Hardened slot walls in a skew shifting continuous variable planetary system

A continuous variable planetary (CVP) system, comprising:

• a first carrier positioned about an axis and having a plurality of first slots, each first slot having one or more first slot walls, each of the plurality of first slots having a plurality of first slot wall attachment features;
• a second carrier positioned about the axis and having a plurality of second slots, each second slot having one or more second slot walls, each of the plurality of second slots having a plurality of second slot wall attachment features, at least one of the first carrier or the second carrier being rotatable about the axis relative to the other to cause an angular misalignment of the first carrier relative to the second carrier;
• a plurality of planetary assemblies coupled between the first carrier and the second carrier, each planetary assembly including a planet, a planet axle about which the planet rotates, a first end cap on a first end of the planet axle, and a second end cap on a second end of the planet axle, each first end cap disposed within one of the plurality of first slots, each second end cap disposed within one of the plurality of second slots, the angular misalignment of the first carrier relative to the second carrier inducing a skew condition on each planet axle, the skew condition thereby inducing a tilt condition on each planet axle as the end cap moves within the slot and the planet axle moves towards a zero skew condition;
• and
• a protective layer conforming to a contour of at least a portion of at least one of the one or more first slot walls of each first slot and to a contour of at least a portion of at least one of the one or more second slot walls of each second slot to protect each first slot and each second slot from damage caused by the end cap, the protective layer including one or more protective layer attachment features configured to attach to one or more of the plurality of first slot wall attachment features or one or more of the plurality of second slot wall attachment features to secure the protective layer within the slot.