Cooling System at Startup Help

[harnalien]

Well I finally got my truck to turn over the other day. It sounds strong, but we noticed a major problem with the cooling system. Basically, it seems the pump is not pushing coolant through the system. We took the pump off and it rotates fine and does not have any metal or binding issues. The pump on LQ4's rotate counter clockwise right? I have the belt routed the way I have seen others route theirs. The engine did not have any coolant in it when we installed it. We tried to put coolant in it, but couldn't get an entire jug of in it without overflowing the radiator. We figured that when the motor started, the pump would start to suck and circulate the coolant, then we would just fill it back up. We plan on reinstalling the pump tomorrow and trying to pour fluid directly into the upper water neck so it gets into the pump and engine...kinda priming the system. Does this sound right? The bottom radiator hose had fluid, but the top one was bone dry. Please help me figure this out! I'm hoping it's something dumb I'm overlooking. It's been about 2 months trying to get this thing running. ('04 6.0 into an '84 2wd shortbed).