Air pump froze up in 86 Bronco

I started my Bronco up yesterday and it sounded as if the belts were squealing quite loudly. I have never heard this on my truck before. I opened the hood and noticed that the air pump was not spinning and the squealing was the belt that runs between the pump and the alternator. This was making the alternator spin erratically. I was worried that the alternator would be damaged, so I removed the belt connecting it to the air pump. This left the pump not connected. I started the truck and it seems to run fine. Do I need the pump connected??? Is this only an emissions part?

Hey man, I am not 100% sure on this but I am pretty sure that it is just part of emission control. I think they added it onto the Broncos starting in 1979(?)
If the bronco runs fine and nothing is running bad or if nothing is causeing the truck todo anything bad, then just leave it off, that and it probly is just emission control. Damn I hate emissions contorl too! All of it! lol

Yup, the Air Pump is the first victim of the cut-that-$#!+-off crowd. Those are the guys who remove anything that deals with emissions control. You don't really need it to run, just watch for emissions-type problems which might develop from not having it run. That's emissions leaks, bad o2 sensors...stuff like that. If you start having problems like that, don't be afraid to 'cut-that-$#!+-off'.