My symptom was the AC would start getting warmer until there was just heavy slightly cool air blowing out of the vents. The quote was $410 to replace the AC clutch or $550 to replace the compressor. so being thrifty I jumped on ebay and found a guy by the name of Adam, Ebay name ALLFORAUTO and he sold me a new AC clutch and bearing for $78 shipped to my house. I went to Auto Zone and had them loan me the pullers and I was off under the hood.

Here are the instructions:

The refrigerant system can remain fully-charged during compressor clutch, pulley, or coil replacement. The compressor clutch can be serviced in the vehicle.
REMOVAL:
1. Disconnect and isolate the battery negative cable.
2. Unplug the compressor clutch coil wire harness connector.

3. Insert the two pins of the spanner wrench (Special Tool 6462 in Kit 6460) into the holes of the clutch plate. Hold the clutch plate stationary and remove the hex nut.

4. Remove the external front housing snap ring with snap ring pliers.

5. Install the lip of the rotor puller (Special Tool C-6141-1 in Kit 6460) into the snap ring groove exposed in Step 6, and install the shaft protector (Special Tool C-6141-2 in Kit 6460).

6. Install the puller through-bolts (Special Tool C-6461) through the puller flange and into the jaws of the rotor puller and tighten. Then the puller center bolt clockwise until the rotor pulley is free.

7. Remove the screw and retainer from the clutch coil lead wire harness on the compressor front housing.

8. Remove the snap ring from the compressor hub and remove the clutch field coil. Slide the clutch field coil off of the compressor hub.
INSPECTION:
Examine the friction surfaces of the clutch pulley and the front plate for wear. The pulley and front plate should be replaced if there is excessive wear or scoring.
If the friction surfaces are oily, inspect the shaft and nose area of the compressor for oil. Remove the felt from the front cover. If the felt is saturated with oil, the shaft seal is leaking and the compressor must be replaced.
Check the clutch pulley bearing for roughness or excessive leakage of grease. Replace the bearing, if required.
INSTALLATION:
1. Install the clutch field coil and snap ring.
2. Install the clutch coil lead wire harness retaining clip on the compressor front housing and tighten the retaining screw.
3. Align the rotor assembly squarely on the front compressor housing hub.

4. Thread the handle (Special Tool 6464 in Kit 6460) into the driver (Special Tool 6143 in Kit 6460).

5. Place the driver tool assembly into the bearing cavity on the rotor. Make certain the outer edge of the tool rests firmly on the rotor bearing inner race.
6. Tap the end of the driver while guiding the rotor to prevent binding. Tap until the rotor bottoms against the compressor front housing hub. Listen for a distinct change of sound during the tapping process, to indicate the bottoming of the rotor.
7. Install the external front rotor snap ring with snap ring pliers. The bevel side of the snap ring must be facing outward. Press the snap ring to make sure it is properly seated in the groove.
CAUTION: If the snap ring is not fully seated in the groove it will vibrate out, resulting in a clutch failure and severe damage to the front housing of the compressor.
8. Install the original clutch shims on the compressor shaft.
9. Replace the compressor shaft hex nut. Tighten the nut to 10.5 foot pounds.

10. Check the clutch air gap with a feeler gauge. If the air gap does not meet the specification, add or subtract shims as required. The air gap specification is 0.41 to 0.79 millimeter (0.016 to 0.031 inch) . If the air gap is not consistent around the circumference of the clutch, lightly pry up at the minimum variations. Lightly tap down at the points of maximum variation.
NOTE: The air gap is determined by the spacer shims. When installing an original, or a new clutch assembly, try the original shims first. When installing a new clutch onto a compressor that previously did not have a clutch, use 1.0, 0.50, and 0.13 millimeter (0.040, 0.020, and 0.005 inch) shims from the clutch hardware package that is provided with the new clutch.
11. Reverse the remaining removal procedures to complete the installation.
Clutch Break-in:
After a new compressor clutch has been installed, cycle the compressor clutch approximately twenty times (five seconds on, then five seconds off). During this procedure, set the HVAC control to the recirculation mode (Max-A/C), the blower motor switch in the highest speed position, and the engine speed at 1,500 to 2,000 rpm. This procedure (burnishing) will seat the opposing friction surfaces and provide a higher compressor clutch torque capability.

The LINK with pictures can be found here: http://autorepair.about.com/library/faqs/bl249i.htm

The job took me about 2 hrs and really wasn't hard at all. You will need a good pait of snap ring pliers. You can see in the 2 pictures below that you will need to cut off your old connector with the diode and attach it to the new coil. I soldered it and used some heat shrink. Came out real nice.
The other picture is the old clutch and the new one. Notice the old one had grooves wore into it.

So the moral to this story is if you have the same symptoms that I did, loosen the 1/2 nut, pull off your AC clutch and check it for groves. If it's worn, contact the guy listed above, swap out the part on and save yourself some coin.

Good luck!

 

dang, am in the position that needs to do this but cannot locate this seller. any inside scoop.

thanks

 

http://motors.shop.ebay.com/allforauto/m.html

 

After performing this fix. The only part that was worn was the clutch hub on the front. Knowing what I know I would have tried to find just the hub and replaced it. Remove one 1/2 nut and replace. Would have been a 10 min fix.... Either way $80 compared to hundreds was worth it!

 

Finding that hub may be the problem (except in a JY) and the main reason the parts stores only want to sell the whole unit.

 

ordered clutch hub from autozone yesterday picked it up today special sentech mt2302 $39.99 plus tax new will change it out tomorrow compressos is easy to get to chock wheels jack up passanger side removeinspection cover 4 plastic rivets 1omm socket remove front clutch bolt I use a pipe wrench sideways to keep the clutch from turning I guess I should tell you I repair mnajor home appliances also changed this before with a used part 1 1/2 year ago this tine I going new took a while to find part since it isn't a stock part but i tracked it down from the sentech site to see how handles their parts locally autozone did you have to go i9n and pay for it or the shipping to house was like $25.00 more autozone is 5 miles from my home the ride did me good sorry about the long post but I wanted to give as much information as possable being in the appliance repair business I don't go buy every special tool that I may use once a year maybe look at the job , check what yopu have and use commonsense and be safe as possable !!!! hope this helps jerry9947@yahoo.com

 

Back in Novemnber my clutch failed. The bearing went out and allowed pulley to wear on coil and letting the smoke out. Could not find clutch only - except dealer for way too much money. There is a AC Comp manufacturere in Abilene. They had one that would fit and sold it to me for $60. Tired to just swap clutch, but shaft was wrong size so I swapped unit.

I could not find a clutch on e-bay - until now. I am going to get the clutch and put it on the compressor I took off and have a spare. Thanks!

 

hey adrenaline junkie,can u help-i see from ur post u give good advice how to change compressor clutch-i tried to locate adam from ebay to by clutch and bearing-cant locaye him-can you give me a link or lead to find a/c compressor clutch-i have old one torn apart,realy need to find replacement-thanks jim the golfer

 

On ebay he is "allforauto". Adam @ (731) 822 3431 or (267) 250 0013.

 

I changed the wife's a month or so ago. Got it at http://www.thechillman.com/servlet/StoreFront , no cutting or soldering($99). Nowhere local carried it and there were too many listed on ebay for me(scared to get wrong one). The old one came off in pieces. Inner bearing was alot noisy and fell apart while removing and clutch wouldn't engage anymore.