Pony motor starter voltage

Another question about my cat 212 grader.

The guy we got it from had rigged up a 12 v alternator off the back of the generator, also a 12v battery. I seen on the heater it says 6 volts. after a bit of looking i found that the pony motor starter should be 6 v as well. Has anyone ever seen them change to a 12 v starter? Im guessing it is a 6v starter, doesn't look like its been replaced. Im sure its not good to have it getting 12v. Has any one ever done this? How long will it last running off 12 v?

Thanks as always

CRG

pretty common for people to put a 12 volt battery on their 6 volt pony system. it won't hurt the starter motor much but it will damage the bendix in time from slamming to hard.😞

That's a common practice and is not likely to hurt the starter unless you crank it to death. Doesn't really hurt the
bendix drive but has been known to be hard on bendix drive springs resulting in breaking some.