[killry]

I have a Symmons Temptrol shower and am trying to replace the diverter (part #TA-25A). I unscrewed the screw in the center of the handle (as well as the other screws on the face plate) and have not beeen able to remove the handle. It appears that it should pull off once the screw is removed but it won't budge. Am I missing something? I applied WD-40 and let it sit for an hour to no avail. I also poured CRA over it to try to loosen any deposits but it still won't move. I am at the point now that I'm afraid I'll damage the handle if I pull any harder (I've used everything from my hands to large pliers). Lastly, I bought a "handle puller" and tried that too. No luck. Does anyone have any ideas? Thanks a lot.

[afaroo]

See the images and the link below if your faucet looks like this, you would need a faucet handle removal tool, Thanks,

John

http://common.csnstores.com/common/m...stallation.pdf

[killry]

Thank you afaroo,

It does look like that diagram. I already purchased that handle removal tool (or one that looks a lot like it) and it did not work. However, the tool I bought did not have that additional nut that you can see at the bottom of your attached picture. Could that be the problem? As it is, as I tighten the tool, the "pin" inserts into the screw hole on the handle and the pincers grasp the back of the handle but no matter how much I tighten it, nothing budges, the "pin" just goes farther into the handle's screw hole until I can't turn it anymore.

[afaroo]

Try install a little longer screw but don't tighten it try the tool that the tip goes into the slot of the screw and try to pull the handle and see what happnes, with out the screw I think the tool tip is going inside the screw hole and this is why the handle doen't budge, once the handle is loose it will be easy to ccome out, good luck.

John

[massplumber2008]

Hi all:

I've been installing this product since I was a kid and sometimes the symmons handle simply will not come off... no matter how much prying you do.

As you have already done, you try the handle puller... if that fails you try the pliers and a cloth to protect the handle and see if you can leverage the handle off... finally, if that fails... believe it or not... you may need to actually break the handle clean off the stem assembly to get to the diverter... ;)

If you end up doing this you will use your pliers to rock the handle up and down until it snaps off. This will result in breaking of the stem assembly iteslf so you will need to plan on replacing the entire stem assembly (part # TA-10) and a new handle to get this resolved!

In terms of removing the diverter itself, remove all of the chrome trim parts and then you will need a 5/16" allen wrench to remove the DIVERTER RETAINER and a 5/16" x 3" LAG BOLT to remove the DIVERTER SPINDLE itself. Although the bolt sounds wrong it is exactly what Symmons recommends.

You will need to screw the 5/16" lag bolt into the spindle and then give a strong YANK to remove the old spindle (hold valve body here). To install the new spindle you will need to grease (silicone grease) the new spindle at the O-RING to insert it into the valve body... push hard to seat it. Then re-install the retainer (be careful not to drop it... ;)) and test all.

Letr us know if you need to discuss this more.

MARK

[killry]

Thanks for the advice,

I will give the puller another try. If that doesn't work, I guess I'll have to break off the handle and replace the stem assembly.

Thanks for the help. I will keep you posted on how it turns out.

-Ryan

[afaroo]

Ryan,

Mark have given you excellent advice, but please try the screw first I have used it before and it worked for me, if not then you have to break the handle, good luck.

John

[killry]

John,

Just so I'm clear, I'm supposed to insert a screw into the handle screw hole but not tighten it. Then attach the handle puller so that the pincers are behind the handle and the "pin" is in the slot on the head of the screw? I'm a little confused. Sorry. Thanks again for your help.

-Ryan

[afaroo]

Yes that is correct, good luck.

John

[jcap]

The handle on my symmons temptrol mixer valve is hard to turn

[afaroo]

Is the handle hard to tun or the valve is hard to turn, if the valve is hard to turn, remove the handle and Ta-9 clean Lubricate and install see if it will help, god luck.

John

[david403]

Do you need to shut the water off first do replace the diverter?

[davetrouble]

This response is for the original post "Symmons Temptrol Shower Handle Stuck". I had a dripping faucet so I picked up the danco symmons tub/shower repair kit at Lowe's and figured I would fix the dripping faucet. Just like killry I couldn't get the handle off. I had no trouble with the retaining screw. I sprayed pb blaster and liquid wrench into the screw hole and also behind the handle using the red tube. I already had the handle puller so I went directly with that. The arms of the puller kept sliding off the shower handle so I had to use one hand to hold the arms in place and the other to turn the screw. My grip was not strong enough to hold the arms in place. Then I tried getting a screw driver behind the handle and lever it off, one way was putting the blade between the handle and what was directly behind it and another was putting the shaft of the driver behind the handle. Neither worked. I could apply enough force to flex the entire shower/tub enclosure and the plumbing behind it and I could easily have broken something but no way of telling what was going to break first so I took a break. Next I tried to rig a clamp to hold the puller arms in place so I could apply more force to the screw but the clamp would not stay in place due to irregular surface of the puller arms. I was disappointed in the puller and figured I would come back for round 2 later after I had an improved game plan. I can see afaroo's point about the pin going into the screw hole. If the pin were too short or the screw hole too deep the pin would not bottom out and the tool would not work. In my case I think the pin was bottoming out so I think that part was OK. This was in November

