Would there be any issue with just leaving the A/C and air pump belt off altogether?
To answer your question: yes you can, for a while -
BUT A.I.R. pumps will rust up solid from non-usage, if not left in a humidity controlled garage.
I have seen A.I.R. pumps last 200k miles or only 20k miles – and not sure why. There is not much inside an A.I.R. pump – just two bearings, a shaft that holds a dozen or so rectangle metal plates (or fins) that sits inside an aluminum bore that is round – but an off center circle.
As the pump turns, the blades sling out, then get pushed back in. There is an entrance hole at the pulley and an exit hole which generally is where the hose attaches to, or the diverter valve bolts to.
The metal blades have a tendency to rust to the aluminum housing (ie: rusts tight) and the bearings will sometimes go bad (the problem you have). If you want, you can take your A.I.R. pump apart and find replacement bearings for it. The blades and housing do not need to be perfect – for that is a low pressure low volume pump. Some minor damage to blades and housing – will not affect a thing - but for $35 and a couple hours of drive time, I wouldn't mess with fixing your old pump.
Chrysler does have replacement filters for them – which requires a person to break it apart, to remove it. I’ve never replaced a filter on one, yet. Otherwise it is entire pump replacement.
If you are in a “visual inspection” only state, and you need to replace the A.I.R. pump. I would get the used one and install it on the car.
Just make sure it spins, first. If it doesn’t spin, DO NOT GET IT. All A.I.R. pumps will squeak a bit when spun by hand. Making a "rattling/rapping" is not normal.
An option – if your catalytic converter pipe is no longer attached to anything – then I might consider taking the A.I.R. pump apart by removing the back housing only, remove the metal vanes/blades (needle hose pliers work great), reassemble and install it back onto the car. Then, leave the belt a bit on the loose side (if nothing else uses the belt) and be done with it.
My reason for my above statement is because the engine only uses the cylinder head ports only for a few minutes before all air is diverted to the catalytic converter. In this case – having the A.I.R. pump is mandatory (which also includes the drive belt), but after the first couple of minutes, it only moves air from front of engine to underneath car thereby not really doing a thing. If pump is not doing anything a majority of the time – then why make it pump air?
At same time, I would find some way to plug one of the hoses. A small freeze plug or pipe plug in one of the hoses will do it – or a thin piece of sheet metal where the diverter valve bolts to the pump. The hose doesn’t need to be 100% plugged for there will not be any pressure on it, in either direction.
Attached is a few pages from my ’77 FSM talking about the A.I.R. pump – if you wanted to know.
If your tube going to catalytic converter was attached – then I would use the (functioning) used A.I.R. pump (or a Reman one).
Detaching the belt from an A.I.R. pump – will cause the pump to rust tight (seen it happen each and every time) and not having a belt will cause it to fail visual inspection.
BudW
