Technical Air Con Compressor Pulley Noisy

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Technical Air Con Compressor Pulley Noisy

I had seen that one and a few others he did. It was funny the way he said we were doomed to be sucked into the mad obsessive world of car maintenance once we start.

I was thinking though to try to get the pulley off without undoing the mounting bolts as he did there.
 
The pulley in our other bus is now making the same kind of noise as yours. There is no room to work with it in place but it can be unscrewed and rotated for access without opening the lines.
 
I had seen that one and a few others he did. It was funny the way he said we were doomed to be sucked into the mad obsessive world of car maintenance once we start.

I was thinking though to try to get the pulley off without undoing the mounting bolts as he did there.

If there isn't access to the center bolt - then you need to remove it from the mounting bolts

As long as your not putting pry bar to push it out the way - you'll be fine

The best bet is to follow a similar procedure as that

Hell - you might even be able to buy the damaged bearing replacement - tap it in and out :)

Ziggy
 
If there isn't access to the center bolt - then you need to remove it from the mounting bolts

As long as your not putting pry bar to push it out the way - you'll be fine

The best bet is to follow a similar procedure as that

Hell - you might even be able to buy the damaged bearing replacement - tap it in and out :)

Ziggy

I can get the center bolt out and I was expecting to only replace the bearing and had not even considered until today I would have to get a new pulley

The problem with the bearing so far is bearings in Finland are not economically easy to get retail - so far I can only find an SKF bearing source at 3 times the cost of a bearing in the UK. Ie a £5.40 bearing is €16 euro.
 
I took the pulley off with some difficulty after moving the compressor slightly with the bolts removed - my new circlip pliers did not open wide enuf for me to get if off without moving the compressor. The pulley came off easily using my hands as a puller with my thumb on the crankshaft. No big deal at all as long as it was pulled straight off. I left the staking in place and knocked the bearing out with a tight fitting brass/bronze tube I had.

The bearing was actually in reasonable nick. The grease was still quite wet.

The bearing is however now destroyed by the time i tried to see the condition of the races and failed to get it open.

The good news was there was absolutely no leak from the compressor seal

The bearing costs 56 Euro and might have to be posted. There is no after market complete pulley available
 
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So can the bearings in a compressor pulley be replaced instead of a whole new unit as mine is still noisy....although no worse then it was when I started this thread last March.....
 
So can the bearings in a compressor pulley be replaced instead of a whole new unit as mine is still noisy....although no worse then it was when I started this thread last March.....

Yes the bearing can be replaced. Compressors differ in the exact method but the principle is the same for all. The bearing typically costs 50 and a new clutch oem 300.
other things to consider are the condition of the coil and the wear on the friction surfaces. Repair kits are available on ebay but personally I don't like the look of them.
Between the pulley and central part there is a gap, typically 0.4mm +/- 0.2 depending on the make of compressor. Check this before starting to get an idea of how worn the wear surfaces are. When you pull the centre of the clutch there are shims, 3 or 4 maybe, and you can remove some to close up the gap to spec.
The bearing is good quality and can soldier on for many months without failing completely.
 
I noticed on the Utube videos when the staking was in place the bearing could be removed without removing that metal. However when refitting the bearing the remains of the staking prevents you from fitting the bearing by hand into the initial .75cm that is painted and is wider than the rest of the 'pipe'.

So here you can see the remains of the staking with the bearing out, then the staking ground out, then a video showing how easy it is to fit the bearing into the pipe with that metal removed before you begin pressing or hammering.

With the staking removed it is easier to make sure the bearing goes in straight

[ame]http://youtu.be/bYH7TSp-AkI[/ame]

It is interesting that without the staking, quite a bit of the bearing is unsupported in that wider diameter painted area.

Another thing that could be problematic is that the bottom of the pipe is shorter than the side of the pulley when removing the bearing, so it is possible to bend the pulley if you dont hammer straight or support the pipe there until at least the bearing begins to stick out - especially if you leave the staking in and do not notice the gap until later like me! When driving it back in again the metal is supported equally.
 

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The bearing I needed for this job proved to be elusive locally so I ordered a Perfect Fit Industries listed replacement for the fitted bearing, from Henderson bearings of Ringwood hampshire England. This was ordered early in the morning online and arrived from the UK the next morning in Helsinki. Total cost was 57 Euro which included £21 express post. While i was waiting for the bearing and not realising it would come so quick I took the alternator out to get the parts numbers I needed.

Refitting the compressor pulley bearing was fairly easy. I used two pieces of wood in a vice and it went in fairly easy in small jumps - the metal of the vice was able to cover about two thirds or more of the bearing. However, while staking it in place I managed to put 'a precision stake' on the bearing itself due to lack of concentration, but fortunately did not otherwise damage the bearing or the dust cover. It was one of those oh my f###### ### moments for a while. Even so i was surprised the bearing race would be made of such soft metal.

The circlip went on fairly easy. Possibly a smaller gap on the clutch than before the repair. Probably less noise than before. The engine now gets more of my attention anyway.
 
My A/C compressor pulley bearing was noisy again. I took the pulley off and put some grease in the bearing.

Unlike last time this time I found it is quite easy to get to the bearing without undoing the compressor bolts if the right engine chassis mounting is removed and you raise the engine via the sump about 8 cm. Take out the 10mm bolt holding the compressor clutch by holding the clutch with your hand and tapping the spanner until it comes free - dont lose the small washer inside the clutch.. You can then lever out that strange looking circlip using a short small bladed screwdriver by sticking the blade into the loops and working it out section by section. Trying to get to this thing with circlip pliers is a pain to be avoided but might be possible if you have perfectly straight circlip pliers. The pulley just slides off by hand. Putting the clip back in, I put the clip opening side up and jammed a 10mm bolt between the chassis and the clip once the nearest end of the clip was tucked in and then worked it back in edge by edge with a screwdriver.
 

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