6.5 TD fuel full of air bubbles!

[6 Door King]

I need help from someone that has been where I am currently. I traded into a 1997 crew cab 4x4 with 6.5 Turbo Diesel. According to the previous owner the tank just had trash in it and it needed a new filter or strainer in the tank. So, I disconnected the line upstream of the lift pump and blew out the line to make sure there was nothing in it, hooked it back and it fired up after a snort of starting fluid and drove around the neighborhood. Got it back in the driveway, cut it off and it would not restart without more starting fluid and there was a huge puddle of fuel under the truck and across the driveway going in and out, and probably down the street as well. So, started looking around under the truck and the drivers frame rail is soaked in fuel, and the back of the block and transmission also. SO then I pulled the fuel filter out and replaced it, still leaked once I got it restarted, so I remembered reading about cracked filter housings and pulled off the whole assembly. No sign of cracks or leaks, but there was rust in the bottom of the housing so I cleaned it out, blew out the ports and rinsed everything out. Put everything back together, poured some diesel in the housing, no drips, put the filter in, no leaks and it fired and ran for maybe a minute and cut off dead. No sputtering, no knocks or bad behavior. Restarted with ether but only for 20-30 seconds at a time. Suspecting the tank filter/sock I dropped the tank and pulled the sending unit and sock out. Everything looked good but while in there I replaced the sock anyways. Put everything back in place and still no dice. I bled out the lines the best I could by cycling the key on and off and opening the vent cap on top of the fuel filter housing to release any air. I have not yet been able to get the system completely clear of air. No matter how many times I cycle the key and bleed the cap there is always air. Truck will fire and run about every 5th time I attempt to start it and even resorted to replacing the lift pump and still no dice. I know that was not the smartest order to check things but was really hoping it was something easy first, then resorted to cheapest first for replacing parts and now I am just stuck. I don't want to replace the injector pump just to rule it out, expensive way to go about troubleshooting this b!tch. Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks in advance.