By doing so you will save yourself $400, believe me I know

If I'm not mistaken you can put brass nuts/bolts back on instead of the rusted steel ones to prevent them from rusting again.Helpfull if you'll have to replace the starter again .

Just as Mando said, the exhaust has gotta be unfastened. I don't think it's possible to not do it. Having had to do it twice, I've got it down pretty well.

You'll see the triangular flange. That's the one to undo. IIRC, 2 were really easy to get to, but the top one required me to use a U-socket (don't know the name, but it's the one that swivels).

Agreed on the PB Blaster. Spray the heck out of those bolts.

I think I also *loosened* a few more bolt on the pipe further down to give me some more wiggle room.

Now for the starter...Every thing was pretty straight forward. Disconnect battery, remove heat shield, undo starter bolts (PB helps here too, if you've been playing in the mud), wiggle it off a hair, undo solenoid electrical plug, then pull it off.

The hardest part for me was manuevering it so I could pull it through the open space (which you increased by undoing the exhaust). Can't really help you here. Just turn and twist that sucker until you can see that it will come out (took me a few tries).

Now that it's out, open up the solenoid, and replace the contacts. Link for starter contact replacement

I had to do mine twice because I didn't put the contacts in exactly right. The shop I use in town told me that the contacts were not right (They do a heckuva lot of Denso starters, and tell me that we're lucky to have them.) Turns out that there are several types that Denso uses, and the ones I put in weren't seated dead on and making perfect contact with the plunger. I do know that there is a universal contact available, but I recall mine being both a universal and a half-moon contact.

That's it in a nutshell.