Fleck9000 lower piston replacement

[DIYwannabe]

I attempted to replace the upper and lower pistons on my fleck 9000 that were leaking. I initially replaced them both and restarted my system but noticed my softener was working. We had hard water, rust showing up in the toilet etc. I had a neighbor tell me that there is a certain deal/spacer configuration for the upper and lower pistons and that if it isn't perfect the system won't work. I took everything back apart and am attempting to reassemble everything correctly to see if that solves my issue. I'm having some trouble with the lower piston. The configuration I was told was (seal, special spacer, seal, spacer, seal, spacer, seal, spacer, seal, spacer, seal, end plug) Is that correct? I can't seem to fit the lower piston back in the lower valve bowl with this configuration as it seems too tight and I can't reattach the timer housing to the valve assembly because the lower piston seems to be sticking out too far. It would have help if I had paid better attention when taking the lower piston out the first time . Can someone confirm if my configuration for the lower piston is right and if this is a common reassembly problem for the lower piston? Any help is greatly appreciated. Thank you for taking the time to read.

 

[Bannerman]

The Fleck 9000 and 9100 are essentially the same valve although made with different materials. I understand the older brass bodied 9000's often experience errosion problems whereas the newer plastic bodied 9100's do not. See Ditttohead's comments within this thread:
https://terrylove.com/forums/index.php?threads/fleck-9000-rebuild-problem.56364/#post-414936

Below is a YT video of the Fleck 9100 teardown:

 

[Sponsor]

 

[ditttohead]

The really old 9000 valves do not have the solid spacer. Do you know how old your valve is?
Here is a drawing, note the solid spacer (4) in the lower assembly.

Pay special attention to the brass machined spacer between the front and back seal/spacer stacks in the middle of the valve. if this is corroded it is time to replace the valve body. I would recommend the 9100 over the 9000. We primarily use the 9000 for hot water applications now.