So after all the speculations and code reading...it was the pick up coil in the stator assembly. It had been months since I had been able to work on my old pickup but once I got passed the "getting it running by February" thing I took the time to do some research while the old beast was parked 12 miles a way. It is running better than it ever has.

Thank you all for all the advice and excuse my being rash with any of you...I am just always short on time and long on problems and I am not used to any kind of machine getting the best of me.

 

Isn't this fun? I just went through the same thing awhile back and these old trucks will make you half nuts sometimes. Look on the bright side, though...If you had no mechanical aptitude you might have been forced to take it to a shop and by the time the 20 year old tech got done throwing marked up duralast parts at it it would have been cheaper to go to Ford and just buy a new F150...

Glad you figured it out. There's nothing left to replace now, she should run great for a good log while!