UPDATE: I had found a broken positive battery terminal.  I always wondered why it was loose ever since I bought it.  But this time it was real loose.  The brass circular clamp had a crack in it, wouldn't tighten down all the way.  That can definitely affect a starter.  I've seen battery terminals physically move or "jump" when not properly tightened down and the starter is cranked.  I added new (+) terminal lug to my fix-it list.
I put in newly rebuilt starter.
CLICK-CLICK
SH*T!
Replaced (+) battery terminal hoping it would help.
Fired right up.

So, a combination of things?  Starter is definitely quieter.  Rebuilder shop said it was simply all worn out inside.  Looks like they put a whole new solenoid on it.
The battery terminal would also explain why I lost stereo power last week.

This may be the end of my problems, keeping my fingers crossed.  I'll post back if the problem recurs.


FWIW, I took the starter off my silver convertible tracker and tried it in my tintop.  It cranked over but sounded sickly, like a toy car whining.  It worked.  Put it back in the convertible and it sounded normal.  Go figure: a starter sounds different on two vehicles with the same engine.  Had BOTH tested and the convertible's starter tested out good and my tintop one had a nasty whine and click when engaging before rebuild.  The housing/body on my tintop starter was about 2" longer than the convertible starter the shorter one had a "REMAN" label on it.  The guy at the rebuilder's said that my tintop starter with the larger body was original since it had the "Mitsubishi" label and was a much better/heavier-duty starter than the reman unit and would withstand more abuse.  Just letting you know that if you go get a reman starter from an auto parts store, it may be a whole different unit and not quite manufactured to OE spec.  May last you a couple years, but my Mitsubishi starter worked for 21 years...

Another update btw...
REbuilt starter gave me trouble-free starts for about a week then i started hearing the click again.  Once in awhile until recently it was almost every other time I tried to start the car.  Had the starter tested, tested out fine.  Was told to either rebuild my entire key switch assembly or add a starter relay.
Ordered Low Range's clicky starter fix and put it on.  (It's on the Samurai pages but I can attest that it fits the Trackers). 
Now I officially have had no problems and the starter sounds like it cranks over faster as if it was starving for sufficient power before.  No clicks, no weak sounding starter, faster starts.  Works good now