Air Con Bearings

[albatross]

Hi all, I have read somewear how to change a air con pump pully bearing but I cant for the life of me find it!
Is there a way to do it without removing the pump? Iv just done my tensioner pully only to discover that the air con pump needs doing too!
Cheers in advance!
Albatross

 

[4x4 ST-R]

Yeh mate I did mine a while back.

Didn't have to remove the air con pump completely, but had to undo the mounting bolts and sorta let it hang down off the air con lines. Wasn't too much pressure there.

Something is telling me I didn't end up needing to do that. Wait...and il check my posts and see if I wrote what I did.

 

[4x4 ST-R]

All fixed guys. I undid the 4 a/c bolts holding the unit onto the engine. Dropped the unit as low as I could get it. Got a puller from supercheap and pulled off the pulley. Make sure you remove the clutch, and circlip first. Pressed out the old bearing, pressed in the new one and reinstalled. No more noise. Good luck

That's what I wrote back when I did it. Have you got a bearing yet? I remember I got mine from an auto shop with a bit of shopping around. Eventually found out that they are the same as a VS 5.0ltr commodore a/c bearing pulley.

 

[albatross]

Thats the post iv been trying to find! Legend!
Havent got the bearing as iv only just discovered the problem after replacing the tensioner bearing. Will source some parts and give it a go! Would have been easyer with the radiator already out but hopefully I dont need to pull that again?

 

[4x4 ST-R]

No problems. I didn't need to take out the radiator. The jobs a little fuzzy in my memory. I know I farked it when I didn't remove the circlip before trying to pull it with the puller. You might not even need a puller, just lever it with your screwdrivers. I know i got the puller cos i couldnt lever it off with screwdrivers, and as i found out it was cos the circlip was still on. I can't remember exactly where the circlip is, but once I saw it (after I farken broke it) it was pretty obvious to me.

Good luck.

 

[4x4 ST-R]

Brain wave - undo the small bolt at the front of the clutch. 10mm. Get your screwdrivers in between the clutch and the pulley and lever the clutch off. It's the funny looking brass coloured circle thingy, and it flexes. That's how it engages - by a magnetic force being turned on and the clutch it flexed and pressed against the pulley which then turns the air con pump.

Anyway...get the clutch off and the circlip is in there. It's the only thing holding the pulley in place. Probably need circlip pliers to get it out, or tricky skills on a pair of needle nose pliers. I wouldn't know cos I broke mine off. Haha.

 

[albatross]

Hahaha well I thanky you for your pain with it all so now I dont have to experence the same thing! Will attempt it next week when I get my s*@t togeather, will take some piccys and note the steps and see if we cant get a nice guide put up hear for it! For someone who spends alot of time in west coast tasmania mud and slop, I think I will be going through a few bearings in my time!

 

[4x4 ST-R]

No worries mate. I think a few people would be interested in a write up as I've read that people with the same problem have just gone to Nissan and been charged like $1200 for a new air con unit. I wasn't about to pay that, hence why I gave it a crack myself.

 

[albatross]

So someone wouldent happen to have a bearing part number? Iv been trying to find it but not having any luck!

 

[4x4 ST-R]

I'm not sure of the bearing number. I pressed mine out and then drove the Missus car down to the auto shop. Like I said, if you can't find the part for D22 a/c pulley bearing just get a VS commodore ute one. 5.0ltr V8. I ended up with two and gave one to my mate who has the VS ute, which fitted. They must obviously be universal.

 

[albatross]

So I tackled this job today.
Found the bearing part #ACB35550020
Hear is how I did it.
First of all, If one was to be replacing there Tensioner pully bearing I would recomend this be done at the same time, as I managed to do it with the radiator in, but it would have been alot easyer if the radiator out, take it out and do both bearings at the same time!

So First I removed the fan, shroud, serpintine belt and tensioner pully. Im hoping people know how to do this, there is detailed instructions in another thread (the other thread says remove radiator, but that is only needed to be done if you havent done the idler pully bearing yet as this will be efing tight and the space is needed to get tools in) I had done this only last week so everything was still easy to move.

 

[albatross]

Then I removed the 10mm bolt in the center of the front of the compressor clutch. This was reasonably easy to get, just had to get a hold of the clutch assembly with a screwdriver or pliers to stop it rotating.

Then it was a matter of getting two screwdrivers behind the clutch assembly and jimming it out. This took some time and frustration but keep at it and you will get it. Remember that the clutch is inside the pully wheel so get your screwdrivers in there.

 

[albatross]

Then in the middle of the assembly there is a circlip to remove. I tried this without proper circlip plyers at first, but soon gave it away and went and got some plyers and it came straight off. Worth every penny in time, annoyence and noise complants from neighbours with the bad language I would have used.
So with this off its now time to grab your screwdrivers/jimmy bars and jimmy the whole pully from the compressor.
Once again, it was a bit of a press fit and was annoying and slow at first but keep at it and it will come.
With this off you can see the bearing in the pully. As you can see from my pic, my bearing was well and truely stuffed, compleatly collapsed and suprised by the amount of ball bearings it had lost that it haddent seized!!!

 

[albatross]

From hear I pressed out the collapsed bearing(easyer typed then done! It fell apart and i only had the outer race to use a cold chissel to knock it out!)
And then cleaned the pully up and pressed in my new bearing. From hear I followed all steps in reverse cleaning all the surfaces ect as i went to help the press fit back on and there you go!
All up it took me about 4 hrs not including all the breaks for lifes interuptions. I will post the bearing part number in the first post shortly when I get the box from downstairs.

 

[4x4 ST-R]

Good work mate. I bet your engine is nice and quiet now.

 

[albatross]

Haha yea its getting there! The problem is, i fix one noise and then i can hear another! Should have just left the stereo up loud!!