Anyone ever routed the fan belt to leave out the A/C pump? I would assume a shorter belt is needed but does anyone ever had success?

Year and model are very important bits of information so we know what you are talking about.

It could be anything between a 1984 190D 2.2 to a 2008 E320 Bluetec.

Ha! sorry! I knew there was something I was forgetting. It is an 87 300 TDT

Why would you need to do that?

With the clutch open the compressor pulley should take almost no force to spin. The hassle of trying to get a non ac belt on there isn't worth it IMHO. The AC serp belt is the same as lots of American cars (like my sister's 2002 Grand Prix!) so finding the correct belt is easy.

-Jason

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1991 350SDL. 230,000 miles (new motor @ 150,000). Blown head gasket

Tesla Model 3. 205,000 miles. Been to 48 states!
Past: A fleet of VW TDIs.... including a V10,a Dieselgate Passat, and 2 ECOdiesels.
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2013 Fiat 500E.

well the reason that I want to get it out of there is it squeaks terribly so If I removed maybe I could rebuild and still use the car

You would have to dig up a shorter belt, thats going to be a royal PITA.

Nice thing about the older cars, on my 617 the compressor was DOA so I just cut the belts.

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1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

If you can find out the make and model of the compressor, and if you have enough room to work, you can change out the ac clutch bearing, and that should stop the squeak. The bearing should cost about $20-$30.

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96 E300d

I don't know the make but I guess I could crawl in there and look. What kind of job is it to get the clutch and bearing off? Can the clutch be bought separately?

The original compressor would most likely be a Nippondenso.

Sixto
87 300D

So no one knows of a shorter belt leanth to route the AC comp. out?

Use your existing belt, route it the way you want it, take out the slack by squeezing the belt tight, measure the new length and find the right belt you need.

Do you even know if the belt can be routed for no A/C without contacting anything in its path?

I believe it can

When I did mine, I used a rubber strap wrench to hold the clutch pulley from turning. There is a small nut in the center of the clutch pulley that can then be removed. When the front part of the pulley is removed, there is a cir clip that holds the rest of the pulley in place. Remove that cir clip, and the rest of the pulley can be taken off. The bearing is in that part, and is semi-pressed in. There will be numbers on the bearing, and sometimes a manufactures name. When I did my kia ac unit, I got the bearing on line from a dealer who specialized in ac bearings. The ac unit in the Kia was a Nippondenso.

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96 E300d

Cool, I will check it out. Mine was working and then it let a howl and nearly stalled the engine. I assume the clutch failed. Now it sqeaks like crazy. I don't know if the clutch can be replaced seperatly or not. Anyone know?Or maybe how to troubleshoot.