A/C pulley wobbling! Can I bypass?

[Jerad]

I guess as our beloved SHOs age, this Maintenance forum is gonna be forever busy... damn Fords.

Anyways, with that thought, I need a little info from you folks.. The pulley on my a/c is wobbling and making some noise.. I'm going to know by tomorrow if it is just the bearing or if its the clutch assembly, etc. Regardless, my mechanic says the compressor will have to come out to be fixed... and I'm broke of course...

Now he tells me that they cannot bypass with a short belt because it will interfere with another belt? or something like that... Is it possible to bypass the A/C compressor? And at what risk do I run? THANKS!

Jdawgg

 

[SHOtimer]

Well, we can't help you at all unless we know what year and tranny type you have. But, I can say that the clutch and bearing can be serviced without removing the compressor.
Doug

 

[Chris Benvie]

I hate the fact that you need a/c this time of year

 

[Jerad]

Yup... forgot to list my SHO..'93 ATX

 

[stevetatro]

Your mechanic is sorta right.

There's only one accessory belt on the 3.2L, so there's no other belt to interfere with. It does appear it would be difficult to bypass the a/c pulley since the belt would interfere with itself on it's way around the idler pulleys. This is unless you were able to bypass the idler pulley between the a/c pulley and the crankshaft pulley. If you left this idler pulley in place the ribbed side of the belt would ride it, and that might not be good.

The only positive is that the system has an automatic tensioner pulley, so all you have to do is get the bypass belt length close

Here's a pic of what I'm talkin' 'bout.

If you've brave enough, remove the a/c pulley, and the idler pulley, measure the length of belt you now need, and go for it.

Good luck.

<small>[ December 10, 2003, 09:40 AM: Message edited by: stevetatro ]</small>

 

[AutoSHO]

I had the same thing happen on my ATX, the pulley itself broke. AApparently there's a weak point in the pulley design. All you need to remove the pulley is a 13mm socket, something to hodl the clutch still with, and a set of snap-ring pliers to remove the bearing reatainer Clip. I replaced mine with the A/C compressor in the car, all it took was some patience.

 

[SolidState]

I have run into a bad AC pulley on both my ATX and MTX now. For the ATX, I had the AC Compressor replaced with a newer one I had.

The MTX went bad and I pulled the AC out and put ona shorter belt.

For your car, if you are feeling up to the task, you can remove the AC pully or compressor altogether. Removing the compressor requires a drain of the refridgerant, so it might not be the best way to go. As mentioned by AutoSHO, you can remove the clutch/pulley/coil with compressor on the car, but you need a good pair of angled locking snap ring pliers.

To be honest, I would remove the lower idler pully, grab some string and bypass the AC pulley/lower idler pully. This shouldn't be a problem, just make sure you get a 6 rib belt...

<small>[ December 10, 2003, 09:32 PM: Message edited by: SolidState ]</small>