A 833 vs Toploader vs Muncie (rockcrusher)

I'm guessing I may have been involved in the thread you read. I started out with Pontiacs in the late '70s, and moved into Mopars because of chronic 4-speed transmission problems. I make no excuses about being a big A833 fan, and in my opinion the 18-spline hemi 4-speed is the strongest of the three. The Toploader would be a reasonbly close second, and the Muncie would be the last. I used to street race quite a bit, and the Muncie had alot of inherent problems. I won't type it all out again, but we used to do alot of mods to the muncie to get it to hold together as best it can. Most of these mods came from Chevys involvemnt in Superstock and Prostock I'm sure, and I believe we got alot of the info we used from Superstock magazine. Probably the biggest problem I encountered was the huge amount of torque that was on tap with the Pontiac motors I messed with. The Ram Air III 400, the 400 H.O., and the 421 H.O./421 SD and lastly the "pet" motor that the Poncho street racers used to like to build. The 428 bottom end with Ram Air IV heads. Ram Air IV heads were extremely hard to find, but that was a great build, and the torque from one of those motors could get a big GTO up and down the road in no time as long as you went through the car and lightened it up a bit. Easily equal to the LS6 Chevelles. Add sticky tires, and the Muncie was the weak link.
M-22's were the strongest, but were hard to find. They had coarse pitch gears, and were capable 4-speeds, but they too were prone to problems. I had two, and my close friend still has the M-22 I raced in my '69 Judge. Once I got my hands on a red stripe Chrysler Slickshift gearset, I was sold on Mopar, and I haven't looked back.