I keep goin thru the 90ish dodge truck OEM starter and ruining them with about 25-30 cranks , 440 13.8 cr
Its nonsense to keep replaceing,
whats the proven starter out there

You must have a problem.My mini for a 360 Ram reman has been on my 12.5 440 for at least 17 years.Still starts like a /6.There is a difference in the minis.The 360 one is rated higher.If you are burning them up you have to be seeing excessive amps.Mine is even captured by the headers.never a problem.Rocky

Whats your set up.. do you run a separate switch
for the ignition (1 for cranking then hit the
ignition)... whats the cranking pressure.. I assume
it starts cold but a hard time when hot

Kinda funny how some guys have issues with this and some don't. My last starter cost my 69.00 ordered from Advance Auto for a 1995 small block Dodge truck, and is going on its 4th year. I spend a fair amount of time shinning mine and getting it right because I have different set-ups on my cars. Some have powerglide adapter plates and some have UltraBells so it really makes you pay attention and just not throw it on like some guys do. Good grounding is another issue for some.

I use RobbMc starters, never any issues.

http://www.robbmcperformance.com/products/starter_home.html

Thanks what kind of compression on your engine

Powermaster starters for me... They have a couple different prices ranges for tight wads like me... and their customer service is the best I've seen in quite awhile..

Sent in my 12V alt to be upgraded to 16V... I think it was like $35.00 which included return shipping..

Sent in a broken starter that had the housing crack... A week later a new starter was at my doorstep... and at no cost to me..

Well I have run stock mini starters on my junk with no issues. My last one accidently got knocked off my tool box and cracked. I happened to have a powermaster I had picked up in some deal and threw it in there and never a problem with it either.

I too believe ALOT Of starter issues come from poor grounds on the car. Just went through this on my Status. We had some issues cranking the engine and come to find out one of the crimps was loose on the battery ground. Fixed that a viola problem solved.

My current build is app 12.5 but running alcohol I don't spend a lot of time getting real accurate numbers. I ran the same exact starters in my 572 and 500 big blocks that ran in the 8's on race gas with higher compression. My big point was pay attention to details. Some of these starters need attention out of the box. A quick clean-up of the mounting surface with a flat file goes a long way in not only cleaning it but squaring it up. Not as much over the last two years but I run the crap out of my stuff and it doesn't sit around much. Good grounding, GOOD power connections go a long way. Our stock starters are miles above the old Chevy stuff if we set them up right. Aluminum is not a good ground and is a big reason mobile homes used to burn to the ground so often. Anything to save a buck was their moto.

I use Napa replacements with no problem but I also use a start retard. They really wiz bang with 16 volts.

My problem is never the electrical side of operations ,motor spins yet the starter drive always fails to engage or engagee to spin my engine, i will have to inspect with detail the clearances and squareness of drive gear .

Separate switch for igniton, crank up to spin motor then activate ignition to fire

Some of my set-ups have a shim as thick as this.

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/qti-rm-6024


But more are thin which I used to make till I found these.

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/jpt-92472

http://www.jegs.com/i/JW-Performance/564/92472/10002/-1

They will direct ship to you so if you need these they usally come pretty quick. I'm going to order another kit as I'm getting low. If you call JW Transmission they can give you more info.

Meziere is high quality stuff. It cranked my 12.5 cr 572 Hemi like the spark plugs were out.

Lol

Not just poor grounds but bad cables.That and cables that are too small.I run 1 gauge on my 440.When I ran the stock Mopars ones always had a problem slow cranking.That and just because cables look good on the outside they corrode inside.Cant say how many I saw at the shop in 30 years.Weak batterys will also kill a starter.Rocky

I just finished going through this issue. The motor would get hot and she wouldn't crank. Well.. after taking advice from a lot of the guys here I put a fresh starter on, made sure all the positive side cables were getting good connection and ran a heavy ground cable from the battery in the trunk to the bell housing. Also made sure the battery had good cranking amps. Now she spins like a champ (557" 14:1 comp) (Chrysler mini)

and above all, DON'T use those cheap-o battery terminals that retain the cable with the bolt on straps ! i hate those things with a passion ! more starting woes are created by using those dam things than you could imagine ! did i mention i HATE those things ?

finally got out to garage, to inspect starter, the nose is installed in its registry hole, not good but .040 clearance from starter gear to ring gear, shimmed out starter to .125 clearance and while under car with some cranking the starter,, the starter gear a couple time didn't meshed with ring gear , plus the starter gear wouldn't retract, some kind of alignment problem , I believe I have to cut out the midplate in the starter mounting area to square up starter and get my proper alignment . well see tomorrow
I have a ultra bell housing and mid plate

Here's that starter shim pack from JW transmissions if you guys are ever looking. 5 nice heavy duty shins and the nose piece some guys need