I've been through all the pulleys several times. I replaced one idler pulley that felt rough. The a/c pulley feels good and engages and disengages as it should. It really sounds like something inside the compressor. Turning the a/c on and off doesn't seem to have an effect.
It was at a good Land Rover shop and I trust what they told me.

I wanted to follow up on here because there seem to be way too many posts where a problem is described and no one follows up to say what they've done to fix their problem.

 

Original post:
You're the one who mentioned the play.
......

 

It's been 4 months so I didn't recall. Without going out and pulling everything I think the play I mentioned is clockwise/counter clockwise on the a/c pulley. Maybe that's normal? When I have time I'll check to see if there's any wobble across the axis.

 

For the sake of trouble shooting, if the bearing was bad in the a/c compressor wouldn't there be a noticeable difference in noise when a/c was on or off? Right now the noise is fairly consistent whether the a/c is on or off. With it off, only the outer ring of the pulley wheel turns with the belt. That would have its own bearing, right? When a/c is on and the clutch engages on that pulley wheel, it would be turning everything in the compressor tied to a different bearing I'd assume.
Thoughts?

 

Usually no difference. The clutch plate/materiel is attached to the compressor shaft. When engaged the pulley turns the compressor. Only way to check bearing is to remove belt and feel it for looseness. Rotate by hand and feel/listen for dragging or dry bearings. It's simple stuff and you do a web search and look at pictures of a/c clutches if needed.
......