[Jeff Higgins]

I have a question for the doctors among us. Are the OEM components surface hardened or through hardened? In my trade, we would typically specify a surface hardening steel for a joint like this, rather than through hardening. The idea is to make the wear surface as hard as possible, while keeping the main body of the components softer and more malleable. This allows the joint to better withstand impact loads without shattering, as through hardened materials might.

I assume the guy who designed this joint is a better engineer than I ever was, and took these factors under consideration before releasing his design for fabrication. Or at least maybe the checker caught it...