For a few days now my truck has been making a noise coming from the serpintine belt that comes and goes. It is getting worse and now sounds kind of like what a brake sound like when the pad is gone and its metal on metal. It sounds like it might be the ac compressor but it's hard to tell for sure. Although it does get better when I turn the AC on. But sometimes it comes and goes even when the AC isnt on. Has anyone else run into this problem? If it is the compressor, im guessing it's the clutch. Can you just replace the clutch? Is it a tough job?

 

Just discussed:

https://dodgeforum.com/forum/2nd-gen...ompressor.html

 

It could be related to the AC clutch but check the cheaper parts first. The belt is the first to wear out and checking for cracks is "old school" thus no longer accurate. The belts today wear down in the grooves and don't show signs of wear. Here's what I would do:

Remove belt and check all the pulleys/bearings for play and ease of spool.
If all checks out, replace the belt first and then if it persists, replace tensioner and idler pulley before something more expensive. Narrow it down cheapest to spendy. If you are positive it is the AC clutch, I would replace with a rebuilt compressor than mess with just the clutch.

 

i recently had a similar problem and changed my a/c compressor. If you wind up getting to that point its not that hard of a job at all. took me about an hour and a half and i had never done one before.

 

Oh yeah? The only thing that worries me is the whole vacuuming out the system. I know I can replace the part, I just want to make sure it works after. I found it is the clutch pulley bearing and I bought a different belt to bypass for now until I decide what to do. I think it might be easier to replace the bearing and leave the compressor as is.

 

You can get just the clutch and such. Don't even have to crack open the system. Think they are on ebay, couple threads around here with links.

 

Yeah that is what I am leaning towards right now. I see on ebay you can buy the clutch, bearing, and the magnet thing in a kit. I read the threads and it doesn't look too hard. Sounds like getting the first little nut off is the hardest part. I would be much more comfortable not cracking the system.

 

There's some helpful information about it here

https://dodgeforum.com/forum/2nd-gen...dodge-ram.html

 

Its not hard at all, the nut comes off real easy, the small tricky part ,which really is not bad either is to get the c-clip off of the magnet, you need straight c clip pliers the c-clip is about 2 inches or more, clutch comes right off or a little tap, no freon loss at all.

 

all the freon in my system had already leaked out so i didnt have to worry about that lol. but i cant imagine just the clutch being hard to do either.