AC Bearing replacement

I recently had my AC Compressor bearing fail on my 98' 4.0L. The AC still worked fine, but when the AC was not on, the pulley ground on the clutch plate. The Compressor mine uses is a Sanden Model U4691, so I figured I would just go get a bearing. Not available!?? So, I dissasembled it and found out why. The issue is that the pulley and bearing are one unit. No separate bearing. I think they staked it it.

I found a work around if you bear with me.

I looked up the U4691 and found that it is in the same family as the SD709 ( Both mount with long vertical bolts, but the connections are different) that Jeep used in the mid 90's. In search of a solution, I grabbed what was left of my pulley/bearing for reference and headed for the Junk Yard. In a 95' I spotted what I needed, a SD709 that someone had pulled, then dropped (and left) in a puddle ( sure thing the insides were junk! ). So I pulled the pulley. The pulley was the same, except you could replace the bearing. The clutch plate used a woodriff key instead of splines, but I figured I could re-use my old one. OH JOY!

So I hauled it home, cleaned it up, and installed it. It bolted right up to my compressor without modification.

I know it means canibalizing a good compressor to accomplish, but a Junk Yard compressor will maybe run you $50, while a new compressor and evacuation/fill will certainly run you in the hundreds.

Ron

That's a pretty good fix. I know when we were researching compressor clutches, that they cost as much as a rebuilt compressor.

I just bought a $20 bearing to replace the bad one in a co-worker's 2000 dakota w/ a sanden unit. I haven't worked on a compressor before, but hopefully it's similar to pulling a hub bearing.

I'm a little stranded right now and after reading this and Atl-Atl's thread, have decided to give this a go. I found a "good" compressor at the local salvage yard for $50. I'm going to grab it Friday morning and try this out! Thanks for the info, I hope it works as well for me as it did you!

Sorry to necro a thread, however I was attempting this. The AC compressor on my 2000 XJ seized up and I pulled an AC compressor from a 95 model. When I'm going to put the pulley assembly back on it does not fit. The metal protruding edges on the back side are a smaller diameter than the original pulley.

Has anyone else ran into this? I'll try to upload some pics this evening. I can confirm I have a new model and the replaceable bearing model.