ill try that on sunday. i dont see anything about them needing retorquing but its worth a shot. at least its driveable right now thats all i care about.

You are right. It won't hurt to try. The worst that can happen is it doesn't help any.

so how exactly would a leaking headgasket or cracked head stop a thermostat from working? if thats even whats wrong

The leak causes an air pocket in the water jacket and the place it is most likely to get trapped is at the thermostat. Air doesn't transfer the heat to the thermostat as fast as water so it can't respond to the temperature changes fast enough.

got it. is there any way for sure to know its a head or HG problem without pullin the head?

Not that I know of. My first guess is a leaking gasket because I haven't heard of head problems on the cummins. When you start it cold see if it builds pressure fast. If it does it definitely has a leak. Either the gasket or a crack. One of our delivery trucks is a 92 dodge with a cummins and it has about 1.3 million miles without the head ever being off. Usually if there is an issue with heads it would have been bad long ago.

since the thermostat is out, am i still looking for it to build pressure when cold, or do i need to put the thermostat back in to find that out?

It doesn't matter. If it has a leak it will build pressure fast with or without the thermostat.

ok i know it didnt build much pressure at all today once the thermostat was out. even when hot i could still squeeze it in pretty good. it only made it really full of pressure when the thermostat was in it

Higher temperature will build more pressure but it builds faster with a leak. The easiest time to tell is with a cold engine because any pressure built when it is cold is from a leak. When it is hot part of the pressure comes from water vapor pressure.