Ok..... I have personally seen/touched this truck. If there weren't houses in the way, I could shoot the window out of this truck with a BB Gun...... I actually got a call from the fella that sold this truck to Hammer, as I have the dealers Cub Cadet in my garage for some service work.
Here is where we are......
It's not air intrusion. Hammer has a piece of tygon in the returns at the pump/filter and it's 100% full of fuel...... even after sitting for extended periods... looks like the returns have been replaced recently....
The Glow Plugs are working correctly, and the afterglow is working as it should.....
It has a replacement pump sourced from AutoZone (before he was on here)
The Gear Tower was removed to replace the pump (Again, before he was on here).....
When I was over there, if you cranked with the starter after the WTS light went out, it would just crank, not hit, no smoke.......
If you waited for a few minutes for the plugs to cool, hit is with a "spritz" of ether it would catch and run on its own........ didn't really have a diesel cackle/rattle I would expect..... if you let it warm up. Shut the key off and immediately try to restart it, it won't start without ether..... it also has no power and will not make it to 50 mph if you drive it.... it also is not shifting correctly, but that's the FIPL out of adjustment, which we discussed....
I am 99% certain (confirmed by the other local IDI guy) the timing is off..... no smoke and not starting..... it's way late...... also, if you CRANK the pump over to the passenger side, it's a bit better..... but, the ether will get the party started and the pump can keep it going, it just won't get going on its own......
Unfortunately, I think gear timing, with a possibility of an iffy pump is the problem.......