Need help to secure a two-hole kitchen faucet

Our disposal failed and while under the kit. sink I noticed that our two-hole faucet, one for the discharge and one for the lever/handle/valve, is loose. It seems that over the years water has gotten under and into the mounting holes for these, and the MDF/whatever frame that these secure to has distended (swelled) such that the cylindrical washers for both have questionable material to tighten-down to. They instead PIERCE the material.

The obvious solution it seems would be flat pieces of U-shaped metal, washers if you will, that can be inserted/slid between the cylindrical metal pieces and the swollen wood, so when the faucet is tightened-down the cylinders have metal to connect with, which in turn will push against the swollen wood.

Does this make sense to you guys? Are such things available at Big Box stores or at plumbing supply houses?

EDIT: Wow after 10 years this style is apparently still available. The cylinder I'm talking about is at the bottom of this image, part 109110:



http://www.moen.com/aberdeen/chrome-one-handle-high-arc-pulldown-kitchen-faucet/_/R-CONSUMER:7590C

OK well upon further reflection, it seems the best approach will be to cut-away the damaged wood, such that when I replace the faucet the cylindrical retaining rings sit flat against the underside of the Corian countertop. Seems like a cleaner solution than working-around damaged and swollen wood, which afaict is part of the cabinetry and what I cut-away will not hurt anything.

Cutting thru 1" wood at the back of the sink (molded-in and not removable) is going to require one of those new-fangled oscillating tools, hopefully small enough to fit back there but likely won't have a cutting blade quite deep enough to cut 1" to the Corian. So it will be a PIA and require several passes, wood chisels, and curse words before the crap is cleaned away.

This faucet has Moen's "Hydrolock" mechanism at 3 locations, and for two of them when I pulled them off a washer and another ring stayed on the copper. I hope these go back together without leaking!!!

This 1/2 hour Disposal replacement job has turned into a two day, three trip affair fast. Oh, wait, it's not even close to being done yet!

Use a larger hole saw to make an opening in the wood larger than the faucet parts. That sleeve is usually for use on thin sinks and is discarded when the material is thicker. It is a spacer between the metal washer on the bottom of the sink and the device that secures the faucet, and should NOT be pushing directly against the wood.

hj said:

Use a larger hole saw to make an opening in the wood larger than the faucet parts. That sleeve is usually for use on thin sinks and is discarded when the material is thicker. It is a spacer between the metal washer on the bottom of the sink and the device that secures the faucet, and should NOT be pushing directly against the wood.

Click to expand...

Thanks, the sleeves were preexisting i.e. I have no way to secure the parts without them. As it turns out, the Aberdeen likely has undergone design changes since the model I have (from 2003)--the parts diagram is not exactly right. If there were any other parts for this faucet that would make it go on better, like different steel undersink washers, well naturally they are long gone (why are installers so happy to throw everything away?).

I did use a hole saw instead of buying a special tool. Turns-out the "swollen wood" was not wood at all, at least, it peeled-away like pressed cardboard once I'd cut most-of-the-way thru it.

It's all fixed, but as usual, I learned a few things along-the-way, especially that I hate Moen's Hydolock system. The parts clung to the copper where they'd stuck after 10 years. Thankfully I was able to get them off w/o ruining them, and back on again with lubricant. Bit of a struggle to get them to secure (click into place) again, with no leaks.

Oddly, the Aberdeen faucet has two ports and you can connect them either way to the valve--mine was connected wrong before by the original plumber! In the end I hate the design. WAY too fiddly, and the head mechanism does certainly NOT like anything but super pure water. My gosh there are a lot of tiny perforated screens to push through.