Difficult Removal of Old Tub Faucet Valve

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Kraftster

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Hello there. Keeping with a string of bad luck that I've been having lately, my wife came down after having given by daughter a bath tonight and told me, "The water in the bathtub won't stop running." That didn't sound right, so I went up to find that the hot water was running at about 25% despite the hot water knob being in the off position. I moved the knob around a bit and suddenly the hot water started pouring out at full 100% blast, without any way for me to stop it.

Our house is about 60 years old, and I bet the tub faucet is very very old. I went into my daughter's closet to get at the back of the tub to shut off the water and found there to be no shut off there! Yikes.

I was forced to shut the water off at the main shut off just to keep the tub from overflowing.

I'd love to avoid having to pay a plumber for this fix if possible--that string of bad luck lately has been really taxing on my wallet. I took the old knob off and got down to the stem. I'm not sure that a bad washer would cause full blast hot water, but I figure it can't hurt to try to replace the stem/cartridge to see if that's the fix (not sure I totally understand the difference between stem and cartridge to be honest). I know it could be the valve seat too, and I'm not sure I'm really cut out for that, but at this rate, I'm not even cut out for the replacement of the stem/cartridge.

Has anyone seen a stem/cartridge like this before? I am really not sure how to remove it. There is really only one flat edge to be able to use an adjustable wrench on. I tried with some vice grips, and I can't get anything to turn anywhere, but I'm honestly not sure exactly where I'm supposed to be turning. I can't see an extended ratchet working because it's rounded on at least 2/3 of the diameter. What does it look like would be the best way for me to remove what I need--and what is it that I need to remove?

tub-stem-2016.jpg






Thanks so much in advance for the help!
 
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Terry

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Here is a repair we sometimes do. Sometimes we cut the tile out, and install a new valve body and trim.
I can't tell by your pictures above how your stems come out. It's an odd one. Maybe someone on the site can identify it.

buzzoni_tub_02.jpg



buzzoni_tub_03.jpg



buzzoni_tub_04.jpg
 

Terry

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tub-stem-2016.jpg


The silver flate metal ring with tab. This sometimes prevents rotatation. What happens if you move that around? Is that keeping the valve from rotating to off?
 

Kraftster

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Thanks for the replies. There was a small locking pin located on the stem right at the silver ring with tab that I removed so it is not shown in the picture. I just put it back on and it does not prevent the silver ring with tab from moving within the range of the slot you can see in the picture.

Honestly, though, I don't believe the silver ring is preventing stem removal (unless that's all I should be looking to get off?). There just seems to be no stem nut that I can use to actually get this sucker off. perhaps it's further back than I can get to with the tile as it currently is.
 
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