AC Compressor Mounting Bracket Plans

[B-Dog]

Hey all,
Here's a custom compressor bracket you can make. I'm not interested in making these, just thought I'd share if anyone was interested.

The exact dimensions and layout might have to be modified to fit your exact pulley & compressor. I used a custom pulley and a 75r8424 compressor. See attached PDF for 1:1 prints of the parts. You should be able to print those then trace them onto paper to cut out. The big part didn't fit on a letter sized paper so you'll have to print that one on 11x17 (sorry), everything else is on 8 1/2x11. Dimensions are on the parts just to make sure you printed it 1:1 scale.

I made the top bar a little short 2 3/4" to allow for adjusting the compressor (forward and backward) to align the pulleys. Use shims, as needed. I made everything out of 1/4" plate, except the blocks of course.

The swivel thing at the end of the adjuster is McMaster PN 8955A14 and that's there because the bolt changes angles.












Cheers,

 

[GopherHill]

Very nice and well thought out

 

[GeneralDisorder]

Are we sure about having that much weight and belt tension pulling on the gear case? I know cracked gear cases happen when the air compressor/PS pump engine block support bracket bolts work loose from vibration.

Just curious if there is precedent for CAT using similar mounting configurations.

 

[m-35tom]

Not very well supported, the real mount is only $240 plus ups and is very substantial

 

[Ronmar]

Yea I don’t know that I would want to hang any more weight out on the left side of the timing gearcase…

 

[Guruman]

Not very well supported, the real mount is only $240 plus ups and is very substantial

@m-35tom Do you have those in stock yet? Does it include the idler?

 

[GeneralDisorder]

@m-35tom Do you have those in stock yet? Does it include the idler?

The mount he sells does include the idler. I ordered around the end of November and had it within about 4 weeks. Wiring harness was the longest wait - just got it last week. But that's the last piece. As we get closer to warm weather and surplus dwindles the wait times will likely increase and the prices will go up. Order NOW or get on the waiting list or whatever. These parts are in extremely high demand compared to the supply.

The parts Tom sells are the exact correct mil-spec parts. I have a friend from a local unit that inspected my parts and gave it all the thumbs up as far as authenticity and fitment. He has installed these exact parts on several occasions.

 

[Third From Texas]

Order NOW or get on the waiting list or whatever. These parts are in extremely high demand compared to the supply.

The parts Tom sells are the exact correct mil-spec parts. I have a friend from a local unit that inspected my parts and gave it all the thumbs up as far as authenticity and fitment. He has installed these exact parts on several occasions.

So you're saying that they are 20x the cost of the same civilian part?

;p

 

[coachgeo]

.... 20x the cost of the same civilian part?

;p

Govt. SOP

 

[GeneralDisorder]

So you're saying that they are 20x the cost of the same civilian part?

;p

Eh.... not really. If you had to buy every part of an AC system for a 15 year old civilian vehicle from the dealership - probably would be about the same. At my shop we do a fair number of AC compressors for example and when they are purchased from the dealer they tend to run about $650. Condenser core from the dealer is $350, Evap and heater core assembly is usually about $1000. When you figure brackets, wiring, CAT v-belt hub adapter, etc, etc..... Not at all surprised by the cost.

 

[GeneralDisorder]

Govt. SOP

Government pays about $600 for the voltage regulator on my 260a A1R truck. Midwest Military Equipment wants $950 for the same part from Niehoff.

So who is the criminal here?

 

[coachgeo]

Government pays about $600 for the voltage regulator on my 260a A1R truck. Midwest Military Equipment wants $950 for the same part from Niehoff.

So who is the criminal here?

Likly an apples to oranges comparison aka MWME would NOT get volume mark down per unit.... so they may be purchasing at say 800 /sell 950.... or 26% mark up.. Military installs right to fleet... they are not in business to mark up and resell.

 

[Third From Texas]

Eh.... not really. If you had to buy every part of an AC system for a 15 year old civilian vehicle from the dealership - probably would be about the same. At my shop we do a fair number of AC compressors for example and when they are purchased from the dealer they tend to run about $650. Condenser core from the dealer is $350, Evap and heater core assembly is usually about $1000. When you figure brackets, wiring, CAT v-belt hub adapter, etc, etc..... Not at all surprised by the cost.

I think the last part I purchased *anything* from an actual dealership (with their insane markups) was in the '80s.

That said, commercial/semi truck ac brackets have been priced around $80 for years since I started looking (increased to about $100 of late due to Brandon).

