Adam,
You worry too much. There is no stress on the peened part. It meerly keeps the end piece from coming off. MB designed the crimping tool for uniformity to be sure there would be no problem. That doesn't mean that a person skilled with a peen hammer can't do the job as well. They are just covering their butts as well they should be. I have to disagree with you on V8 chain stretch. They are the only MB chains with a problem, because of their length. They slap the crap out of the insde rail on the left head until it snaps. Every professional sees this as a classic problem. When a V8 reaches about 8* of retard, it's chain time.

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