Buying a new starter and need input

Hey all! Been awhile since I posted, but I’m in a bit of a pickle and haven’t been able to find an answer here after about an hour of searching (this is genuinely the first time I’ve ever NOT been able to find the info I was looking for here. I fully expect this is in a thread somewhere I just can’t find it, so I apologize in advance and want to thank you deeply for y’alls wisdom).


My starter is bad and I’m in need of a replacement. Called the parts store and was given two part numbers for the correct model year Mighty Max (’84), one with an ignition bypass wire and one without. Both are for the manual transmission. They are as follows:


With ignition bypass wire
R612421


Without ignition bypass wire
R612289


Included are relevant pictures of what’s in the truck at the moment. I’m assuming the dangling wire there is an ignition bypass wire. There’s only a $10 price difference so I’m mainly curious which one y’all would go with and if you know of any resources on the forum talking about starter replacements. I’ve put new starters in other cars in the past, but they were always OEM parts.
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If it was me I would pull the existing starter to see what it is. I got one once that turned out was too short. It did not throw out the gear far enough to grab the flywheel. Apparently the same starter but different body I forget the explanation for it but I still have it. I suppose I will eventually take the guts out of it and put it in the body of the one I am using when it fails.

Does it depend on the ign coil setup. Bypass for a full 12v coul, and no bypass for one with a resistor fitted?

I gonna ask - is the bypass wire actually connected to something? If not and everything is still doing it's thing, there's a chance a PO swapped it for whatever they could get at the time and the bypass wire is irrelevant. If that's the case, get a starter without the bypass connection and save yourself $10.

Thanks for the advice y'all. The bypass isn't connected to anything at the moment, and I can't find anything that it would/could have been connected to at any point. It was wrapped around the battery lead almost as if to just get it out of the way.

Haven't had time to yank it yet but am planning to do so on Saturday morning and march on down to the parts store later that day.