99 F350 Crew Cab, short box
2WD
7.3 Diesel
137k
(purchased new Fall 98, original owner)

Truck starts right up & runs well, even in a recent cold (for Seattle) spell
1/8 to 1/2 mile after starting it MAY stumble, buck, lose power & very occasionally (1x last 2 months) die.
After misbehaving for 30 seconds to a minute it is back to normal, or maybe even a bit peppier than typical.
This has never happened more than 1x in a day and only shortly after the 1st start of the day. This could be 7am or 2pm.
It is more likely to happen with lower temperatures but not every time the air temp is lower. We had recent temps in the 20's overnight and I had the issue almost every day but to varying degrees.

To me this seems like a fuel delivery issue but I am stumped as to why it only happens 1x day and does not create a problem starting.
3 or 4 years ago I had the same behavior with the added fun of hard starting. At that time I replaced batteries and it cleared up. I understood why it would start easier but it made no sense why it no longer stumbled - but I had other things going on and didn't look a gift horse in the mouth.

I changed the fuel filter and it was pretty nasty but made no difference.
I changed the batteries and no difference there either.

I wrote this last night & this morning had the worst episode, totally quit 1.2 mile from home & took 5 minutes to restart. & it was about the warmest day in a month.

Any ideas?

Thanks
Norman