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The Bendix starter gear on my '59 CJ5 broke. The rebuilt starter was under warranty, but the outfit that did the work won't cover it. They said that maybe a backfire caused the break. I agreed to pay the $75 they wanted to redo it. Does that happen often? Trouble is now it'll be a bit unnerving to start it; fearing that it may reoccur.
A back fire may have caused it? Nice idea but I don't think so. If such a thing could occur it would break the smaller teeth on the flywheel first.
To answer your question, no this does not happen often, if at all. Not to me anyway. Maybe in a Nitro burning car. Your supplier is telling you the Bendix wasn't strong enough to overcome the power of the starter. Hopefully gmwillys will see this. I think if anyone may have seen this it would have been gm. Do they break? Yes they do. Bad parts, China, metalurgy the list goes on. I am not sure if the '59 is shim-able. If so it does need to be correctly engaged or a few things can go wrong, especially if the gear does not disengage. Do you have pictures of this "Alleged Failure"?
A "backfire" would probably be the first on the list I would dismiss. Inferior quality material would be first on the list. That is just my opinion. I've seen them get to the point that they don't work, but never broken one.
There is no where near enough compression in these 134s that would cause enough kick back to break one of these Bendix. Back fire would be down on the list around close to an act of God. The starter is built heavy enough to take a lot of beating, but if the Bendix wasn't serviced, or replaced with an inferior product, then it would fall back on the rebuild folks. Even if the Bendix was serviced, the odds of breaking an original are pretty slim.
It makes you wonder about a possible assembly error. They seem to be covering for something.
Maybe the virus got it.
We can always count on okiemark to lighten the mood!
I have been imagining the guy who suggested a backfire. I'm thinking millennial who likes to play a lot of video games.