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Gear Reduction vs Standard Starters

F

Formerly PaMike

Member
So I have seen guys are putting gear reduction starters in tractors to get them to spin faster, but I am missing something in the concept.
There is obviously a gear reduction in the starter. This is going to allow the motor to turn the engine over while drying less current and not "working as hard" compared to a direct drive starter. Because the motor isnt under as much load does it then spin faster, thus making up for the gear reduction? At first thought a gear reduction starter should turn the engine over slower NOT faster. Fill me in..
 
The gear reduction starter turns the electric DC motor faster to get the same starter drive speed. Some say they are great. I have installed some that where made to replace the regular Delco starters on JD tractors. I have not had much luck with them. They have not held up very well and do not seem to crank any better.

Chrysler used a reduction gear starter for years. That is why you could always tell a Dodge cranking. They did not hold up the best either.

I think the theory is that a high speed electric motor does not pull as high of amps as regular starter. So it should crank longer with the same batteries. Some of the better electric guys may dispute this and they very well could be right.

It seems that there are a bunch of companies pushing the reduction drive replacement starters right now. Most are made in China and India. The starter shops say they can be a one shot deal as the parts can be hard to get.
 
I have always had a spare Chrysler starter in the store room for the Chrysler products I have driven through the years. Never had a need to have a spare Delco for the GM's. Jim
 
I've seen them in high compression engines in pulling tractors. I was told they are stronger not faster.
 
I installed a few kits on delco starters years ago. All they ever proved was to ruin a good armature as you had to cut the shaft off. None lasted very long in service.
On the other hand, many new tractors, CASEIH, DEERE and others are using them. Instead of a 30 pound starter you can just pick them out with one hand and you really can't do much for repair on them the way it looks to me.
 
The automobile industry has adopted gear reduction starters to save weight, copper, and, ultimately, cost. It has little or nothing to do with cranking speed.

Dean
 
A friend talked me into one for my 3020 diesel,it seemed ok but looked way to light and small.One day this fall the nose cone broke off and caused it to stick enguaged and before I could get the cables off it ate three or four teeth off my ring gear.So I got to split a tractor,atleast it did need a pto clutch.It now has a real starter on it.LOL
 
I changed several of my diesel pickup trucks over from DD Delcos to GD Delcos over 10 years ago. The gear drive starters crank a bit faster when it's below 10 degrees F .GM changed over in model year 1988 on diesels. At higher temps they both crank around the same RPM. The auto industry moved to GR because they have been proven to be more reliable.

I put a GR starter on my Deere 300B four years ago. The original 700 amp DD Delco needed over $120 in parts to fix properly. A new (not rebuilt) Chinese GR starter was $89. It has worked flawlessly. Cranks about the same speed as the DD did, hot or cold except I never have to use the manual pump destroker any more. The GR starter obviously has more torque.
 
I had a 85 Chevy with a 6.2 diesel. Usually once a year I had the starter off for some little reason, and this was multiple starters. I bought the gear reduction style in 2003 and went 8 years without touching the starter. I got many GM cars 96-03 models with 200,000+ miles that have never had the starter touched.

I got no expierience with gear reduction tractor starters but they are the cats meow for autos.
 
Never really investigated the issue, but after several starter failures on the Ford F350 with a rebuilt 460, I bought an aftermarket gear reduction starter at a performance shop for about twice the money. Haven't had a failure since. Worked for me.
 
Our local Starter Alternator guy said, when I took the pm gear reduction starter to him. There probably isn't anything wrong with it except it isn't grounding good. Then he said. I would be out of the starter business if all starters was made this way. Took it apart and sure enough, you could see where the case was arcing. It just needed a good wire brushing. Made me promise to wire brush the tractor too.
 
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