Removing A/C compressor

[Surrey]

Hey, I have an old 88 bronco II with A/C that doesn't even work. I live in Canada, so A/C is useful all of about 6 weeks of the year, so I was planning to just rip it out. (Plus, that means one less thing my engine is working to spin)

Has anyone done this to their ride?
Is there anything I need to know/worry about with the removal of it? Do I need to be careful to get the hoses coming off the compressor plugged and shit?
Im not running the risk of dumping toxic chemicals all over the place, am I?

Thanks.

 

[exbass94]

You should have a shop discharge the system first. After that, you can simply unbolt and remove it, along with any other AC components.

 

[Surrey]

What sorta dangers do I risk in not having a shop discharge the system first?
Are any other components critical to be removed? Seems like the sorta thing thats gonna give me a big headache, trying to find bits and pieces of the AC system?

 

[AllanD]

More than likely the system has discharged itself already.

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[exbass94]

The only "danger" you have in not discharging the system first is releasing the refrigerant into the air, which is bad for the environment. If you follow the hoses connecting to the compressor, you'll see two round caps. Unscrew a cap and you'll see what looks like a tire valve. If you press the pin in the middle (like letting air out of a tire) the refrigerant will come out. If you bring it to a shop, they have a machine that recovers and recycles the refrigerant.

There aren't any other components that you HAVE to remove. You can leave everything else there if you want. But if they're just sitting there doing nothing, you might as well remove them.

 

[Surrey]

There aren't any other components that you HAVE to remove. You can leave everything else there if you want. But if they're just sitting there doing nothing, you might as well remove them.

Okay, what components *should* be removed? and where would I find them?

Thanks.

 

[exbass94]

You can remove the condenser. It's located right in front of the radiator, is about the same size as the radiator, and actually looks just like a radiator. There's the hose that connects the compressor to the condenser, and there's a hose on the other side of the condenser (passenger side) that connects to the evaporator (located inside the heater box on the firewall). I would just leave the evaporator installed in the heater box, it's not worth removing, but you can remove the hose.

There's also a hose that connects the compressor to the accumulator, which looks like this:

You can remove the accumulator and the hose.

It's basically a matter of following the hoses and removing whatever is attached to them.