Low noise and high load carrying capacity are two important characteristics of competitive power transmissions. The challenge in the development@ design and manufacturing of these power transmissions is to meet these requirements economically. One of the ways to meet both of these requirements is through a process known as hard finishing. There are various types of hard finishing and it is important to know which process produces which requirement. The aim of this research project is to induce residual stresses in the edge of the work pieces by different hard finishing processes and to analyze their influence on the durability of the gears. The tested gears are manufactured by profile grinding@ gear honing and generating grinding. The gear deviations and the finish quality have to be comparable. Through this the influence of the residual stresses on the durability can be analyzed independent from the geometrical conditions. The presentation will show the results of the load carrying capacity tests depending on the values of the residual stresses.