Delta Faucet Spring and Seat Repair

Hi! I have a newbee question: I am having a tough time installing the pair of seats and springs into my Delta Faucet. There is a trick that I am perhaps missing, making the install painful.

Details:
In attempting to repair a bathroom faucet, I have purchased a package, pretty standard, that contains 2 of each: a cylindrical spring, a kinda conical spring with a smaller diameter at one end than the other, and a cylindrical rubber seat with inner diameter of one end smaller than the other end.

The shower faucet is already installed and cannot be removed. Now the place where the spring & seat go is itself slanted downwards. So the spring and seat don't stay in place, keep sliding or popping off and I don't have enough thin fingers to hold these in place to allow me to put the ball back on.

Any ideas? At this point, I am also not sure in what order the spring and seat go and which face of the seat faces outword. The spring I pulled was the cylindrical type.

I've search this forum but did not find any previous thread that provides the specifics I am looking for. Thanx in advance for any help or pointers.

 

Get some plumbers grease and try using it to hold them in place. You want the cone shaped springs and they go inside the new seat.

 

The springs go inside the rubber seats, big end toward the faucet body and small end in the seat and the rubber seats ride against the ball. If you don't have any plumber's grease, a tiny dab of plain old petroleum jelly will hold them in place long enough to set the ball in too.
The ball is adjustable with the plastic ring that is around the inside of the dome cap. If you don't have a Delta tool made for the purpose, you can use the ends of a pair of needle-nose pliers to put into the slots to adjust the ring.
Turning the ring clockwise tightens the tension of the ball against the seats. You want to adjust it only tight enough to prevent it from leaking, but not too tight. If it's adjusted too tight, the faucet will be hard to operate and the seats will wear much quicker.
Good Luck!
Mike

 

Well, you guys made it simple. I put the conical spring, which being shorter was easier to set in and "lock" the rubber washer in place (didn't even need the grease/jelly), put the OLD ball back and problem solved.

Couple of questions though:
- I removed the cylindrical spring, which is longer and hence harder to set in. The responses here suggested the conical one. I suppose its okay as long as the leak remains solved.
- I put the OLD ball back: what's the reason for suggesting a NEW one?

Thanx for your prompt responses.
Cheers.

 

There are two seats and spring sets for Delta/Peerless: PRE and POST 1972. The long cylindrical spring is for the older models. If your faucet is now not dripping, I would not mess with it.


The balls can survive through many cycles of replacement seats. Conditions which would dictate a new ball: surface roughed up, or buildup of minerals; slot for guide groove worn, too much play.

 

delta

I always put the spring and the washer on the sharpened end of a pencil or pen and they just go right in place.