After occasional "clicky" starts. she finally wouldn't wake up at all. Just click, click, click. Knew I couldn't afford a new starter so I ordered a repair kit and proceeded to spend 7ish hours (beer brakes, run to store for PB blaster and breaker bar) getting dirty under the truck myself. Replaced the contacts and plunger, but the hardware looked either newer or just in great shape so I got to reuse those and save some $. Write-ups on here saved my butt. Mostly fumbled with ratchet approach angles, which bolts absolutely had to come out etc. I am by no means a gearhead; slowly learning as I go. As is typical, could do this in a jif now but hope I don't have to for a long while. Biggest pains were replacing the exhaust bracket and dipstick bolts after I threaded them wrong and screwed them in halfway:mmph: oh and the whole one ratchet click at a time thing got old fast...
Glad it's over, and glad it worked: starts like a champ now!