High torque starter question

[Baylinerchuck]

After reading AllDodge's post a question came to mind. I didn't want to hijack his thread. I replaced and ARCO starter on my 4.3L due to the the planetary gear being stripped. My question is, is there a frequency that I should pull the starter and clean and lube the planetary gear set? The ARCO starter looked to fail because the planetary was dried out and obviously metal shavings throughout. Does anyone do this? For the price of a replacement is it worth it? I'm a maintenance mech by trade so I may just be over thinking this. Just curious.........

 

[alldodge]

IMO when the starter was manufactured the gearing should have been lubed with sufficient amount of grease. Under normal circumstances there should be no issue with running low. Now the gears being plastic of sorts is another issue. Over time heat a cold will cause them to wear, just like in the 4 garage door openers I've replaced. The plastic just gets brittle.

Now the high torque models should go toward steel gearing

 

[Baylinerchuck]

IMO when the starter was manufactured the gearing should have been lubed with sufficient amount of grease. Under normal circumstances there should be no issue with running low. Now the gears being plastic of sorts is another issue. Over time heat a cold will cause them to wear, just like in the 4 garage door openers I've replaced. The plastic just gets brittle.

Now the high torque models should go toward steel gearing

I've never seen the plastic ones, both my old and new starters are steel gear sets in grease. Thx for the reply.