Little fender bender, now truck won't start

Hi all, long time reader, but now I need to finally ask the gurus for some help. I got in the minorest of minor fender benders yesterday. In fact there was no cosmetic damage to either vehicle. I locked up the brakes and slid into a taxi. My '00 2.7L prerunner kept running no problem. After we got out and inspected the (no) damage, the taxi driver got back in his car and left, but when I got back in the truck - it wouldn't even turn over. Nothing. Well, actually it clicked once and I heard a very quiet high pitched whine or something. Battery is fine, but I had my wife meet me to try a jump start anyway. No luck. I've inspected the wires to and from the starter, but nothing loose or broken. Plenty of juice for lights and radio, etc. I have rebuilt the starter a few years ago, since the internal contacts were worn out.

Frustrating, as I can't find what should be an obvious fix (it probably still is, I just can't figure it out.)

Any ideas? Thanks.

EDIT: the accident was me rear-ending the taxi, but barely a tap. Seems one or two more feet and I would have missed him.

 

Sounds like the starter is turning but the bendix isn’t snapping out, quite possibly pure coincidence that it failed at the time of the fender bender. Put a long screwdriver on starter, hold to your ear while someone turns key. You will know if the starter is spinning. Good luck

 

Thanks. I just pulled the starter, gave it a couple taps and hooked it to a car battery. The gear snaps out, but doesn't spin. I loosened those long bolts that hold the shell together to check and see if the contacts inside were in good shape aaaand... one of them snapped. Whatevs. They have a reman 2.0kW in stock at my local O'reilly's. That's a 20 minute swap. With 10 minutes for the remounting the wheel and clean up.

 

Easy peezy. Well done. I replaced the contacts in mine last week. Take it easy.

 

Actually they didn't have the starter in stock, but the gal behind the counter drove out to a store that did (the 2kW version vs the stock 1.4kW part). That was awful nice of her. Just popped the new one in there, which was super easy with the wheel off. The stocker was weak and getting weaker. Easy swap and now it sounds real nice starting up.