1997 Jimmy not starting

Ok, Here it is my 1997 jimmy refuses to start anymore. when i bought the truck it ran fine then the starter went bad in it so i replaced it, then the ignition switch went bad (commonly). then the new starter started acting up... It would become rough to start in the mornings or after it sat and cooled down from running it (but would start easily if engine had been running). it became so rough it wipped the new starter, so i replaced it again with the same type... problem lessened but only for a few days then once again became very hard to start. it cranks but when it starts to catch it sputters,backfires, and kicks like no other. so i took it to a buddy of mine he named things that could be the problem, distrubutor w/ module, igntion module, new spark plugs,spark plug wires, replaced the starter again after it whipped another one. erased the error codes. nothing seemed to work, and now after replacing all of that it takes so long to start it now that either the battery either dies or it eats up another starter without starting. I can pull the ignition module and it will crank like a million bucks, soon as i plug it in it will crank for a few seconds then when it starts to catch it will sputter, back fire, etc. however we were lucky to get it to start and once it is started it Runs like a charm, it runs better now than ever, i took it down the road and it even chirped the tires from first to second. I have ran out of ideas on this... any suggestions would help... For now it is on it's 5th starter, it is starting to ruin the new distributor, and is chewing the flywheel up... This is all happening due to how bad the motor jumps and kicks around when trying to start... all the motor mounts are good too... please advise.

to add to the top post, i became aware of this problem when i took it to get it e-checked, and they found a code on it... (P1345) this code can be erased but when i do it erase it, it won't crank at all for sometime... and once i get it to crank it comes back up.

no one have any ideas??? I am thinking it might be the timing? is there a way to time this?

get you a timing light so you can figure out whether it is a timing issue, it sounds to me like it did jump time.

You can't adjust the timing on a 97.

I'd replace the Crankshaft Position Sensor.

http://files.bighosting.net/tx47658.jpg

Problem Fixed...

The distributor was one tooth out... I found TDC and saw that the distributor was ready to fire #3 and not #1cyclinder. So i took the distributor out and back the gear back one turn plopped the distributor back in and fires up and runs just fine. Appreciate the help guys hope this helps anyone who had this problem BTW when i finished i ran the OBDII sensor and my p1345 code was now gone with no other codes present...

also i had already replaced the crankshaft sensor and it still started hard so i even shimmed it and still started hard that is why i was left clueless till i stumbled upon the TDC and #1 firing position

Is this the same for the 93 Jimmy with the 4.3 Votex system? Mine is not starting intermittantly and sometime stalls and then won't turn back over for a while.