Break it loose with a ratchet, then use the gun to spin it the rest of the way off. Youre probably not getting direct rotational torque on the bolt head with the angle.

Pay someone to do it, it is a pain. its very tight, and getting to it to take the out you will need a special tool as its very difficult to get to. look it up on youtube, I tried it and gave up and had a mechanic friend do it.

I think Konkordmusk is right, my first thought was the impact don't have enough a$$ to break it loose.

Also, I read somewhere on here that it was easier to drop the starter out of the bottom of the truck by removing the sway bar. Not sure if that works best or not but when mine gets ill I will look at that option as well as the side removal. I have read where guys pulled it from the side, no problem, and then read where some guys could not get it out the side...

I don't understand why people have such a hard time with this. Find the videos that are floating around and follow the advice on this forum.

I simply used a 20" breaker bar and a few extensions to remove the starter. I pulled it out through the wheel well after moving the brake line and the transmission dipstick. Just watch how its been done in the videos. I removed mine and replaced the contacts in about an hour...and that's without removing the wheel.

I replaced mine a few months ago. Could not get it out of the side. Removed the sway bar bolts and it slid right out the bottom.

Not a very helpful response. Just so you are aware, I watched a number of videos and read a few threads on this and followed all of the advice. My main question was actually related to the size of the extensions. I used 3/8th's but I was curious if I should invest in some 1/2" extensions or if that would not necessarily give me more of a mechanical advantage.

Thanks!

The problem with starters is that there are two different sizes. Those who have worked on the smaller ones are very simple to remove and can easily be taken out of the engine bay to be fixed on a bench. I'm assuming yours was and it's not hard to do.

For those of us with the larger starter, it is a complete pain. If you don't have enough extensions and u-joint connectors to make the contraption needed to remove certain components, you're stuck rebuilding it while it's sitting in the engine bay through the wheel well. I also hope that I never have to do it again.

@Konkordmusk you were at my house when I was working on the starter, gosh that was a frustrating day! BTW the battery still works awesome, have not had a single issue since replacing.

For anyone interested, here's the video I made of removing and replacing the contacts and plunger on the 1.8kw starter on my 2000 4x4. I took mine out via the passenger side wheel well. I know some have decided to work on the starter while it's still in the engine bay, but why? It's much easier to get it out and work on it comfortably on a work bench.

The drive size of the extension makes no difference as to mechanical advantage. It makes a difference to the resistance of the system to breaking. However, the 3/8" ratchet or breaker bar on the end of the extensions will be less than a foot long, typically 9" or 10". So you would have to use a cheater pipe to equal the MA of a 1/2" drive 24-inch breaker bar. If you do that, you can easily snap off one of those 3/8" squares trying to break loose one of those trans bolts. (The starter bolt is really a trans bolt.)

When I did my clutch, I used 1/2" drive wobble extensions from Harbor Freight , plus a few regular ones, adding up to four feet or so, until I was behind the TC and I could use a cheater on top of my 24" breaker bar for maybe 3 1/2 feet of total lever. Made it easy. The starter bolts are simple to reach that way--to get the top bolts I had to droop the trans a tad.

Highly recommend you desist on 3/8" drive for this job--you're just as likely to break the tool as the bolt getting free if it is stuck good.

Oh, I definitely tried. I fought with that starter for almost an hour and a half. I wonder if there's other components that are different throughout the years or something that would tighten or change the dimensions of the space, since I've seen your video but there was no way mine was coming out that way.

For those that can though, it's a piece of cake replacing the contacts outside of the vehicle.

There must be differences in the years if you tried turning the starter in the same orientation I did and was not able to get it out via the wheel well. I do remember cranking on that brake line to get it out of the way enough to make room for the starter. At first, I couldn't get it past the brake line but I applied some more force and got it out of the way enough. It took me a few tries to figure out which way to turn the starter to get it to fit through the space and it seems the way I oriented the starter is the same others did getting it out through the wheel well.

Yeah, I ended up taking off quite a few clips and bolts to move the brake line out of the way considerably, since I was afraid I would bend and weaken the metal lines or even tear one of the old rubber line. No luck . My contacts failed just after 200k miles, so I'm really hoping it'll last another 200k and I'll never have to do it again!

I mean, it's not a HARD job, just a FRUSTRATING job!

My starter failed around 140k. But, mine failed in a scary way and the starter stuck on trying to turn over the engine even after I turned the key off. I figured since the contacts wear unevenly, the plunger was able to get cocked at an angle and get stuck against the contacts. It's the only thing that makes sense to me why the starter would get stuck in the "ON" position.

I'm hoping I'm not a candidate for a flex plate failure because the starter was grinding against it for a while until I was able to remove the negative cable off the battery to stop the power to it.

I replaced my starter contacts earlier this year at a friends house. We followed the steps I found on this forum: dip stick removal, moving brake line bracket, passenger side wheel well etc. It took us 3 hrs start to finish. Would have gone quicker with more/better tools.
Hardest part was finding the correct orientation to get the starter through the gap. That took all our patience. Wish mtbtim's video was around to watch back then!
I did not realise there were two sizes of starter. Reminds me of when my 4runner got stuck in 4wd and I read all these easy solutions only to find out they did things different on the '02 and I couldnt fix it myself.

Good to hear man! A lot of people have been hating on the new Optima's...I've yet to have a single issue on my YellowTop.

Bonus: I moved back to Citrus Heights! We should meet up again sometime.