i have an 88 b2200 6 cylinder. i get no heat. i turn on the controls. the engine drags down until the breaker trips. once the breaker trips the engine returns to normal. no air blows out at any point.

 

88 B2200s are 4 cylinders. You'll need to better explain "the engine drags down until the breaker trips". Does this happen when you just turn the fan on in "vent"?

 

Id like a better explanation as well. are you saying no air comes out of the vents at all?
or that air comes out until the circut breaker trips?
i have an 87 b2200, the blower resistor had failed and lost 1 or 2 of the fan speeds.
please clarify, no heat or no air flow from the vents.

 

its my father-in-laws truck so i'll have to check the cylinders again. but no, i get nothing at all no matter what the environmental controls are set at. doesn't matter if they are already on at start up or you turn them on afterwards.

 

More information is needed.
(1) Drive 20 minutes, feel the inlet and outlet tubes at the firewall; if both are hot, then your engine is delivering heat to the heater core (if not, engine issue). Report Y/N
(2) Does the fan blow air out the vents? Report Y/N
(3) If 1 and 2 are YES, then you have a flap/diverter doorissue; on these trucks that's operated by cable, you must look up from underneath while a helper flips the levers to troubleshoot.

 

there is a little heat trickling out. no air blows at all at anytime.

 

Sounds like no air blowing from anywhere. Does the blower motor under the passenger side of dash actually spin? If not, check blower motor,the blower resistors (which are mounted to the evaporator box if there's AC, or you'll see if you remove the glove box), and the switch itself. From your first post you may have a short somewhere.