My 89 7.3 starts hard. Seems almost like it has to pump up fuel pressure before starting. Is there a check valve or anything that may be letting fuel drain back down when off. Same whether cold or warm, but worse when cold. I let the glow plugs warm up and plug the heater in when colder than 40, but still hard to start.

 

You may get more help asking this question in the forum for your truck
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/forum117/

However, I had a older diesel and when it was hard to start is was usually the glow plugs or the controler. You can check the GP's with a test lite or an ohm meter.