I just plumbed a bathroom in my basement and before I get it all covered up I wanted to try it out. So I hooked up only the handle and shower head portion. I the handle is one that just rotates counter clockwise cold to hot. My problem is when I get about 3/4 of the way around the shower starts to drip. Its not at full pressure (although I never made it all the way to full hot. Is my valve bad, or is this because I don't have the spout on it yet. I pray its not the valve and I have to undo all my plumbing.

Is this just a shower, or a shower/tub combination?

Many (not all) tub/shower combos us a "diverter" valve in the tub outlet. This is the knob on the tub spout that you pull up to make the water come out of the showerhead instead of the spout. It works by just blocking the spout at the bottom, and the showerhead and spout are really the same pipe, so the water goes up and out the showerhead.

If this is the type you have, it's possible that you have a blockage or some resistance in the spout, or maybe just too much water volume when you get the valve opened all the way up. What size pipe are you using leading to the valve?

If your setup has the lever under the handle to divert the water to the showerhead, it could be the same issue, just rather than the small (too small for the volume) opening being in the spout, it's inside the handle.

Either way, this could maybe be solved by installing a smaller fitting just before the shwoer valve, to restrict water volume/flow (not pressure). You could use a valve to allow "tuning" but be sure to use a legit throttling valve, not a ball or gate valve.

Good luck!
~aaron

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I found the problem its because I didn't follow the directions and used pex for the drop instead of copper. I guess the pex has a smaller inside diameter thus more pressure.