2002 dodge dakota

[petefarms]

the pulley is going up on the ac unit, has anyone replaced this unit and or should this be left to the garage? If I did it myself anything to look for other than keeping everything clean and dry. I see they have a bypass pulley take the ac unit off but how do you seal the lines going into and out of the ac, is there a kit of sorts. Thanks.

[Ray]

You will have to either recover the coolant, or bleed it into the atmosphere, then vacuum the unit to remove any moisture, after you install the new one, then add the new coolant. No other way other than taking it off and adding coolant, if done quickly you might get away with it, if noone turns you in for the $50,000 dollar fine for polluting the environment.
You can buy a drain blast kit that uses the same coolant as a high pressure charge to clear clogged drains in your house, and discharge pounds of coolant legally in your drain pipes, but you can't loose any charging an air conditioner. best wishes, ray

[foxtrapper]

Ah, no Ray. You're way off base on that. The drain cleaners are not the same chemicals as A/C refrigerants.

OP, Hardest part of doing the job yourself is holding the compressor and pulley in place so they don't rotate while you're using your wrenches. There's a bit of fiddlyness with clearances involving some shims. Not a complex job, but not dead easy either.

[mightybooboo]

I dont think A/C repairs are shade tree mechanic friendly.You are going to have to bite the bullet big time and have a shop do it IMO.

[foxtrapper]

Here's two walk throughs that are pretty good and give you a good idea of what's involved with the job. A lot of special tools are used, but aren't necessarily needed. You can do a whole lot with wedges and such.

http://www.bernardembden.com/xjs/comclutch/index.htm
and
http://autorepair.about.com/library/faqs/bl817h.htm

[Beeman]

I really have no clue what is wrong with your truck. The A/C compressor bearing,pulley and clutch assy. can be changed without getting near freon if that's what is wrong. Most likely require specil pullers to remove and installers to press back on if that's what is wrong.