Power steering bracket

[lodihoseman]

My son and I found a sweet one owner 89 k1500 with less than 80k miles and picked it up a couple days ago. There seems to be a squeaky rattle near the power steering pump that shows up only when the A/C compressor is running and the truck is in drive sitting at idle. I know it seems I should be looking at the a/c, but I have narrowed the noise down to the drivers side, near the power steering pump.

 

Doing a little research, I've found that the power steering bracket seems to be an item of contention with this particular model. This truck has the stamped steel brackets, not the cast aluminum ones.

 

My questions:

 

Has anyone experienced this?

 

Does it make sense to any of you that the a/c load on the belt might cause this rattle on the power steering bracket? My guess is that the extra load may be causing a little slack to form in the belt which then allows the ps pump to vibrate.

 

I'd love to hear solutions. Sources for parts other than pick n pull?

 

I'm being deployed in the morning to the fires in northern California and would love to have a list of possibilities when I get home, whenever that might be ... A few days to a couple of weeks ...

 

Who knows, maybe I'll be able to discuss this from the fire line?

 

Thanks in advance for your replies!

 

 

Don't worry, the running board came off within 5 minutes of us getting it home [emoji3]

[lodihoseman]

Found a hairline crack in the bracket. Just above where the PO had had the bracket welded from a previous break. Will be welding it up this weekend.