Sorry for the confusion, I'm fairly certain at this point that I have a small break inside the fuse box. Maybe I'm wrong but here's why I'm leaning that way:
My no crank, no start issue is intermittent, which doesn't help me when testing things and the truck starts without any issue. So to be clear, while you guys were giving me great advice, the truck was able to start which lead me nowhere to finding my issue(s).
So now today, Oct 12th, I'm back to the no crank no start issue. Now I'll be going back and taking everyone's advice and guidance again, being very meticulous with doing it right. A GOOD BIT OF INFO from today, I tried jumping from batt+ to crank fuse (inside the female end as well) and didn't get any response.
The reason I lean towards the fuse box, it's pulled from a junkyard, when moved/bumped it seems to make something activate or make a ticking sound.
I did order an OEM starter relay online for 10 bux, the 86 (i think) post is pushed in on mine by a quarter inch, maybe a little less. It wasn't like that before. I also grabbed an ignition switch just to test with, can return if not needed obviously.