Sandaholic

I am a 1st and 2nd gen imbicile......well maybe not that bad, but you get the point. A buddy of mine from work has a 97 and his a/c clutch face plate is broken. He described it to me as the tabs that engage the clutch as being too thin. He has called wrecking yards looking for used and has visited some as well. He says they are all in bad shape just like his. He called cummins I believe he said and they told him to talk to dodge/chrysler. I don't remember which way the calls went. Anyways he got a qoute for a replacement ordered up through the dealer as being $225(IIRC) and he might have a line on a used one.

His dillema is he was wondering if there is some updated clutch assembly that he could install instead of the same one with the weak tabs? Or maybe a retro-fit? I told him someone on here would know, so help me out here guys. I did a search on this a couple different places and came up with nothing.

His other thought was maybe getting something machined?

What do you think and please throw in your .02
I'd hate to have nothing to tell him after I talked up the diesel truck resource like I did!
Thanx

Sandaholic

Bump! Anybody?

Did I put this in the right section at least? And does anyone even understand the question or did I word it wrong?

Thanx

Busboy

All AC compressor clutches use an electro-magnetic coil to pull the clutch face plate (attached to the compressor shaft) in to contact the compressor pulley. If it is worn it's from slipping. This could be caused from the "high" side pressure getting too high and causing the compressor to almost stall. Could be a blockage or just overcharged. It could also be just worn out from the system being under charged and the compressor cycling on and off rapidly. The tabs are actually to hold the face plate OFF the pulley until the magnet engages it. I would suggest that you throw on a set of AC gauges and see exactly what is going on before damage is caused.

There should be a gap of about 0.025 inch and the springs are very weak you can easily push on them. What makes him think there is anything wrong?

Sandaholic

Well I guess he thought it was maybe a bad design or something since when he was looking for a used face plate they were broken as well.

So you're pretty sure it is an issue with the pressure in the a/c lines be it from being over or under charged?

Thanx

Anybody else have any suggestions

kd460

You may find your answers and parts here:

http://www.autoacforum.com

Busboy

Its only an issue if the clutch is slipping, The clutches are fairly reliable and if there is something wrong with his it's likely something else caused it. Other things can cause hi head pressure like engine cooling fan not engaging, piece of cardboard in front of the condenser but these don't cause it to run high enough to stall the compressor. Blockage or overcharge would.

Sandaholic

Thanx alot! I am just going to print this out and hand it to him in the morning. Maybe he'll join up here shortly.

renopker

Valair builds a/c clutches to.

J BODY

considering what they do, and how often they do it, and for how many years.....yeah they break once in awile. I tend to keep old compressors and strip them of these parts so I can use them when need be. Often when you order the clutch parts....they come with a free compressor attached to them $$$$.

Hector Acevedo

I have a 97 dodge cummins 2500 and where i live the temp gets to 118 degrees and my truck has a problem when you are going normal speed on the road the ac is cold but if i stop and wait like 5 minutes or so the trucks ac starts to get hot and humid but only when its sitting anyone got an idea of what it is

patdaly

Check Freon, probably a touch low. You need good gauges though, pressures probably aren't that far off.

rebal

I would check your fan clutch ,if your moving you have air pushing heat out of the condenser when stopped your not getting any air flow to get rid of the heat. try putting a big fan in front when its at your garage and see if it starts to cool again