Semi Truck A/C Compressor Brackets - TRUCKiD.com

www.truckid.com

I've zero issue with someone who makes and sells their wares (opposed to someone flipping a piece of $2 surplus for $500). And I'm not commenting on Tom and honestly don't know if he makes his brackets or is simply a flipper in this case (as I've said here often I fully support the former and give zero fucks or bucks to the later). But I fully support the sellers who make their own wares for these trucks and have purchased from many of them here and other groups.

That said, when it comes to things like this I prefer to support local businesses and have them made here (at least in "weld it yourself" form). Cuts out the middleman and shipping costs. I know that sounds "cheap" (and I am) but I'm not really interested in financing someone else's kid's college fund or there next vacation with my truck hobby. Even at today's prices a set of ac brackets is about $20 worth of steel stock and a couple dollars worth of metal glue sticks. In fact I've found very little for these trucks that cannot be acquired thru reasonably priced (ie: not stealership) civilian channels or fabb'ed up for a fraction of the "itz spensive cuz supplyz and demandz" (door handles, seats, ac system, lights, etc).

You can actually drop an complete ac system in these trucks for under $2000 (below the price of just a scapler's evaporator). And if you know a shop with a sheet metal brake, you can have an identical-to-OEM evap enclosure made for your cab. *but I'm taking it a step further and improving on the ill-fitter RedDot unit to make it a cleaner install and incorporating several other add-on dash components into the unit itself.

Yep, dealships and scalpers are unequivocally cut from the same disgusting and immoral cloth and thus rip off their customer/communitiess in kind. Death by cancer and fire is too good for them, IMO...

 

[coachgeo]

... And I'm not commenting on Tom and honestly don't know if he makes his brackets or is simply a flipper in this case (as I've said here often I fully support the former and give zero fucks or bucks to the later). But I fully support the sellers who make their own wares for these trucks and have purchased from many of them here and other groups.
...

he has them made up

 

[GeneralDisorder]

he has them made up

They are quite substantial (1/4" plate) and duplicates of the actual military version - two piece with the adjustable belt idler. Not like the cheese that MWME sells for $299 where the compressor is the belt tensioner.

I mean sure - I could make my own. But I don't have the jigs and plans, and most especially the time to do so. What I'm buying for my money is my time. I'm buying back my time so I can enjoy it instead of building it and then croak of old age before I get to use it and then someone else gets to use my toys AND spend my money I hoarded. LoL.

Nothing wrong with doing it yourself and taking pride in the doing. I do a LOT of that also. But I have to pick my battles and one thing I've learned is that reinventing the wheel that uncle sugar spent billions of dollars for professionals to engineer is probably not the best battle to pick. At least not for me. I have enough battles cut out for me with adding parts that the engineers never intended like solar power, cruise control, backup cameras, and a comfortable living space inside the van..... not even counting the maintenance backlog

 

[Third From Texas]

They are quite substantial (1/4" plate) and duplicates of the actual military version - two piece with the adjustable belt idler. Not like the cheese that MME sells for $299 where the compressor is the belt tensioner.

I mean sure - I could make my own. But I don't have the jigs and plans, and most especially the time to do so. What I'm buying for my money is my time. I'm buying back my time so I can enjoy it instead of building it and then croak of old age before I get to use it and then someone else gets to use my toys AND spend my money I hoarded. LoL.

Nothing wrong with doing it yourself and taking pride in the doing. I do a LOT of that also. But I have to pick my battles and one thing I've learned is that reinventing the wheel that uncle sugar spent billions of dollars for professionals to engineer is probably not the best battle to pick. At least not for me. I have enough battles cut out for me with adding parts that the engineers never intended like solar power, cruise control, backup cameras, and a comfortable living space inside the van..... not even counting the maintenance backlog

I get that.

But again, justifying what someone charges based on a dealership or one of the biggest ripoff scalpers in the surplus community isn't really a good basis for pricepoint, IMO.

I look to the Internet for what like products cost online and go from there.

Again, not knocking Tom's product (I knock the scalpers who buy this shit on GP then mark it up from $20 they paid to $500 then spout "suppliez n demandz" to justify their ripping off the community). I fully support people who make things and then sell them to recoup materials and manufacturing costs with a reasonable profit margin included. In Tom's case, he's a middleman and I look to cut those out of the equation as well when possible. I can make a set or have a set made locally (just as it appears Tom has his made). I'm on a pretty tight budget with this build and I'm fortunate enough to have the time to say "that's a couple hundred bucks saved to go into something I can't make myself".

 

[GeneralDisorder]

Yeah the scalpers like MWE can f*ck right off. They don't get my business either.

The brackets though.... I mean you've got material costs which is not just the steel - you have an idler in there and several fasteners. Having someone make them like Tom is doing would cost as much as he is selling them for or quite possibly more after you pay for their time to one-off a set a single set unless you find someone that has already done it and has the pattern and the jigs or you have friends willing to do the labor for free. Any fab shop in this economy is likely going to charge $100+ an hour. Welders make good hourly now.

