2nd Gen Non-Engine/Transmission A/C compressor clutch R&R

[CumminsPower98]

Lately I started hearing what I thought was a dry bearing up at the front of the engine. I finally found where it was coming from. Two of the three spring straps on the clutch plate were broken and allowing the plate to rub on the pulley face causing the scraping noise. My A/C was still working fine but not for much longer so I'm sure glad I caught this now. I tried to get the parts from other sources other than the dealer but no luck. I don't know why either because it's just a standard looking Sanden compressor of the type I have changed out on other stuff in the past. I paid $153. 30 and forgot what list was but it was well over $200. Anyway the pulley face was worn quite a bit so I went ahead and changed out everything in there including the coil since I had the parts. I first put it together with the shims that it came with and that made it about . 042 (spec. is . 016-. 031) So I removed one . 020 shim, which brought it down to about . 022 where I left it. Makes me wonder if it wasn't set right to start with and caused extra flexing and then breakage from a larger than normal air gap or if it was just age alone (290k). Of course the wear alone would cause more flexing also as it would have to travel farther before the plate hit the pulley as it was grooved quite a bit.



I had to make a crude puller to get the clutch plate off, which worked really well. I was able to use pry bars to remove the pulley. The book calls for removal of the compressor for this job and sure it would be easier to do this work on the bench but who wants to go to all that trouble and open up a perfectly functioning system that's never been opened or serviced.



I saw a similar post about this same thing not long ago only his A/C wasn't working much anymore. It might be good to take a quick look before your A/C fails. It's not real obvious at a glance.

 

[SLightfoot]

Exact same thing happened to mine, except all three metal straps broke and quit running altogether.



I McGyver'd it by bending down the lead edge of the front plate so that it would catch one of the pins that retains the metal strap. Been working a month like that so while I look to find a replacement.



I was very close to finding a very cheap replacement through a buddy who had a friend with a wrecking yard. Almost identical compressor, the only difference was the clutch was on a splined shaft instead of a keyed tapered shaft like mine. So close but no cigar.



It appears Dodge may be the only place to get the part. Ugghhh. I won't go into the diatribe about that... .



Shawn

 

[litespeed]

Yep... ... .



Been there... ... . Just did that... ... .



Nice puller!!



Pictures and Thread



I opted not to replace the pulley though. Still looked pretty good. I also used no shims. I think the shims may have induced too much flex and caused the springs to break prematurely. Still a pretty good gap in there. It is not really possible to measure the gap anyway due to the design of the newer pulley and clutch pack. The clutch actually sits in a groove inside the pulley. Can't get a feeler gauge in there.



Only one of the springs (straps) broke on my clutch. But it was enough to have it slip out and wobble around. I lost the A/C completely.



It looks like the older compressors (at least the clutch) are more robust than the newer ones.



Imagine what an A/C shop would have charged!!



I had to get the clutch from Dodge. Exactlly $200 with tax. Still better than opening an other wise perfectly operating system on a low mileage truck.



If the truck had 150,000 + miles I probably would have replaced the compressor and drier.



Pretty easy job on the newer "splined" version. No puller needed.



Freeze your @ss cold again!