I came back to the faucet during the xmass break. The faucet had been dripping for a couple of years so I figured what will a few more months matter. This time I read all the posts ans figured maybe I would stumble on a way to get the handle off. First I found a 6" c-clamp that would stay in place on the puller arms so i could crank on the screw. Originally i had tried one of those wooden face 2 handle clamps for woodworking. with the c-clamp i could crank to my hearts content but still i could not get the handle off. when i was at maximum force the axis of the puller began pulling away from perpendicular and it seemed something was going to break only i couldn't tell what. Then i went for a cup of coffee and studied the posts again hoping for some inspiration or at least something to slow me down. I read some posts where people had "bagged" the handle in an attempt to inundate with solvent so i tried that. I tired different types of tape(gorrilla, wide clear packing) and plastic bags and tried to bag the handle and i tried to fill the "bag" with CLR. even with my best attempts it leaked out after a several minutes. It seemed there were leaks. one way of "bagging" that worked was putting wdie clear packing tape over the front of the handle leaving a small space at the top of the retaining screw hole. This forms a cavity that can be filled. i filled it with pb blaster and went to sleep for the night. in the morning the red pb was still filling the cavity. This exposes the front side of the handle stem interface to solvent but not the back but it's a lot easier to "bag" it with just a small piece of tape and a small amount of solvent. In the morning i tried the puller/c-clamp again but it seemed like no improvement.

In the realm of automotive stuck nuts/bolts heat is a mainstay and i had seem some references to heat on the plumbing sites and i figured it was time for more destructive methods. i figured since the handle is so large and sticks out away from the wall so much i should be able to heat it up mildly without melting any of the internal mechanisms, at least i hoped so. i put the torch to it but from a great distance to try to prevent the handle from getting too hot. i managed to get it hot enough so that it was "too hot to touch" and it seemed like nothing else was obviously melting inside the valve. So then I put the puller/c-clamp on again and still nothing.

Then I remembered in one of the posts someone said something about something being easier to remove when it was turned all the way in one direction. Then I thought maybe I should turn the handle full counter-clockwise since the stem would be further out from the wall and maybe I could heat it better that way. So I turned off the water supply to the house and turned the handle full ccw. Then I heated it again and then I put the puller/c-clamp on it again. This time the puller went on better since there was more room behind the handle to slide the arms into. When I cranked the screw it seemed like maybe the handle did move out a little. It was harder to detect real movement as opposed to flexing with the handle full ccw since it's further away from the wall anyway. Anyway with the handle full ccw with the puller/c-clamp in place it was easier to pull on and rock the handle to and fro and at this point it began to slide off the stem!! I can't say exactly which steps were important since I tried lots of different things over a long period. Now that I have the handle off I will proceed to change the washers that are in my kit. I would like to put some type of Anti-Seize compound on the handle to make it easier to take off for the next dude who has to do it.

[davetrouble]

Follow up on my leaking faucet. I followed the symmons troubleshooting chart for leaking faucet and replaced the hot and cold washers. My danco repair kit also had a replacement gasket for t-11 so I changed that out as well. Also it has a hard plastic ring that might have been part of t-16. I didn't mess with the packing nut since there seemed to be no problem with it so I still have this hard plastic ring. I soaked all the parts I took out in clr and that seemed to take of the crud pretty good. Then I put some permatex anti-seize on the handle spine and put it back together. The plug button apparently lost it's spring and several of the teeth fell out when I tired to reposition them. Now it will not stay in place so I hope I can get a new one of those. The faucet seems to have stopped dripping.

[massplumber2008]

Hi DT:

They sell the plug/cap (T-33) at all home improvement stores that I know of.

Thanks for posting your experience with this.

Another quick trick to get the handle off is to actually drill the end of the cap where the screw sat (screw removed) with the proper size drill bit and that quickly releases the handle, too. Though, you would need a replacement handle after that... ;)

Mark

[thehappyheretic]

killry and davetrouble - thanks for these posts! I would have driven myself absolutely nuts without them. When I read them it was like a play by play of my initial troubles getting my Symmons shower faucet handle off. I still haven't had any luck actually getting the handle off, but I now at least have some appreciation of how hard it may be.

One bit of learning that I want to share with everyone is in regards to handle pullers. I first got a handle puller at Lowe's that I believe ultimately was a piece of junk. It had a screw nut on the threaded pin. I believe that this nut was actually supposed to be held between two riveted metal plates right beneath it - it would fit when tapped in lightly with a hammer. Unfortunately, this nut was always popping out of the two plates, making the tool useless.

The better handle puller I got from the Home Depot actually has a solid metal bar with a threaded hole in the center. While I still haven't managed to get my shower handle off with it, it at far easier to work with and was about the same price as the one from Lowe's.

[hkstroud]

Put the handle puller in place and tighten as much as reasonably possible. Then smack the end of the puller with a hammer. The shock and vibration breaks the corrosion.

It is standard procedure to strike the end of a puller after tightening to break the seize when using any puller, whether it's a gear puller, wheel puller or faucet handle puller.

[thehappyheretic]

Ultimately, I turned the faucet all the way to the max open position (counterclockwise). I then squirted a bunch of WD-40 behind the handle, which promptly flushed out a bunch of crud (calcification) from the inside of the handle. What ultimately worked was just using the nail puller on a hammer (after I tried hammering the handle puller as suggested, which didn't really do much), very carefully levered one side of the handle off. At this point, I think I can say that the handle would normally pry loose pretty quickly if new, but after 20+ years of active use there was a fair amount of corrosion in the handle.

[bmmillis]

I followed the instructions using the handle removal tool; it worked!! Thanks for the helpful advise. I was at a loss.

[josephmartins]

By far the easiest way to tackle this problem is to use a hack saw to cut the shaft just behind the handle. It's not elegant and you will definitely not be able to reuse that part, but it takes 30 seconds to cut through. The other suggestions are great if you either wish to save the part (usually not worth it) or don't mind wasting time and money.

Frankly, when the handle of the older Temptrol's is so stuck that you cannot easily get it off with a puller, you'll want to install a new handle and shaft anyway.