Yep, it fell completely off on my 06. Luckily it fell off when I stopped and I recovered it. The problem is when I went to put it back on I saw that the bolt that held it on had sheared off leaving the stud in the shaft on the compressor. I was able to drill & retap the broken stud without breaking the system open. Here's my question: You know how these trucks all seem to make the noise when the compressor kicks in? Mine has done that since new. Everybody slide up under there & check that compressor clutch bolt in the center & make sure it's tight. Could be that bolt backing out that's causing the clutch to slip & make the noise. Might save you the pain of drilling a sheared off bolt with a right angle drill in a 6" deep work area!

 

post back after you fix it let me know if that annoying noise is gone

 

Mine did exactly the same thing.......twice. I was going to fix it like you did but it appeared that the clutch faces were pretty badly worn so I've decided that I will just put a new compressor in being I cannot find just the clutch assembly.

Dave

 

The annoying noise is gone & everything's working great for now....

 

That's crazy! I figured this was a freak thing but apparently not. My truck only has 55k miles on it so the clutch faces looked good. Everything's working nice & smooth for now. Hope it stays that way. I priced just the clutch and it's almost as much as a new compressor with the clutch. In fact, there's a guy on Ebay that's selling Mopar compressors for $304 including shipping. That's cheaper than an aftermarket from Autozone in my area.

 

JW's3Dodges, I really appreciate your post about this. I used my AC today and when I turned it on I felt a thud. I saw your post and went out a few minutes ago and check the nut on my AC compressor and it took about a 1/2 a turn to get it back tight. I will see how it does tomorrow. I also checked the one on my wife's 06 Hemi and it needed to be tightened.

 

Guess what I'll be checking tomorrow! Thanks!

 

how do you tighten this ?

 

Hunter11, thanks for the info. Keep us posted on how your trucks do. Hopefully that will take care of the noise and keep the bolts from shearing.

1985 cucv, You just need to tighten the bolt in the center of the clutch, that's the bolt that holds the front part on. You might have to use a long screwdriver across 2 of the 3 counterweights to keep the compressor from turning while you tighten the bolt. I think it's going to be a 10mm socket that tightens the bolt but I'm not sure because mine was sheared off and gone.

 

it is a 14 mm i just put my socket on it but it just spins so ill have to jam something in there for sure

 

As JW's3Dodges says, I just used a small screwdriver between a couple of the counter weights to hold the clutch from turning and tightened the nut. The wife's Hemi was much easier because the compressor was up top and easy to access.

 

Thought I would report back, I turned my AC on coming home today and no clunk like yesterday. Good find JW's3Dodges, thanks again.

 

Yup, mine went south last summer, ended up with a new compressor. Lovely, 3 year old truck at the time. Of course, just out of warranty.

 

the 03's have a different setup than the newer ones i wonder how do you tighten the 03's?

 

Thanks for the heads up, checked both mine last night and they are tight, but the 06 fan shroud nuts needed a bit of tightening.