Is it possible my bearing "went" bad? Here's the backstory...

When I bought my truck it was the fall. The AC didn't turn on when I switched it on however I had pressure still in the system. I figured the system was low.

That aside, the first thing I did to the truck was replace the water pump. When finishing the job I never bothered re-installing the a/c belt. I figured since It was fall and since It needed a charge, I'll just wait and do it in the spring. I didn't drive the truck much and then spring rolled around. I wanted to start driving the truck and then decided I needed to fix the air.

I put the belt on and heard a terrible whirring/whining noise. I immediately thought the idler might have seized up some so I replaced that. It still made the noise. Although I knew better, I decided to just say WTF and drive it till it broke. I charged the AC and away I went with a cool ride (pun intended). That was LAST summer. A year later Its still making that noise and I would like to fix it. It's really annoying and I can't hear my v8 rumbling.

My thought was that one of the bearings in the compressor was bad which probably means evacuating the system however then I got to thinking that maybe there's a bearing in the clutch? If so maybe that's whats bad??? I don't have an over abundance of experience with a/c systems but what are your thoughts??? I know its not the clutch itself as the a/c turns on. Regardless if the actually compressor is engaged of not this thing makes noise.

Thanks for the input.

Al

 

The bearing in the clutch only turns when the A/C compressor is not turning. If the clutch is engaged, then the whole clutch including the bearing turns as one unit, the complete bearing spins so it does nothing until the clutch is disengaged.

Some of these compressors are noisy. I don't know how noisy it is, but if you want to change it out, just get one from the store and exchange it. They will probably want you to change the accumulator to warranty the compressor, and you should. It's not that expensive.

 

You can remove the belt and spin the compressor pulley by hand - same for idler pulley (with engine off of course). You can easily feel any roughness indicating a bad bearing. I believe you described that the noise occurred when you installed the belt even without turning on the air. That indicates the noise is in the idler pulley or AC/pulley. Since you changed the idler pulley - that leaves the other.
You can replace the clutch/pulley/bearing without removing the compressor or evacuating the refrigerant.

 

There is a bearing in the clutch. It spins whether the clutch is engaged or not as long as there is a belt on it. The pulley rides on it. The clutch is the metal front plate that is magnetically drawn in when power is applied. As country said, pull the belt and spin by hand. If the bearing in the clutch pulley is that bad, you should hear it.

 

I've actually done that. I should have mentioned. It doesn't feel bad sound bad or wobble. Ill try and post a YouTube video of the noise. I was thinking the clutch bearing might be bad though. what are the chances the "new" idler bearing could be bad?

Has anyone done a compressor clutch bearing?

I don't want to evacuate my system. It's not just a cost issue but my system is still on r12 and I don't want to convert it JUST yet

 

I can't figure out how the clutch bearing is being used with the clutch engaged, but oh well. If you want to pull this stuff off, you have to go to the store and rent or buy a special puller. It's basically a large bolt with a threaded hole in the middle. You take the nut loose that retains everything, thread the large bolt/puller in, and then thread the center piece in the middle of the bolt, and keep turning it. It butts against the shaft and will push the whole assembly off. It will not affect your freon charge.

 

Here is a blowup of the clutch components for an FS6, but it is similar for the york dealer install unit. The bearing is pressed into the middle piece, which is the clutch pulley and slides over the front snout of the compressor body, and it spins whenever the belt is moving it. the clutch plate splines directly onto the compressor shaft. There is a bearing in the front of the compressor body that the compressor shaft rides on, and requires a rebuild of the compressor to service, but that is not related to the clutch.

 

Your right, sorry about that.

 

Thanks this is awesome. Hopefully that's my issue and u haven't done any damage to the shaft. Like I said I'll try and post a YouTube video for further diagnosis. This is unfortunately something I feel needs to be done sooner than later before I loose air conditioning. Haha I don't NEED it but is sooo nice to have it available on a 29 year old vehicle and still working!