From what I've come to understand after rebuilding a couple the major flaws on the AoD boil down the the tiny 3/4 secondary input shaft, roller sprag, and the stupid band that engages the overdrive is easy to torch if you are beating on it all the way into OD. They have 1 piece input shafts for AoD but the 3/4 shaft is your converter lockup so 1 piece shaft = no lockup and lots more heat on the street, hardened input shaft would be way to go on a street car imo but as you feared even the hardened ones have a bad history once u put power to them. Roller sprag is easy fix they make a diode that is lots stronger. And the only good fix I have seen for the week OD band is don't do any (well many) flatfooted shifts into OD. I only have 400ish hp to mine so not taxing it a ton but its alot of fun with transgo shift kit, chirps em right into 3rd. If I had it to do over again I would probably go with a 4r70w build after seeing the weaknesses of the AOD but like I said I don't make enough power to brake mine since I upgraded it. Not even positive a 4r70w would be better have yet to mess with one, but sure looks better on paper.