. The old cover should have had a replaceable seal you could tap out and then put the new one in. I support it with wood and then use the socket and a DBH. (Darn Big Hammer)

 

I got it in after some creative use of a steering wheel puller. Nothing wrong with the new cover, it bolted right up. The old cover was not repairable, it's cheap pot metal and had stress cracks all over the inside. Now on to installing the new balancer.