’97 LeSabre A/C Compressor R&R

The clutch went out on my friends 97 LeSabre A/C Compressor recently. He is able to run the car with the A/C on and the compressor engaged but probably not for long. Does anybody know of any pitfalls or BTDT on replacing the compressor?

I did a quick search, and found some info on a ’95 and it seams to be a fairly straightforward removal & replacement. I’m assuming that they are very similar?

TIA

I did a remove and replace of mother in law's compressor on a 95 Lesabre (R134) and it went real smooth. I used a new compressor to be on the safe side and it's been working for nearly a year now. Just follow all the standard advice of replacing the o-tube and accumulator along with the compressor, flush the system, evacuate the system, and recharge to the proper amount.

Also on my 93 lesabre (R12) I replaced just the clutch without removing the compressor or dischargeing the system. It's challengeing but doable from the passenger wheel well side if you have the right clutch removing tool and do not want to discharge the system. It actually turned out I replaced the clutch for nothing since I later discovered the REAL problem was a bad relay not supplying power to the clutch. I made a bad assumption.

what type of pulley puller do you need? I have a few different styled ones...the clutch went out on ours the other day, started smoking really bad, so we turned it off, and starting trying to figure out what to do. We would rather just change the pulley as the air works perfect in the car! And until we get the right stuff, can you just use another belt off of another car, and just not hook up the a/c part, or do you have to have a bypass pulley? not sure on that one either...thanks-jennifer