Problem replacing American Standard shower diverter stem.

**guyinsb** · 01-20-2012, 05:25 PM

The comments in this thread have helped. I was able to remove the diverter stem, but only after much trepidation.A bit of wasted water from the tub spout during showers is a minor issue; wrecking the shower body means replacing it,plus installing new tile ($1000?). At any rate, I found a safe way to remove the diverter stem (the obstacle is the tight fittingbarrel). I guess others have been able to just yank it out by re-attaching the handle after removing the main locking sleeveand bonnet. My technique was to use screw leverage. I removed the handle and escutcheon, then loosened the main locking sleeve about 3 full turns(but you must leave the main locking sleeve well within its threads).Then I slipped the locking sleeve and bonnet from one of the faucet stems over the diverter stem; then inserted a screw with big washersin the end of the stem. Now you can just untighten the bonnet, which applies pressure to the washers at the end of the stem. It just takesa full turn or two to dislodge the barrel, at which point you remove everything from the stem and yank it out.

**guyinsb** · 02-01-2012, 07:01 PM

My attempt to remove the seat was futile; the seat would not budge. I decided to eliminate the diverter entirely; I cut off the end of the diverter, then put it
(minus the barrel) back in the shower body (just to act as a stopper). I then replaced the old tub spout with a new one which included its own diverter.
Works like a champ.

**guyinsb** · 02-02-2012, 09:33 PM

My verdict was premature. If there is just a small amount of pressure, all is fine. But normal folks turn on hot and cold with plenty of flow, then want to adjust for temperature. In that case, water drizzles out of the shower head, even if the tub spout is fully open.

So I need to get that seat out. Other posts on the web suggest inserting seat wrench, then tapping with hammer till the wrench bites; then remove by turning counter clockwise carefully.

If that don't work, I'll add a shutoff to the shower neck.

**jadnashua** · 02-02-2012, 10:55 PM

The physical design of some seats means that not all wrenches work with all of them. If the wrench bottoms before it 'locks' into the hole of the seat, sometimes you need to cut some of the taper off of the wrench so it can wedge in tightly to the seat. If you bang on it to try to lock it in place, and it's not seated, you might poke a hole in the back of the valve. Hard to do, but by no means impossible.

**Hackney plumbing** · 02-03-2012, 07:08 AM

Originally Posted by guyinsb

My verdict was premature. If there is just a small amount of pressure, all is fine. But normal folks turn on hot and cold with plenty of flow, then want to adjust for temperature. In that case, water drizzles out of the shower head, even if the tub spout is fully open.

So I need to get that seat out. Other posts on the web suggest inserting seat wrench, then tapping with hammer till the wrench bites; then remove by turning counter clockwise carefully.

If that don't work, I'll add a shutoff to the shower neck.

I advise you to use the proper seat wrench first....if it strips use a seat extractor. A seat extractor is like an easy out but has fine threads. They work MOST of the time.

Your not going to find a quality set of seat tools at the box stores.

**guyinsb** · 03-13-2012, 12:14 AM

I did indeed get the seat out, using the standard cheap seat tool and smacking it a bit with a hammer to get it to bite into the seat (which created enough purchase to torque out the seat). Put in a new seat, new diverter (stem and barrel). Alas, still drips from spout. The diverter was just metal against the seat; there must be a washer or Irving missing.