Priming diesel engine w/ broken priming pump

Any tricks to get diesel primed in an engine with a broken priming pump?

I am looking at the truck as a purchase. I would like to get it running before I buy it to check compression, etc.

It has a 408 Detroit Diesel.

 

Crack the fuel lines open at the injectors and crank the engine. Once it's spitting out solid fuel, tighten the lines down. Easiest to do with 2 people

 

FINALLY, this old fart can be of service. Pressurize the fuel tank, it's the only way to get an old Detroit going. That primer is useless anyways. Years ago, I was on a dump truck job, hauling dirt from one side of a big field to the other, the job sucked. So the shovel operator comes in, fried, of course, never checks the fuel, Detroit powered, and half way through the morning, he sucked 'er dry. Crank and crank, ether, nothing worked. I knew how to get it going, but hated the job, so we left, he never did get it going. Reefers too, not Detroits, but getting the fuel up to the motor, same thing, air line in the fuel tank, crack a line, VOILA! NOISE!!!

 

That sounds like a guy that has done battle with an old Mercedes powered NWD30 or two. I had 2 and I eventually went hot rod spec with them and put Holley electric fuel pumps under there to drive fuel up after I had the filter or lines off. That worked pretty good. Yamahas or a brown 855’s would clear the air out of themselves pretty quick once they were running. If they were aired up or starting them in the cold I’d put a chain on them and pull them a few feet instead of melting starters off them. Trying to start a Cummins that sat in -30 for a few days could make you cry unless it had an air starter on it.