[76C10Stepside]

Thanks to all who responded. It's fixed. Need this truck to get me through the winter. There are two other issues remaining that I'd like to address to keep this truck on the road.

1) There is a throbbing and some vibration (sounds like cooling fan blades?) when idling in gear (at both cold idle and warm idle 750 rpm), and at very low speed, e.g., when coming to a stop). It goes away once I reach 20 mpg or so, and engine runs great otherwise, and no noise.

I suspect torque converter is not happy (oil starved), possible blockage in transfering fluid to it. The trans is not low on fluid. Am hoping changing the trans fluid and filter will fix this (probably overdue). I believe it's either a 4L60 or 4L80 (automatic with overdrive). It's been a good trans so far, and truck only has 52k actual miles on it.

2) The A/C compressor was kicking on/off constantly, and there was a drag on the engine when engaged. I unplugged it a couple of years ago, which stopped the behavior. But I know from past experience that it's only a matter of time before the clutch fails, then the bearing seizes and the serpentine belt burns up at an inconvenient time/place.

This truck is 29 years old and not worth cost to replace the entire A/C system.

Considering replacing the A/C compressor with either a reman unit, or an A/C delete idler pulley. Just replaced the serpentine belt, or would consider doing a total delete and going to the shorter belt (looks like you can do this on the 4.3?).

Reman A/C compressor: Lots of negative reviews saying it didn't work!

A/C Delete Idler Pulley: The ones at FLAPS look very cheap. Will it last?

Total Delete: Does the 4.3 engine permit going to a shorter non-A/C serpentine belt that bypassed the A/C compressor altogether? Looks like there is a non-A/C belt available.

Would did/would you do, and did it work? If not, what went wrong?