Sluggo
Member
I'm doing a master bath remodel in a 14-year old house and decided to replace the cartridges in the two faucet valves and the two shower valves. From the looks of some of the ones I pulled, it was probably a good idea. They look like this (new replacement on the right, old cartridge on the left):
The threads above the O-ring are what screw in to the valve body; and the hex fitting you use to screw the cartridge in or out is located right above the bottom set of threads. Last night I easily unscrewed 7 of the 8 old cartridges and screwed in the new ones. However, the last cartridge won't budge. I've tried a crescent wrench, a box end wrench, an adjustable wrench, and a pass through socket (the ones with the hole in the center so that the stem passes through the center of the socket and I can get the socket onto the 5/8" hex fitting on the cartridge. I've been pretty careful, but, brass is soft and, when I started to round off the corners of the hex, I stopped. I sprayed on WD-40, but I suspect that it's having trouble getting past the O-ring.
I've thought about putting a Vise-Grip on the hex fitting and hoping I could loosen it up that way, and I've also thought about cutting off the stem and using a 6-point impact socket of the fitting. Of course, once I cut off the stem, I've got to be able to remove the cartridge, or I'll have to install a new valve if I can't.
Before I try anything else, I thought I'd test the assembled wisdom of this group and see if anyone has a bright idea. Thanks.
The threads above the O-ring are what screw in to the valve body; and the hex fitting you use to screw the cartridge in or out is located right above the bottom set of threads. Last night I easily unscrewed 7 of the 8 old cartridges and screwed in the new ones. However, the last cartridge won't budge. I've tried a crescent wrench, a box end wrench, an adjustable wrench, and a pass through socket (the ones with the hole in the center so that the stem passes through the center of the socket and I can get the socket onto the 5/8" hex fitting on the cartridge. I've been pretty careful, but, brass is soft and, when I started to round off the corners of the hex, I stopped. I sprayed on WD-40, but I suspect that it's having trouble getting past the O-ring.
I've thought about putting a Vise-Grip on the hex fitting and hoping I could loosen it up that way, and I've also thought about cutting off the stem and using a 6-point impact socket of the fitting. Of course, once I cut off the stem, I've got to be able to remove the cartridge, or I'll have to install a new valve if I can't.
Before I try anything else, I thought I'd test the assembled wisdom of this group and see if anyone has a bright idea. Thanks.