Idle Pulley or Pulley Problem

On my 89 XJ.. I've got power steering and A/C .. The A/C Mount.. the aluminum or cast part that has a pulley on it that mounts to the block.. seem to keep creaping forward.. The First time it happened.. I was stuck in Virginia on Labor Day weekend at 2:00a.m. I towed the jeep home and fixed it by replacing it with a part off of a low mile 88 xj .. low miles being 54,000 miles..

This pulley is also starting to creep out.. I noticed this by noticing that the belt doesn't seem to sit perfectly centered on the pulley..

I have replaced the fan with electric fans so this time it won't push into my radiator and leave me stranded, but still.. it's buggint the crap out of me..

Is there a common problem with these pulleys/ mounts or is there a way to replace the a/c mount and eliminate the a/c all together.. I don't use air conditioning, and have removed most parts except for the compressor and the mount.. Just so I could use the pulleys.

Has anyone sucessfully removed the a/c unit and used stock jeep parts to keep the serpentine setup..

If so.. what parts would I need and what model or years are they off of..

I know that some jeeps came with out a/c and I think that's what I'm getting at.. Is .. will the setup without a/c work?? and what other items would I need to get.. is there a different idler pulley or something???

Thanks in advance..

Bill

I am confused by the way you describe the problem, becayse the a/c pulley is on the front of the compressor, and I don't see any way that could possibly creep forward. And even if it could, that would in no way affect the mechanical fan.

To answer your question directly, I have an '88 XJ with a/c and after 240,000 miles I've not encountered anything like what you describe, so I'd guess it's not a problem common to all XJs.

Can you post a picture and point out which pulley is the culprit?

As a thought, how many miles on your XJ? Has the harmonic balancer ever been replaced? When those go bad, the outer ring slides out of alignment and the belt can't run true. Maybe you're looking at the wrong pulley.

Umm.. No it's not the harmonic balancer.. I just loosened up the belt and checked.. No rubber on either side and there doesn't seem to be any movement or looseness.

The pulley I'm trying to describe is the small one that runs right under the a/c unit and is actually mounted to the a/c unit mout..

The mout is a peice of cast metal that is bolted to the block.. It has a pulley on it with 4 bolts that used to control the manual clutch fan, but I've since removed the fan.. I guess in a way it's the fan pulley.

I hope you're getting me.. If not I'll try to get some pictures up later tonight.

thanks..

Bill