82' 300DT - A/C Compressor making noise and still cooling

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Hello. On a trip to see family, I noticed what sounded like grinding noise coming from front of the car. I have verified the noise coming from the A/C compressor. I ran the a/c the entire time during in town driving and also the 180 or so miles back home with the a/c cooling fine. I know now that wasn't the best idea and am not using the a/c for the time being. After inspecting it this morning, I noticed the clutch plate is touching the pulley behind it on one side, like it is tilted. Not sure if this is normal. My question is what to do? What is the most likely culprit? Why would the a/c still work with this noise? Would it be better to evacuate, replace compressor and re-fill? Using R12. Any help would be appreciated!

The clutch, when not engaged, could very well not disengage all around.

Turn the front portion of the clutch by hand with the key off and see if it turns smoothly. There will be changing resistance due to compression, but there should be no grinding or metallic feeling. If it feels smooth, then the problem is the clutch and not the compressor. If the compressor itself is the noise, it would indeed be a good idea to change the compressor.

A shop with an R12 recycle machine, can recover the R12, replace the compressor, evacuate and replace your refrigerant with what they removed. Depending on your location, it might be difficult to find someone that still has a recycle machine set up for R12. Due to so many people pumping in junk refrigerants and sealants, most shops in many locales have given up and no longer keep an R12 recycle machine around. I still have one set up for R12, but since I don't have a refrigerant identifier or sealant detector, I am VERY picky about the vehicles I connect it to.

Hope this helps,
Larry