ok so in doing some reading i have gotten a little farther...
if i type in pear install log it starts to download and run the installer but then I get the following error.
Warning: fromtgzfile(Archive/Tar.php): failed to open stream: No such file or directory in PEAR/PackageFile.php on line 298
Fatal error: fromtgzfile(): Failed opening required 'Archive/Tar.php' (include_path='/usr/local/lib/php') in /usr/local/lib/php/PEAR/PackageFile.php on line 298
I was able to manually install the tar package and now it works.