OK guys here is an update as I have been under the hood with my father the last few days. the truck was getting hot with the A/C on and the temp would drop once the a/c was turned off, I did have the heater hose spring a leak and so I replaced them both and tried to bleed the system (I don't think I did a good enough job). one very hot afternoon the temp went up and after turning off the A/C it continued to rise just as I got home. I replaced the bad condenser fan the next day, still getting hot within about 5 minutes of driving, replaced the Tstat with a 180 later that day, still getting hot. replaced the fan clutch with a heavy duty chevy from autozone the next day and it is still getting hot (however it took about 20-30 minutes of driving after that). I then flushed the system and tried to bleed it for about 45 minutes. after about 10-15 minutes of driving it got hot but then the gauge dropped back down from about 75% of the way up to about 50% of the way up (slightly over normal) I don't know if it would have went down more because I got home and wanted to shut it down for the evening. I figured I would try to bleed it again in the morning. this morning I started the truck and opened the reservoir cap to bleed it when I noticed coolant leaking pretty good from the water pump (not from the pulley, but looked like the bottom of the pump), so tonight I removed the pump and will replace it tomorrow.

now if a new water pump does not resolve my problem where should I go next? any thing I should look for?

I do not think my HG is leaking because I am not seeing any signs of this.

 

If it is not the water pump then it has to be the radiator.
What was the condition of the coolant when you drained it?
How is your hand? Still swollen?

 

Before you start throwing money at this, consider sending me your tele number and let me walk you thru things to check/do.