1993 2.3

Truck has AC. Has power steering pulley, but no pump. The PS pulley rattles. As far as I know, there is no way to bypass only the PS pulley. Is it safe to just put a shorter belt on that bypasses both AC and PS while leaving the working AC compressor in place? Would I need to do anything else? Seems like the cheapest option and I won't need cold air for at least a few months due to the weather.

 

AC is used to help dry the air to Defrost windshield, so that will still work but be slower than before.

No, it won't hurt compressor to sit for a few months without turning

Not sure what your fan belt lay out looks like, but it is often hard to cut out 2 pulleys from a system, cutting out AC is a stock option, so easy.
But the reason you have a "false" PS pulley is because Ford found it easier to do that than to try and redesign the system to work without it.

I would see if you can find/fix the ratting pulley