Installing a Toyota A/C Unit in a Hummer
by Myk Manon
Edited by Chuck Kopelson © Copyright 2004 Chuck Kopelson 02/14/2005
Updated 02/14/2005

I own a ’95 XLC2, which is the extended cab 2 door model. That said the original AC is okay, simply because there is less volume to keep cool. To help the cooling capacity of the AC I have added a side scoop to the vent intake and added various amounts of insulation over the years.

Since most of the time I have owned my Hummer I have lived in tropical climates, I decided that additional AC capacity would be a definite creature comfort. AMG has provided upgrades, the first being additional electric fans mounted on the cooling stack to help the cooling while the Hummer was not moving, then there was a complete AC changeout for the early models. The latter upgrade was priced at $2,500 +. In my opinion this is a bit steep for what the components that were to be replaced. Everything has a price, so I looked around for alternatives. I now have a second AC unit installed for less than $250.

My particular unit was designed for a Toyota minivan. I bought it from an auto supply house for a bit over $100. I fabricated a couple of brackets to mount it against the back cab wall. I had initially planned to mount the unit overhead but decided against it because it didn’t look too good and the installation was going to require many modifications to the headliner and moulding. The final placement has worked much better than I would have imagined.

Labor is significantly less expensive in the Philippines. The shop time to make and install the hoses was about $75, which also included recharging the system.

The hoses were routed along the transmission tunnel, through the tunnel wall by the passenger seat then forward to the ‘tee’ at the front AC unit.

Apparently all Hummers came with ‘tees’ installed in the AC lines making it convenient to connect. All in all a very simple installation with less than a couple of hours measuring and fabricating the brackets to mount the condenser unit and another couple of hours in the local AC shop to make and install the hoses. The fit under the body was a bit tight, but the hoses easily install using ‘crowfoot’ wrenches.

I used a bulkhead AC connector as a means to connect the AC through the body and it allows me to change the hoses much easier in the future. I bought the bulkhead connector from hotrodair.com.