A/C Compressor Clutch Bearing Swap - Buying Bearings By Size?

Wife's 2010 Hyundai Santa Fe 2.4L is making a "pinging/scraping" noise when the A/C is on. Sound is coming from the compressor area. My reasoning says it is the A/C clutch bearing getting loose and allowing the pulley to contact the field coil. Of course nobody sells just the bearing (hell, nobody sells the A/C clutch kit either), but through a severe amount of Googling I may have found the correct size bearing, 30x52x22mm. Not sure though.

Amazingly I found a manual showing the same compressor, but used in a Kia: http://www.ksmanual.com/compressor_disassembly-1413.html

Looks fairly straight forward, which means it will be pure hell and take hours.

Any tips on where to find just the bearing? I'll be shopping purely by measurement, as nobody has a bearing specifically stated to fit. I may end up pulling off the pulley and measuring the bearing as best I can with it still installed, then order from there.

Is there a number on the bearing itself?  If so, bring that to a bearing supply house and see if they can cross reference it.

In reply to stuart in mn :

I'll definitely be looking for any part numbers I can find.

I may have found a new clue. This guy did the same job on a Kia, looks like the same part numbers:

http://www.kia-forums.com/kia-carens-rondo-forum/96010-ac-compressor-clutch-pulley-bearing-replacement.html

A bearing house should fix you up for short money. Every city I've ever known has one somewhere in town.

Lay the old bearing on the counter and they will measure and take it from there.

Are you sure that the clutch isn't slipping?  That bearing should be turning anytime the engine/belt is turning.

I just copied the size into my browser and came up with this.

$21 from Amazon. Likely cheaper at a bearing house.

https://www.amazon.com/Nikauto-30BD5222DU-30X52X22MM-Automotive-Conditioning/dp/B07334DN5Y

ChasH said:

I just copied the size into my browser and came up with this.

$21 from Amazon. Likely cheaper at a bearing house.

 

https://www.amazon.com/Nikauto-30BD5222DU-30X52X22MM-Automotive-Conditioning/dp/B07334DN5Y

Found a different one for $12: http://a.co/8cZuUmu

I'm going to tear into it tomorrow morning. I'm pretty sure I've caught it early enough that I have a little time to get parts.

Bob_S said:

Are you sure that the clutch isn't slipping?  That bearing should be turning anytime the engine/belt is turning.

 

Thought about that, but the A/C is running like a champ. The sound isn't a squealing, but a hollow metallic pinging/scraping. My thought is when the A/C clutch is energized (pulling the outer clutch face against the spinning pulley) the bearing is loose enough to allow it to contact something behind the pulley (like the coil). When I pull it apart tomorrow it should be obvious if the bearing is loose, and if the pulley has contacted anything.

I jumped through these same hoops for a Miata NB/RX8 compressor after realizing it wasn't the clutch tolerance making the noise. Used the stock bearing number to locate specs and found a generic replacement on eBay. AC probably has a 1k on it- cold and noise free.

I did the bearing replacement thing on the Subaru recently. Worked like a champ. I was lucky enough to find a part number and bought it off amazon, but the original guy who spec'd it did it off the ID OD and thinckness. 

In reply to mazdeuce - Seth :

How did you R&R the bearing? My current plan is to try using my vise to press it out. I don't have a shop press, so this may be interesting. I don't want to resort to cave man big hammer methods if possible.

I have the HF shop press. Bench vise or a really big C clamp might well work. Always a workaround. 

slefain said:

In reply to mazdeuce - Seth :

How did you R&R the bearing? My current plan is to try using my vise to press it out. I don't have a shop press, so this may be interesting. I don't want to resort to cave man big hammer methods if possible.

On a vice you can often find sockets that fit appropriately.  If the bearing is pressed in against a lip, you will need different sizes for pressing out vs. pressing in.  

FE3tMX5 said:

I jumped through these same hoops for a Miata NB/RX8 compressor after realizing it wasn't the clutch tolerance making the noise. Used the stock bearing number to locate specs and found a generic replacement on eBay. AC probably has a 1k on it- cold and noise free.

I had no problems with mine. I got one from Auto Zone, a few weeks ago. In stock at the closest store to me.

https://www.autozone.com/cooling-heating-and-climate-control/a-c-clutch-bearing?filterByKeyWord=air+condition+clutch+bearing&fromString=search&isIgnoreVehicle=false

In reply to drsmooth :

Search for RX8 or 03-04 Miata (#97362) still does not yield any results. :shrug: