a/c compressor smoking!

yesterday i used my ac for the first time since last summer and it worked fine and blew cold air but i got off of the highway and it made some grinding noises i popped the hood and checked and theres a bit of smoke coming from the compressor clutch, does this just sound like a bearing gone bad or the whole clutch? ive also knowticed a new clutch is 230$ when a new compressor with a clutch is 260$ and whats involved in removeing the clutch?

EDIT* i see i can buy a bearing for 50$ but i dont want to buy it and then find out i need a whole clutch.... whats the best thing to do?

Honestly, with a problem like that, i would just buy the whole compressor assembely, or get it from a junkyard. Hate to tell you, but that might just be the begining of your problems. if it is an internal compressor failure, you will have to flush the whole system, if not replace the components.

ok went to go fix it today on the way belt broke so i pulled the clutch assembly off the compressor and found the bearing was pretty much destroyed and not much left but a couple oval balls and chunks of stuff. the center part of the clutch spun pretty eaisly but then the part the belt contacts it self was not moving. so i just bought a compressor through my work (dont laugh at me but i work at a radiator shop thats specializes in this stuff... but i only repair the radiators them selves not the cooling systems!) and saved a hundred or so bucks im probably just gunna pull the clutch off of that one and put it on the one in the jeep already. and probably toss the other compressor on ebay of if any one needs one with out a clutch let me know. also is this a common thing to lose the clutch like that? my boss said he had a bunch of compressors in the storage building so i went digging through and found around 10 of them..... all with bad clutches!