Certainly you can do it yourself and save money. You can call in a favor from a friend that will do it for free - but that's really just spending a different type of currency. But if you actually paid a fab shop to one-off it or found the same guy Tom uses and he slips you one at Tom's cost..... You see what I mean?

Once you take off the material cost (they are also powder coated) and pay for the labor to spin up a bunch of them, figure free shipping into the price (Tom does), and some amount of profit.... I'm a business owner too in a similar industry - high performance automotive in my case. I don't begrudge some reasonable profit.

If you see the brackets in person and all the bends, holes, and welds along with the idler arm, powder coat, shipping, etc I don't think you would be alarmed at the price.

 

[Third From Texas]

Yeah the scalpers like MWE can f*ck right off. They don't get my business either.

The brackets though.... I mean you've got material costs which is not just the steel - you have an idler in there and several fasteners. Having someone make them like Tom is doing would cost as much as he is selling them for or quite possibly more after you pay for their time to one-off a set a single set unless you find someone that has already done it and has the pattern and the jigs or you have friends willing to do the labor for free. Any fab shop in this economy is likely going to charge $100+ an hour. Welders make good hourly now.

Certainly you can do it yourself and save money. You can call in a favor from a friend that will do it for free - but that's really just spending a different type of currency. But if you actually paid a fab shop to one-off it or found the same guy Tom uses and he slips you one at Tom's cost..... You see what I mean?

Once you take off the material cost (they are also powder coated) and pay for the labor to spin up a bunch of them, figure free shipping into the price (Tom does), and some amount of profit.... I'm a business owner too in a similar industry - high performance automotive in my case. I don't begrudge some reasonable profit.

If you see the brackets in person and all the bends, holes, and welds along with the idler arm, powder coat, shipping, etc I don't think you would be alarmed at the price.

As I said, I get it.

Again, no question from me as to Tom's brackets being nice.

But in that same light I can support my local fab guy who made/makes bits for all my car/truck projects....or I can support someone like Tom....or make them myself.

Advantages/pros/cons to each, I suppose.

And yes, welders charge a buttload as well. That's why I purchased a very nice tig rig and learned to weld (video). It was far more cost effective given the amount of metal work I go thru. Plasma cutter is next on my list...

And again, circles back to why I perked up to "AC Bracket Plans" (title of the thread).

 

[GeneralDisorder]

Totally. My TIG is setup most of the time for aluminum - we use a lot of tubing for intercooler piping, coolant hard piping, etc. For something like that bracket I would use MIG though since it's like 10x faster on 1/4" steel plate. Or run arc with your TIG setup - that would work great too I'm sure.

The decision for me mostly came down to time and energy - both things I don't have in abundance after running my shop for 10 hours a day 5 days a week. I was able to get the complete system from Tom in a one-and-done transaction - again alleviating the time consuming task of piecing it together over hours of searching. Since I purchased last November the prices have gone up by 20%...... that's usually because of market pressure - lack of supply, exceptional demand, or both. And since he's perpetually out of stock and in his own words "has all the parts but not typically all at the same time"...... it just is what it is I think.

I think we can all agree that you probably shouldn't own an LMTV at all unless you *could* do this kind of thing yourself. And I'm betting the percentage of members of this forum that are capable is very, very high. Some may not have the tooling, and some (like myself) may not have the time. But dollars to donuts we could all get the job done if we absolutely had to.

 

[Awesomeness]

I think the last part I purchased *anything* from an actual dealership (with their insane markups) was in the '80s.

That said, commercial/semi truck ac brackets have been priced around $80 for years since I started looking (increased to about $100 of late due to Brandon).

Semi Truck A/C Compressor Brackets - TRUCKiD.com

www.truckid.com

If you look at the $100 brackets in those pictures, they are little/nothing like the A/C brackets we need. They are simple, flat, laser cut parts, maybe a bend or weld. Our brackets are more complex, multipart weldments.

Something to think about...

There's an old Czech addage that "I'm too poor to buy cheap tools", and the same often applies for repair parts. Having to deal with the fallout and downstream problems of shade-tree hackathon fixes is often worse than the original problem.

Good solutions also take a lot of time and money to create, if you plan to end up with a repeatable, sellable product. This is even more true when you're reverse engineering something. Even when I have a slew of precision measurement tools, a 3D laser scanner, etc. it can be tough to get precise complex measurements like a distance/relationship between a bolt hole on one side of the engine block and another bolt somewhere else with no flat surfaces in between.