On B.767, at 145 tonnes (MLW) the gear can accept 600 feet/min and at 186880(MTOW) 360 feet/min sink rate without structural damage-or so they say!!!
If I suck up a !!!!ehawk on departure I am certainly not going to hang around below cloudbase,with all the other !!!!ehawks, dumping fuel, when there is a suitable runway to land back on!
No reference to in the event at ORD as I do not know enough details but just a comment on fuel dumping or not!
Landed back at JFK once at 165 tonnes, using full length to decelerate, with only 1 or 2 on brake temp guage.
767 landed back in Rome recently, at 186 tonnes, using just over half of 4000 metre runway. Admittedly you could have enjoyed a fine barbeque on the gear after..if you had the courage! Interesting topic with no clear cut answer for all circumstances.