I did a web search and AI claims it is common on Astros with the excuse being "hydroboost."
This makes no sense because plenty of vehicles run hydroboost with these pumps. I hate "explanations" like this that explain absolutely nothing.
Any pump should have a bypass/blowoff to protect itself from excessive loads -- it just does what it can until it can't then it just says, "Yeah......no." If not we'd have p/s pumps exploding at full lock, log splitters blowing up, 2-post lifts dying at the stops and floor jacks dropping vehicles.
So, I'm willing to accept "hydroboost" with an explanation of what's unique in an Astro vs, well,
anything else
Note I'm not attacking you
@dfarr67
Here's another thread about a '00 Silverado. Being 1500 and 5.3 should be GMT800 and I thought these were usually vac booster??
https://www.silveradosierra.com/threads/breaking-power-steering-pump-shafts.737765/