so the bearing to my a/c compressor has some sand in it and it makes a horrible noise that i think is loud and annoying. can you remove just the pulley? if so, how? ive taken the clutch plate off (plate on the very front attached by three bolts) then i took the c clip immediately inside there off. i did remove the belt first. is the pulley simply stuck due to sand or does it come off at all. thanks.

 

Once you have the clip off you should be able to pull the clutch off. It might take some carefull prying with some additional tools.

 

DO NOT pry on that pulley!!!! Take your time and go rent a pulley removal tool. You can damage the compressor seal if you sc**w around with that pulley.

 

Just bypass the compressor on the serpantine belt, you will need a shorter belt, but then you can take care of the compressor at your convinence. Besides I know winteres coming up b.c weve cooled down from 100* down to 90*

And i agree, you cant rent a pulley remover tool from autozone for very cheap or free.
-Patrick

 

alright, thanks. i was thinking about just bypassing the thing. anybody know the belt size that ill need to do so? what happens if i mess the seal up? i dont run the air conditioner anyway. mostly local driving for me so windows down is good enough in the low country of sc.

 

On the 5.4 you will need a different tensioner as well. A new AC clutch with coil is ~95 bucks at Autozone. I just replaced mine because the bearing was destroyed. I thought about the shorter belt idea as well but in the 5.4 if you route it without the AC compressor the tensioner needs to sit where the compressor pulley is. I did not want to pull my compressor because I would need a recharge.
Look at the diagram sticker under your hood. I think the 4.6 is different.