[jorgeh]

My starter began acting up at about 185K mi. But it didn't last long. After failing to start only a few times, I was forced to replace it. Now at 188K mi. I replaced the complete starter.
My reasoning:
1.- All the excellent advise in this forum helped do the job quickly and easily.
2.- After opening my starter, the contacts did not look that bad (in comparison to some of the pictures I've seen on this forum). So I suspected it could have been a combination of things.
3.- The dealer is REALLY far from my house. So I opted for an aftermarket unit. (Inspection of the seals made me decide not to replace them, so that saved me the trip to the stealer).
4.- Remanufactured Denso starter with a lifetime warranty.

Truck starts beautifully now. Hope being cheap/lazy doesn't come back to bite me in the @ss. But as I mentioned earlier, the job is not bad if you read this thread, so If I have to do it again. I'm ok with that.

Thanks to all the guys who provided valuable information, pictures and advise.

--Jorge.
'00 Tundra SR5
4.7L V8