help with priming a 45 diesel

how do i go about priming a 45 diesel

An unorthodox way of doing it is to either crack the bleeder screw on the top of the second filter, or crack the line at the top of the third housing that comes from the second filter.  I then pressurize the tank lightly with the air hose and an air nozzle and a rag around the fill hole.   I guess you could do it on the return line connection fitting and leave the gas cap on, but I did it in the fill hole as I didn't want to blow the tank up.   I then watched and just gave it small shots of air until it started coming out the first bleeder screw and then after I tightened that up and loosened the line between the second and third filter, when it started coming out of there.   I then cracked the pressure line on each injector and cranked until I had fuel coming out of each one, and then I tightened each one and cranked again.   I remember cranking forever to get it to fire up the first time after the engine was rebuilt.   Make sure your linkages are correct on the pump, and that the throttle lever is moved to half throttle so that the pump isn't shut off.   When I did mine, it took me awhile to figure that out, as I was missing some linkage there and ended up making my own, to get the pump to open up and shut down properly.   Good luck. 

I primed my D17D using a shop vac. Just put the hose on the outlet side of the vac and put it over the fuel filler. Loosen the supply line at the pump and use the shop vac to pressurize the tank. Once fuel comes out steady, tighten the line and it should start fairly easy.