The other day, i was out wheeling got stuck with mud up to the hood. The engine did not suck in any mud or water. It started getting into the red on the way home so i pulled over and the bottom radiator hose blew off do to a faulty clamp. I fixed it and refilled with water/antifreeze and limped it home. I flushed the radiator and replaced the thermostat. Drove it a bit did fine but when i came out the coolant had leaked, not all of it though. Drove it to a buddies overheated on the way there so i let it sit for an hour topped off the coolant then drove it home 5 miles at normal temp when my alternator went out. Any ideas on what could be causing the overheating? its a 97 4.0 with 228xxx.

Here's a good read. Might give you an idea of what your dealing with.

http://www.offroaders.com/tech/engine-overheating.htm

Today, i replaced the water pump, and thermostat housing. I drove it about 3 miles and it started overheating due to coolant leaking a lot. It isnt coming from the water pump or thermostat. Its coming from the top left side, around spark plug one. Im thinking the head gasket, but its collecting coolant in the ac unit which makes me think its above the headgasket. Any ideas?

Take a look at the heater hoses before you start ripping the head off.

Maybe recheck your T-stat housing seal. Did you RTV it? Any pictures of where it's leaking?

Stupid question, but did you blow all the mud and crap out of the your radiator/ac condenser? x2 on the heater hoses, IIRC they didn't ditch the heater valve until 98, you could even try taking that out and bypassing it.

I did use sealant around the water pump and thermostat housing as well as brand new gaskets. The leak is only present once the motor warms up. I have cleaned the mud off the engine since. I cant see any visible leaks in the hoses either...im stuck.

Get a hold of a cooling system pressure checker, pump the system up to 15psi and look for the leak.

I just pressure tested it and the results came back good, so head gasket is out.

No sh#t.

At this point I'm just gonna replace all the houses and hope that fixes it.