Fuel pump problems

ok, the jeep is a 89' islander 4.2L with 5spd. it ran find the night before and in the morning i went to start it and it started fine and i let it warm up for like 2-3 mins. i put it in reverse and went to back up and it stalled. started it back up and stalled. it did this like 4 times. i checked the carb and there was no gas coming out. i put some starting fluid in the carb and it started and ran for like 5 secs and then died again.(tip: dont spray the starting fluid while engine is cranking. hahaha. yea i set my first car on fire.) i just left it there and started on it again today. i took the fuel line out of the carb and put it in a jar and had my bro crank it over and no gas was coming out of the line. i changed the fuel pump and it didnt start still. there still isnt any gas coming out of the line. what could the problem be? there is plenty of gas in the tank. im not to sure how the sending unit works. i thought that the fuel pump just sucked it from the tank and then pumped it to the carb. any ideas on what it can be? there is absolutely no gas coming from the fuel pump and there is no filtere or anything from the pump back to the tank. could the be somehing in the line?
thanks for any help

I am having the same problem with my '90 Wrangler. Does anyone have any idea's?

well i fixed the problem on my own. it WAS the fuel pump. it went bad. however since there was no fuel in the carb, it wouldnt start and the cranking of the engine is not enough to suck the fuel from the tank. i just poured some fuel down the carb and started it and sure enough, without the fuel pump even hooked up, i saw gas coming from the gas tank. i guess it is under some type of back pressure or sumthing and it needs the engine to be running to produce enough suction or sumthing like that. if you have traced it to the fuel pump and the new one is on there and you were having the same problem with it not starting, try spraying some starter fluid in the carb (not while you are cranking it over) and once you get it started, see if you have gas coming out the new pump. that worked for me. let me know if it does or not.
patrick