96 850 Replacing A/C compressor, questions

[JimBee]

A couple of followup notes. I removed the center bolt but I guess there's a tool I'd need to actually pull the clutch, so I didn't get that far.
There's apparently nobody in Minnesota who rebuilds a/c compressors, but I found one tech who said he has the know-how and tools so he could replace the seal for me (for $40.00) if I could find the seal. So, seal hunting I went. Couldn't find one. I did turn up some diagnostic info, one suggestion was that if you have oil around the pulley it can mean a failing bearing that's heating up and its grease is liquifying. The bearing seems to run smooth and quiet, so it's not near failure, but when...? if that's the source of the oil. That tech said he would just install it and run it and see what happens. But then all the components (that I'm going to renew) plus having a reputable shop vacuum and charge the system. Like several posters have said, you don't want to ridk going through that again just to save a c-note. I don't put high miles on my cars, so a new unit of medium quality might be good enough.
So, this is what I'm looking at:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-AC-Compress ... odel%3AV70
Any thoughts?

[abscate]

No manufacturer info of any kind, no way I would buy that eBay kit.l

The clutch removal too is easy to fab from a plate and some screws. Some threads on that in here too.

If you take the AC out clutch removal on the bench is easy, too.

[chrafael]

I've been wanting to give these people a try, www.acsource.com. They have a lot of repair parts not normally found elsewhere. Pay close attention to the pulley bearing while you're there. They can be quite expensive at local auto parts stores.

[JimBee]

Recall that I was worried about the seal leaking in the used compressor I'd planned to install. There was oil inside the pulley and on the clutch face but after pulling the clutch and pulley the cavity in the nose casting on the front of the compressor where the power shaft comes through had a little grime but no wet oil. So where did the oil come from that was in the clutch? Not sure, although several techs who work a lot with bearings thought the bearing is fine and would have to be worn, loud and grainy to heat up enough to boil the grease. I decided to replace the bearing anyway since I have it all apart and it's not hard to do. That bearing is cheap online, but locally the only one I could find is $53.00 + tx. Ouch. There are many choices online, but I want the OEM Japanese made NSK and online descriptions are somewhat vague so I have a couple of emails out to sellers for details.

BTW: The OEM bearing is: NSK 35BD219DUK critical dimensions are: ID= 35 mm, OD 55 mm, width 20 mm. Several bearings with those dimensions have slightly different ID's. One common variant is the last letter in the ID is M instead of K.

One thing I ran into when I removed the compressor was the 2 lower bracket bolts (14 mm socket, 10 mm shanks) came out really hard, squeaking all the way. They both had what seemed like a little solder might have been shot into the open end to fill the last threads near the tip and pulling that buggered end through all the threads to remove it buggered up all the threads in the bracket. I had to take off the bracket (6 easy bolts) and run a tap through those two threaded bolt holes in the bracket. No way would a clean bolt even start in them. The tap is 10 mm x 1.5, about $4.00 at Menards.

[abscate]

Yeah - and removal gets fun when your socket starts hitting the wiring harness too. Its much easier with a ratcheting box end, M10 (14mm hex)