Thanks Fred -
yeah, all the obvious stuff checks out. in fact, in the weeks leading up to the fuel pump taking a crap, i was driving the truck about every other day, and i was quite pleased with how well everything was running (obviously a sign of trouble..

)
We got a buncha snow the day after i put on the new pump, so i have not been able to investigate further. like i said, it was running fine at higher rpms, but not at idle, so i think it is the pump. if no one thinks that the 235 pump is different than a 216 pump, then i will return it and get a new one.....