.... cont'd....(I hate this message length cap!) In the case of the RD145 (Rockwell 2.5 Ton diffs) that took us 1 year more than we had planned on due to microscopic structure issues with the heavy casting cross sections that turned up on metallurgical x-ray scans. So the fact is that you'll see 40 spline stuff as early as November 2009 and hopefully as late as November 2010.
I hope that makes sense to you.
And hopefully you can understand how I wasn't going to win that one either way I called it.
Please understand that the reason we normally don't say anything at all is for this exact reason. People are never satisfied with a little bit of info. The truth is that I should not have said anything at all, but I had participated in this thread as a favor and then read all of you guys talking about modding your diffs and I didn't want to bring out a 40 spline unit later this year and have you guys say "Why the hell didn't you say something back then???". If I knew exactly when we were going to release something then I would have no problem telling you. The problem is that developing performance systems just doesn't work that way. We'll test and test again, and if there is any slight question about the design, or quality of the materials we buy in, or the geometry of the spline profile, etc. then I have no problem with calling off the build, trashing all the stock in question, and waiting until it is right. .... cont'd....