help please

HI, I have come here for help. I own chevy blazer 1995 and my AC stopped working, when I try to turn it on it makes such a horrible noise - squeal. I just paid 150 $ to Pep Boys to clean and recharge AC. They told me it's little bit noisy and it will need replace compressor someday. The day came about month later :-(. I found compressor on the net for about 150 $. Pep Boys want 750 $ for replacing compressor and recharging it with freon. I don't want to pay that much money. I was saving for road trip around US Nat. Parks, I am gonna go after Labor Day, and I think I could use AC on the road. So I'd like to know if I can replace AC compressor with new one myself and then take it to a proffessionals to clean it and recharge it with freon. Does system must be free of freon before I try to replace compressor with another compressor? Are there any tricks? How should I do it? Please let me know your opinion, thank you so much Andrea

Yes, you can install it yourself, but you will have to buy a Haynes or Chilton Service manual for your truck to help guide you through it.

You can get them at your local automotice store.

Yeah and you can and you can buy the freon to recharge it with if yours runs off a 134

r134a to be exact.

Yea its really easy to recharge yourself. Theres a valve at the back of the engine compartment close to the firewall. Should run into the condenser. The A/C kits will only run into it, it doesn't hook up to the other side. THe haynes will tell you how to do the rest of it.