After reading your post I thought I have already checked that wire. But I decided to check it any way and it was my problem. The wire looked connected cause the wire outer covering was still connected. I decided later I had not check it I had just checked that the distributor it self was grounded good. After replacing that wire it fired right up. Thanks for the help!
I had a similar issue on an electronic distributor years ago. There was a small ground strap inside that went between the distributor housing and the advance plate that was broken but making intermittent contact. Drove me crazy until I found it. I've also had driveability issues with loose or broken ground straps between the engine block and the frame of the machine. Sometimes the engine can ground through weird paths like the engine mounts or through the transmission but it's not sufficient to keep things running strongly. It can affect ignition secondary voltage, propane lockoff cutting out, engine electronic control problems etc.
Well it's a pulse that goes negative every time a plug should fire. So it looks like a square wave. A voltmeter should read somewhere between 0 and 12. Whatever you got on the sister truck should be fine. If you're getting 12 volts on both sides of the coil when cranking that means the distributor isn't sending negative pulses.
Make sure the distributor is grounded. Dirt and crap around the base of the distributor can keep it from getting a good ground. Test this by grounding the distributor with a jumper and see if it runs ok.
By the way, don't pull the distributor without making note of where the rotor is pointing -- it has to go back in pointing the same way.
So when I test it on the negative side of the coil should it change to a negative volt reading when cranking?
Make sure the distributor has good contact to ground. One side of the coil is supposed to get 12 vdc and the other gets pulses to ground from either the points or ignition module. If you're getting 12 volts on both sides of the coil while cranking then the negative pulses are missing. Could be broken wire, bad points, ungrounded distributor etc.
good luck with it.