Wow. I do not buy that article at all, not even for one second. Sure, with a 4.10 gear set you might see the ring gear failing more often, but that's because the pinion is ginormous! All of the 5.71 gear sets I've seen blew the crap out of the pinion gear. I mean, especially in the case of the 5.71, the ring gear seams stronger than the 4.10, so of course the pinion is the weak link.
Mix some axle wrap with the weakest pinion available for the Toyota 8" diff, and you get a broken pinion. End of discussion.
Also, after taking a Materials class, I have learned that Cryogenically Freezing Metal in order to make it stronger, is worthless when the metal is exposed to very large loads. If the material's designed yield stress is much greater than what it is exposed to, then Freezing the object in order to reduce the number of surface dislocations and to decrease grain size (thus reducing crack propaganda) will usually make the material tougher, not necessarily stronger, but tougher so that it will last longer without wearing or deforming. But if the material is already operating at loads that are close to or exceeding its designed yield stress, then freezing it will have no effect on preventing permanent plastic deformation (the object breaking).
At least that is what I learned. So Freezing a gear set makes more sense with the 4.10 gear set rather than the 5.71 gear set, because the 4.10 gear set can handle greater loads without breaking (deforming). Just like it would make more sense to freeze a FJ80 birfield then a mini truck birfield..
BigMike
