Hello,

My 99 5.4 V8 2wd truck is having AC problems. Everything started this time last year when my ac pully bearing went out, I replaced it (pain in the neck) and everything worked fine until a few weeks ago. I was lubricating under the truck and i noticed the Clutch Hub and bolt had fell off. I went to a junkyard and took a new hub and bolt and 3 spacers and installed it in my truck. I tightened the bolt as hard as I could get it. The next few weeks the air was colder but i noticed the hub always spun with the pulley. It didn't matter if the ac was on or off the hub spun with the pulley 100% of the time. I tried loosening it last weekend and it just spun freely never engaging it just rattled there. I got frustrated so i just tick the hub off. Now the pulley on the end of the compressor is just spinning with not hub bolted on it. I have run out of ideas and don't know what to do and i don't want to pay ford 1grand to put a new clutch and compressor in. The high pressure line also seems to be very greasy almost like there is an ac coolant leak there. I dont know if its bad to have the hub engaged 100% of the time or if its better to just not have one on there.

Also whenever I drive around town from 10-35 miles an hour my truck squeaks as it goes over bumps, it sounds like a dogs chew tow it is driving me crazy and i cant replicate it by moving my truck around when its in park and I dont know where its coming from. My truck has 141K on it I'm in college so I have to fix everything myself pretty much.

Thanks so much for your help!

 

The clutch plate (hub) that you removed needs to be spaced away from the pulley, that way when you shut off the a/c the hub will not keep turning. Put 1or more of the spacers you have between the base of the hub and the shoulder of the shaft until you have about .010 distance between the hub and pulley. The hub is pulled into the pulley by the electromagnet behind the pulley and springs away when you shut off power to the a/c.