Sidekick summed it up pretty well on installation and it is definitely flush with top edge. We used stainless steel keystock.So far far it is still working well.The only thing I am disappointed in is how fast the stainless steel keystock lost it's square edge.As for shelling at the stripper plate,that has definitely been reduced.The old round rod design that Gleaner has is one of the worst for head shelling.look at any other MFG. and they are all using some kind of inverted stripper design where ear is removed from stalk.Engineers need to take a hard look at this area and get it redesigned.look how long it has taken to get a full fingered auger.Price is another issue on the stripper plates.We compared prices of two other brands and found the AGCO stipper plates 2-3 times the price. My 2 cents for what's it worth. Hyper Harvest II