Well, it's not making anything really, but it was a major pain in the butt, so I'm going to share. No pics, unfortunately.
My air conditioner in my Jeep went out last week. Hottest week of the year, of course. Actually, it wasn't the A/C itself, but the clutch/pulley assembly on the front of the compressor. Squealing like a stuck pig, and smoking and looking like it was about to launch itself off the front of the engine.
Seems the dealers want to change out the whole compressor assembly, to the tune of over $900. This involved disconnecting the lines. The parts are redily available on the web for less than 1/3 of that, but you have to have special equipment to vacuum out the old refrigerant. If you don't, you can be fined thousands of dollars and even jailed. Dealers are required by law to report any evidence of tampering, and a mechanic buddy told me they get a kickback for doing it, too. Not worth the risk to DIY.
So, I looked and searched the web, and finally came up with a rebuild kit off eBay. Not available from the dealers, naturally. Just the clutch parts, for a measly $74, shipped. No disconnecting lines, so it's environmentally responsible, too. It's a huge racket. Like being told, when you have a flat tire, that they must replace the whole side of the car. One $8 bearing, and they want a grand to fix it!
Kit consisted of a clutch plate, a new coil, a bearing and some spacer shims. Getting the old one off wasn't too hard, as the bearing (double row ball) had disintegrated. Balls all over the ground, and the coil had cooked off all the epoxy and shorted out. The clutch plate and pulley face were badly scored. It was shot! The worst part was that the single serpentine belt travels around this pulley, so the truck was not going anywhere until it was fixed. A couple of large snap rings were the biggest hassle, but my dad has nearly every tool that Craftsman sells, so he had the special pliers.
I ended up cutting the inner race off the mount, as it had kind of welded itself to the housing. Popped right off. Next, I had to get the outer race out of the pulley. This is where the machinist experience paid off. It was mechanically staked into the pulley, and I used the lathe to cut out the staked over nibs. Then, a punch and lots of hammering got the old race out. I again chucked it in the lathe to clean up the rusty bore, and to face off the friction surface where it had been scored by the clutch plate.
Coming up the stairs to fit the pulley on to the vehicle, I ran into my wife in the hallway. Slammed my pinky into the doorframe, and bent it backwards. It hurt like crazy, and I'm convinced it's broken. Having broken fingers before, I know there's not much to do but splint it and hope I don't bang it too much.
Reassembly was pretty straightforward, and I have a small arbor press to get the new bearing in. Wired it up, and...nothing. Cut out the splices, figuring I had it backwards. Still nothing. Turns out, after having a small fit, that there's a fuse. Blown when the coil went out. New fuse, and I'm back in business.
Fuse: less than a buck
Clutch kit: $74, shipped
Labor: sweating your butt off on the hottest day of the year
plus one broken pinky, from rushing too much.
Not having to wake up the wife to drive you to work: pricless.
