Adding AC to my 95

Been thinking of adding AC to my 95 next year. Any thoughts on a good way to get it done? Height is my main issue.

I don't know how expensive it would be today, but I have a aftermarket auto unit in my combine. Works good. This is the kind that use to go under the dash.

I've never investigated,but I was once told that a 12v rooftop AC unit from an RV/camper will work on top of a tractor cab.Neat idea if it were to work.

Gleaners hang the condenser on the side of the grain tank and the evaporator is in the cab headliner.

I don"t think it would be hard to do, the factory ac Deere put the evaporater on the unload auger side and wasn"t any higher than the engine.in the cab they used an under the dash type unit

The 95 I have now had AC in it when I bought it, It didn't work so I took it all off. The evaporator was mounted in front or the radiator (like a car) and the compresser was mounted by the hydrolic pump and had a pulley bolted to the end of the traction drive pulley. The lines ran up the back of the grain tank and through the bin extenision through the top corner of the cab (by the door through 2 knock out holes) then to the unit mounted to the inside front of the cab. The drain hose ran down the left side of the cab (sitting inside) and out the hole in the cab floor in the corner. The way this was done everything is out of the way and not in the way of anything that you need to get to. I hope this helps you out and if you need more info just let me know. I still have all the stuff I took off (I think). Bandit

The cheapest way to do it, is to find an auto junkyard that let's you pull your own parts, and just piece meal something together. As for the lines and hoses, you can buy those through dot coms or I know I have a few local places that custom make them. Considering the pressures involved, you could use air compressor hose and fittings(not the quick connect ones), as long as it is the good rubber hose, not the plastic type stuff. Most of those hoses are rated for 300 psi, which mean they are tested to 600 or 900 psi. The highest pressures your system should reach are around 225-240 psi assuming 100 degree F air temps at max in the summer. running 150-175 psi on the high side is more likely as a norm.

The basic a/c system is fairly straight-forward. You start with a compressor. The compressor has a suction and pressure side. The pressure side has a hose that goes to the condenser. usually mounted in front of the radiator on a car. gleaner put them on the grain tank. I personally think that mounting a condenser away from the heat of the engine is a good thing. There are a lot of choices now. You can get a condenser from a car, and a couple of cheap electric cooling fans to draw air past it. The last one I built, I put a cooling fan on each side of the condenser and wired them on a toggle so that I could shut one off ad turn the other on, to reverse the direction of air to clean it out automatically. The fans were only $30 each at the time.

From the condenser, the gas flows to a receiver/drier that is connected to a line to the expansion valve. The expansion valve is near the evaporator in the cab. If your combine already has a cab pressurizer fan, you could use the pressurizer fan to blow air past the evaporator. Most modern systems have a low pressure cut out switch mounted on the drier or in line past it to shut the compressor off if the pressure drops below a certain point (usually around 25 psi, sometimes lower). The older systems used a bulb type expansion valve that had a thermostatic coupler (thermo coupler bulb that strapped to the line, controlling the orifice size. easiest system to build.) From the evaporator, the final hose goes back to the compressor. In this line is where you find the low pressure tap, for filling the system. The high side tap is sometimes between the drier and expansion valve, and sometimes between the compressor and condenser.


There are plenty of places to buy separate components for cheap, but, most of the time, a couple cars and trucks in a junk yard will give you most everything you need. The only downside is that it is hard to get to the under-dash stuff.

forgot to mention that red dot makes a rooftop 12v system. You just need to buy a compressor and proper size lines to reach it. The bad part is, most of the units weigh around 100 lbs. That's quite a bit of weight on top of the cab. They are about $1800.

My thoughts are to find either a used Red dot system with a sanden compressor or get a system from a salvaged 510 or 550 massey. The masseys had a black box setup that would be easy to install in a JD cab. They also used A6 compressors. You could also use a sanden compressor. hoses can be made or purchased through someone like coldhose dot com

Several good choices on the internet...
Jegs

Here's another...
click me click me