compressor clutch fried/replacing hard?

The bearing went out in my compressor clutch assembly,how difficult might this be to change in my driveway?
What tools might I need?
How long might this take?
Please someone respond,It's saturday morning and my only car,gotta get it up soon.
Thanks in advance

ac was blowing cold so I thought just replace the clutch assembly,if not too difficult.....otherwise....junkyard compressor and mess with getting cold air again???

I just replaced the clutch on my a/c. Not to hard to do you just need a good pair of snapring plyers. Because there is a snap ring that holds the magnet to the compressor, it can be a pain. Also there is another snap ring that holds the pully to the magnet. So when you replace it have someone help you. Oh yea you might have to go to the dealership to get one. I had to b\c no one could get me one.

Year, which compressor York or Sanden? A little info would help. Usually the compressor and clutch is sold as a unit. Hard to find clutch by itself at parts house.

My advice is don't mess with the clutch. You can buy a new one from jeepsareus.com for about $50 less than the entire compressor, new clutch included. The new compressor will come filled with the right amount of oil, dry and sealed (and new O rings).

If the clutch melted, it did this for a reason. It was probably trying to drive a binding or locked up compressor.

If you bolt the new compressor in place before taking the hose block off the back of the old compressor, you can swap the lines over and have the system open for less than 10 seconds, not enough time to worry about moisture entering the system, which would require an evacuation of the system. This consern is what drove my poor decision to only replace the clutch.

I would have had mine swapped and the system charged in less than an hour, had I not broken one of the M8x1.25 bolts that hold the compressor down to the mount. That took an extra 2 hours to find and install the appropriate helicoil. These are steel bolts into a cast aluminum mount. Can you say dissimilar metals? Be careful as you take a bolt out. If it starts to bind, screw it back in a littly way and try bringing it out again. It may take several attempts to get it free. Take you time. If you get the bolt loose by a couple of turns, you can get some PB down past the head onto the base.

If you need to drive it until you can get a compressor, just pull the 25 Amp fuse for the AC clutch out of the box just behind the battery. This way you won't forget about the problem and turn on the defroster, which would further burn the clutch.

This is all first hand experience for me. I wish I had not wasted the $200 on the clutch and just bought the compressor the first time.

Don't buy a boneyard compressor. That WILL require the system to be evacuated and charged by a shop.

sanden model no# 4784
2000 cherokee

...would a bone yard compressor work and just swap out the clutch and throw away the compressor?bearing was sounding dry for a moment even without running the air,I'm thinking my problem started with a bad bearing,not a bad compressor.Part of my problem is my cash is REALLY tight after I bought this Cherokee(just titled it yesterday) so I'm looking for an economical way to get my jeep up and running.

If you are sure it is just a noisy bearing, I would be glad to give you my old compressor, with new clutch. However, I am about a 6 hour drive from Detroit, so it would not help you today.

The bearing only runs on the stationary compressor shaft. When the AC compressor is running, the bearing is not used. Maybe you could just run the AC full time until you get a clutch. This would be a good diagnostic data point anyway.

To diagnose this thing, pull the 25 Amp fuse for the clutch, in the fuse panel to the rear of the battery and start it. If it is now quiet, the bearing and clutch is good. If the clutch is noisy, you either have a bad bearing in the clutch, or the plates are noisy from all the wear, trying to drive a bad compressor and the melted coil insulation, which is surely contaminating the clutch plates. Can you see a row of melted black plastic on the bottom of the hood that lines up with the clutch pulley? It will look like a line of black paint splatter. This would be the melted insulation from the clutch coil.

Have someone help you with this, you should be the observer under the hood. Put the fuse back in and make sure the AC is off. Start the engine and let it idle for a couple of minutes. With the engine at a slow idle, have your helper turn the AC on. If the clutch is screaming, and the engine is being loaded down, you need to get a compressor. The clutch is probably shot by now too, so just get the compressor and be done with it.

If you try to go cheap and don't do a full diagnosis, it will cost you more in the long run. I know from experience. I mentioned jeepsareus.com before because they beat the stealership cost of the compressor by $200 and have fast service. I do not own any interest in that business.

if you decide that just the clutch is bad, i would still replace the entire compressor, i know that sounds like wasted money, but in my experience, those clutches are kind of a pain to replace. and you never know, your compressor's innards may not be far behind... that's just my $.02...

I replace my AC clutch at about 50k miles. Now at 115k miles, it's about go out again. This time I'm replace the whole compressor unit, because I figure at that mileage; it doesn't have too much more to go....

Thanks everyone for their help,I ended up putting a re-manufactured compressor/clutch on,bolted it all down,clamped the lines down but leaving it empty and now waiting for my neighbor to bring his gages home from work to flush,evacuate and refill the compressor.At least this way I can drive it without air conditioning and not worrying about siezing up and flying apart and stranding me.My neighbor is a mechanic and assures me that waiting to do it right means doing it only once....that makes good sense to me........again.....Thanks everyone for your help!