I verified there is in fact plenty of clearance for the belt to pass in both directions when bypassing the A/C. I'm just pulling the slack on the too long belt here, but it proves that this approach works. And again, this is a truck PS bracket
View attachment 1715878826
I even found that they show this very routing in the shop manual; at least the 1996 and '97 version.
View attachment 1715878828
What's odd is, the the non-A/C belt is showing as 88.5 inches
View attachment 1715878840
but when you search for that part number, people say it's too short. For example, look at some of the comments here:
https://www.autozone.com/cooling-heating-and-climate-control/belt/p/duralast-belt-885k7/66368_0_0
Maybe the factory non-A/C setup used one or more smaller pulleys, so when you try to use that particular belt on a truck that was originally A/C, you actually need a slightly longer one. Whatever, it turns out to be, I'll post back what worked for me to make it a littler easier for others.