Starter woes. Will one work from a automatic?

[Fruitloop]

I recently bought a 92 extended cab with a 4.3 and manual trans. Starter quit working all of a sudden, I bought a starter solenoid and that fixed it. Well for about a week it fixed it. Now most of the time it just spins but won't engage. Might take 10 tries before it'll actually push out and engage the flywheel. Teeth on the flywheel look fine, and it doesn't grind. Is there anything I'm missing? I've looked at new starters and for the 92 year it seems to be a different starter and solenoid than the other years. Whether v6 or v8 manual or automatic. Thinking maybe gm used another source or something that particular year and went back to what they had been using or something like that but that's just a thought. I can grab one from a buddy once I can catch him and get the starter for maybe 20 bucks from an auto trans truck with a 350. Has anyone had problems with fitting starters from auto to manual trans trucks? I can buy one new for an auto any other year and get the starter that I've always seen on a 350. Just rather not buy one that someone knows for a fact isn't going to fit