Gotta get this AC working for summer!!! 1997 c1500

I live in south Louisiana and the heat gets real bad. My truck is a 1997 c1500 ext cab 350 v8 5.7L cheyenne. The AC has never worked good enough for me to be happy. On hot summer days in July and August, it barely cools the front seat of the cab. Anyway recently I got a new problem with the vent. The air comes out of the defrost and floor just fine but when I switch it to regular vent (blows in your face) the air doesnt come out. Sounds like a flap or door is stuck. Sometimes if Im lucky Ill hear a thump or flap like a door opens and then it blows fine out of the vent. But Im not always lucky. I heard it could be the temp door actautor or blend door actuator, but I messed around and had no luck (hard to get to). Wondering if its something electronic. I noticed the recirc light goes off when I switch to defrost and also sometimes the AC light and recirc light come on even when the air is off. Are the AC's on this model just not good, or is there something I can do to get this AC working right???

It should cool good if everything is working right.
On poor cooling check air charge and pressure readings and make sure they are up to par.
A low charge is very common after that many years old.

On the mode door if you are sometimes hearing a thump remove mode door actuator and see if you can feel mode door catching or hanging.

Post back your low and high side pressure readings at idle and at 2K rpm. with compresser running on a warm day.

I live in south Louisiana and the heat gets real bad. My truck is a 1997 c1500 ext cab 350 v8 5.7L cheyenne. The AC has never worked good enough for me to be happy. On hot summer days in July and August, it barely cools the front seat of the cab. Anyway recently I got a new problem with the vent. The air comes out of the defrost and floor just fine but when I switch it to regular vent (blows in your face) the air doesnt come out. Sounds like a flap or door is stuck. Sometimes if Im lucky Ill hear a thump or flap like a door opens and then it blows fine out of the vent. But Im not always lucky. I heard it could be the temp door actautor or blend door actuator, but I messed around and had no luck (hard to get to). Wondering if its something electronic. I noticed the recirc light goes off when I switch to defrost and also sometimes the AC light and recirc light come on even when the air is off. Are the AC's on this model just not good, or is there something I can do to get this AC working right???

because of the age and your issues I would get into the air ducting and clean out all the debris...also the evaporator as these R134 refrigerent cooling fins are very fine ...catch lots of organic material ..on the new body style 2000 they used the cabin air filters to prevent this ...the motor control/vent failure of operation is also a common componet to fail....unless you clean out the air/evap debris pressure reading will not show the correct condition of the cooling system charge..