Hey all, been a while since I been on the board. Been waiting for a nice time to start working on the beast again. Anyway I am still plauges with some starting issues on my trooper. It all started a while back when I redid the heads on the engine (my first time) and was unable to start the engine afterwards. It would always sound like it didnt have enough power to start. Anyway after about a dozen starters (autozone lifetime warrenty <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/butwiggle.gif" alt="" />) and a new ring gear, I am still having issues.

I do have the 3.4L engine swap but it was a new GM goodwrench engine so the starter is still on the drivers side and in the OEM position etc.

Here is my problem.

At the moment the starter either spins out (not connecting to teeth enough to spin motor) or it doesnt have enough oomph to spin the enigine, depending on how many shims I use. This always seemed to be my problem from the beginning, I am pretty possitive it was due to a warn ring gear and replaced it. When I put the new starter on the new ring gear I used the maximum amount of shims that come with the starter, 2. It started fine and sounded "alright" I assumed it was ok untill roughly a month it was unable to start the trooper.

Things that I have checked:
-replaced possitive battery cable
-replaced starter numerous times
-newish battery interstate brand (able to try starting all day long)
-checked starting relay

Now when I take the starter out now and look at the teeth on the ring gear they dont look new anymore. Definitly could be the same problem again but my question is, how did this happen. How can I prevent it from happeneing. Is there any chance it could be soemthing else that doesnt involve me removing the tranny again <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/barf.gif" alt="" />!!!