Its always something. Heard a noise and discovered its the clutch bearing in my A-6 compressor. The a/c works great and there are no noises from the compressor. Replacing the entire compressor sounds like more than I want to tackle, so how hard is it to replace clutch bearing assembly on the car? There doesnt seem to be a lot of room.

And where do I buy the tools and repalcement asembly? Or should I break down and take the car in to be fixed?

 

I'm doing mine as I write this, just waiting for some paint to set up.

It's a pretty easy job, mine is a little easier because it's on the bench but can easily be done in the car.

Go to Autozone and get the bearing, the p/n is 1960. You also need a special tool to remove the clutch which they will rent you. Also get the tool that holds the front pully from turning.

1. Remove the front nut, you may need an impact wrench but mine came right off.
2. Use the special tool to remove the clutch. It pulls right off without too much effort.
3. Remove the large "C" ring. Make sure you take note of which way it came off. One side is beveled and must be reinstalled the same way.
4. DO NOT USE A PULLER THAT WILL PRESS ON THE FRONT SHAFT. I used a 3 jaw puller and a large socket to pull the pulley. Place the socket on housing and use the puller against the top of the socket not the center shaft. You'll see what I mean when you get it apart. But before you pull it, scribe a line on the compressor housing to note how far the pulley is on the shaft.
5. With the pulley off, remove the snap ring holding the bearing, invert the pulley and suspend it between a couple of blocks of wood and use a large drift to tap the bearing out.
6. Clean everythg up real good and put the new bearing in place using a large socket tapping the edges evenly until it's seated, reinstall the snap ring.
7. You can use a block of wood and a hammer to reinstall the pulley to the mark you put on the back of the housing.

I haven't reinstalled it yet but pretty soon. Let me know if you need pics.

Bill

Here's the clutch removal tool in action, I ran across this on the web.


Here's The Pulley With A new Bearing, look close you can see the snap ring holding it in.



Removing Pulley



Compressor Without Pulley Showing Where The Socket Pushes Against. The Compressor Shaft Will Go Into The Hole In The Socket And Not Get Damaged. I put A Pipe Plug In The Socket To Push Against.

 

Thanks TopGunn!

After trying a few auto parts stores that are closer to my home I went to autozone and they had everything...from the bearing to all the instalation tools that they let me borrow for free. I'll let you know how it goes. Thanks for the photos and advice. You saved me a ton of time.

 

I was amazed how much tooling they carry for things like this, I never knew it. Hope everything turns out OK, good luck with it.

Bill