'99 K1500 Suburban Power Steering

[ubergeek]

This past weekend I changed out the power steering pump for the 3rd time in the past 8 months on my '99 K1500 Suburban. I did buy remanufactured pumps from Advance Auto Parts, but at $22 vs $300 new OEM, I think I can stand a little labor.

The original pump went bad due to a leaky high pressure hose, which I found and had the dealer change when I was buying last Dec. I should have had then replace the pump as well, as I soon discovered. A week or so later, the pump went out, and I replaced it. The first replacement was bad right off the bat, and only stayed installed for about 4 hours. The next, I was never really convinced that it was going to work great, as it made that power steering squeel when turned all the way. The new pump doesn't seem to have that and seems to work flawlessly so far.

My question is, have I just had a string up bad remanufactured pumps, or could there be something else causing the pump to go bad? I believe the compressor on my A/C has also gone out, could that cause some sort of stress on the pulley that would cause the pump to fail? Visual inspection appears that everything else is in order, there is no squeeking in the system at all.

Any thoughts or ideas?

Thanks,

Brian