Apparently I’m not supposed to go to the trapper convention in October.
I get off work tonight and the blasted truck won’t start… assuming it’s a battery issue, I call my daughter to give me a jump because I left my battery booster at home…
After letting the battery charge ( at least I think) I turned the key and nothing,,
My daughter said she heard a clicking noise…
So we traded places, and yup, it was coming from the starter relay,,,
No biggie, right?
I go get a new relay,,, and, click click ,,, I’m gonna have to crawl underneath that thing tomorrow, after work, in the work parking lot,, and pull the starter out to test it.
150
Bucks is the cheapest I can find with the core..
I can’t save back any money whatsoever,,

So frustrating!!!

Hit the starter really good with a hammer, iron rod, or something similar; I'll bet dollars to donuts it starts.
Then carry the hammer or whatever and start it that way until you have time to put a new starter in it.

I have to do this about every 250,000 miles or so with my Toyota Tacomas; that's about all the miles I can get out of a starter.

Put a charger on it and make sure the battery is fully charged.

Relay???? ???
Connections clean?

If money is tight, pull it and have BIL bench test it.

If the hammer thing works, and I have seen it work, order a starter from rock auto. You will have it in just a few days for half the cost. If you pin point as a starter borrow a car from one of your kids or something for a couple days.

I had a truck once I did the hammer thing on for months before finally eventually replacing the starter. It worked!

Sounds like the starter to me

Try this before crawling under it in a parking lot.

Works 95% of the time

The hammer worked guys..I found a starter for 60 bucks online without the core..
I should have it on Monday.

Go through and clean and tighten all of your connections.

Hammer is a main tool in a old truck lol

"percussive maintenance"

Could reach the starter on an old truck i had with the handle of a shovel. Kept a shovel on the back and occasionally had to tap the starter for months before I broke down and bought a replacement

The hammer thing works on all sorts of starters, from lawn tractors to pick up trucks.

Back in my shade tree mechanic days another trick was to jump the starter solenoid/relay when it went bad by connecting the hot and negative terminals with whatever conductor was handy (screwdriver, wrench, rachet extension, ect.).

How old are you fox? You don’t know about the hammer tap? Last January I had to use a broken Wolfmaster Ram to stick in just touching the starter and gave the end a rap with the hammer. It’s tough to get to it on a 2012 Sierra that’s been sitting in 2’ of snow for a night at the shack…lol
3 years of Power Mechanics in high school is the best thing I did at that age.

I've driven for over 40 years and have had many bad starters. I've tried the hammer trick on every dang one of them,,, just my luck it has NEVER worked for me.

LOL

Gotta hit it in the right spot ACD

Make absolutely sure your battery is good and the connections are all tight and no corrosion buildup before you start replacing anything else. Sometimes a battery just goes bad and won’t take a charge at all.

But why does the hammer trick work?
The brushes get worn down and stick. Rapping the starter with a hammer jiggles the stuck brushes and they fall into place. Works one more time.
I just had to send the starter off my Massey 44 in to be rebuilt since they're not readily available anymore. $200 later it works again.