I was told from someone directly at Deere Harvester works that the new ones were assembled with melt rings and fused in a furnace and that was supposed to make them stronger than the older welded versions ?

Nobody seems to know the exact serial number break when the updated gears started from the factory but I know they were available through whole goods by Feb of 1998.

Dave has seen both styles fail but I wonder if this is directly correlated to the machines being used to drive them and how hard and fast they are being ran ?