I have a single control valve water faucet in my bathtub and it started leaking to the point that it does not shut off at all on the hot water side of the valve. I have it mostly dissassembled, but do not know how it actually connects to the pipes. There is a four way copper "intersection" directly behind the remains of the faucet valve and it looks pretty old and possibly "brittle" to the point that I want to be very careful not to turn this into a bigger job than it needs to be if you get my meaning. What I need to know is how to remove the remaining parts of the faucet; do I use pipe wrenches or something else and are the threads standard in that "lefty loosey, righty tighty" applies. Any help would be greatly appreciated and pictures can be supplied if need be.
Problem solved! As it turns out there is a ring which holds the valve mechanism in place. I removed the ring, then the valve assembly and cleaned all the rusty sediment from the internal parts. The real problem, however, was the two gaskets that seal the incoming water at the valve disc. The tension springs were not pushing them against the disc, so I retensioned them a and reassembled everything up to a certain point. Turned the water on and adjusted the valve until no water came out; after which I simply reassembled the remaining parts and checked to make sure everything was working properly and that what was removed from the assembly was indeed returned to its proper place. No more leak.
Thanks still goes out to you guys; I just needed a reason to look at it from a different perspective and posting the problem helped me find the solution. Thanks again.