And how do you know this, if you believe there are no symptoms prior to total failure? If there are no symptoms, then how do you know the bearings are bad? This makes no sense, you just contradicted yourself. Are you pulling every customer's tranny and measuring bearing wear? If not, then it sounds like a lot of conjecture...

The two 722.6's I've had have both been great. The earlier 1998 one actually shifts and drives better than the later 2001-build date that I also have. The 2001-build has a harder 1-2 shift, and the 1998 is smooth as butter in all gears. Also, the 1998 has 2X the mileage on it.

I think tranny life is directly dependent on how well the unit is serviced, and on the driving style of the owner. I have two 722.6's, and know lots of people with them, and I've yet to hear of one needing a rebuild under 100k miles. Not saying it doesn't happen, but I don't know if it's really as much of an inevitable failure as you're making it out to be either.