ther Pages of Rages

181 Comments »

1. Brian Rages said,

   January 8, 2006 at 10:22 pm

   Does your Moen regulate the temperature like this one:

   http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=160832-866-82783&lpage=none

   One of these days, I’m going to put temperature-regulating valves in our showers…

2. Myron MacNeil said,

   January 21, 2006 at 6:10 pm

   I rented a T handle removal tool from Dixie line. Wasn’t worth spit for the original “turn and remove” part of the cartridge. The flanges just bent and brike off, but it came with a sleeve removal tool that worked great.

3. Wendy said,

   February 12, 2006 at 7:40 am

   YOU are the only person telling the truth about these ugly brass cartridges! Thank you, thank you, thank you. At least I know what I am dealing with now. There is one place online, http://www.plumbingwarehouse.com, that shows an actual tool to remove both the brass stem and cartridge. Of course, I wouldn’t have found this site unless the the stem had not left it’s cartridge behind. Most sites that mention cartridge removal make it sound like it will just slip right out and the insertion is even more simple. It is just not so. The Moen cartridge removal tool that I bought, after I cracked the little white nylon cap in two, only pulled out the brass stem. Until I saw your description and photo I could only suspect that something wasn’t right. At first I thought that the new cartridge was too big. I will be removing the cartridge with the bolt or tap today. The antique all brass stem and cartridge should be shown online so the truth is known! Again, thank you, and I will let you know how it turns out. After that task, I will be trying to figure out how to get all the parts I need for changing out the water spout in the tub. Oh, the joys of home ownership.

4. Rick said,

   February 25, 2006 at 12:55 pm

   Worked great! You saved me alot of time! THANKS

5. Joe said,

   March 3, 2006 at 2:12 pm

   Hey,

   This is exactly what I needed. I am changing out the cartrigde in my friend’s shower and knew it would get ugly. I didn’t want to start till I knew I could finish it. Thanks, great idea to tap the cartrigde.

   joe

6. Wendy said,

   March 9, 2006 at 8:52 am

   Follow-up to Feb 12 email.
   I called in the reinforcements for help with “the cartridge” shell removal. Actually, he offered to help because “Oh, I’ve done that before and it is really easy.” LOL My cousin came with his toolbox and it only took me a half hour to get him to fully understand what the situation was even after using the visual aids provided. The stuck cartridge is a difficult concept because when it is really stuck it blends in with copper pipe.
   It took much collaboration and trying different methods for the cartridge shell to come out, thank God, in one piece. I estimate it took us 2 hours. He brought a tap set he uses as an truck, car, snowmobile, etc mechanic to make threads inside of the cartridge which worked as you described. To his and my amazement the remaining plumbing was undamaged, the new cartridge finally went in and water was restored. It was a tense moment though because the cartridge needed to be pushed fairly hard to get the last 1/4 inch to settle in place. As of today my shower and bathtub are beautiful with a new faucet, tub spout (another ordeal) and freshly painted tub surface (another ordeal entirely). Thanks again for your pictures and comments. I couldn’t have done this without you!

7. Very Grateful said,

   March 20, 2006 at 2:19 pm

   Amazing.. thank you for the detailed, graphic instructions.
   Had just about given up on replacing the cartridge and called a plumber when we came upon this!

8. Bernie said,

   March 28, 2006 at 3:44 pm

   Very timely advice. The plumber was due in two hours when I read your instructions. I used the tap and the body started to rotate as you discribed. I was unable to unscrew the tap because the body rotated in either direction. I put some locking pliers on the end of the tap and pulled out the balance of the cartridge. Putting in the new cartridge was easy.
   I cancelled the plumber and saved myself a $100 or more.

   Thanks!

9. pktrkt said,

   April 1, 2006 at 6:49 pm

   Thanks a great big bunch. Was able to get the tap and handle for under $20 at the hardware store. Lot cheaper than sweating in a new mixing valve. It saved me bucks.

10. Eric said,

    April 11, 2006 at 3:39 pm

    I stumbled upon this after 3 hours and 3 trips to the hardware store (used google).

    I followed your directions to the letter, the cartridge came out easily useing a 1/2 (course thread) tap. The enitre process took under 10 minutes.

    Thanks for the great Idea!

11. Mark said,

    April 15, 2006 at 12:32 am

    This guy took a picture of the official puller. I think this one would work:

    http://virginiawind.com/tips/doityourself.asp

12. woodbutcher said,

    April 15, 2006 at 6:44 pm

    Hi, When you remove the cartridge replace it with a plastic one, they work great and won’t sieze up.
    Woodbutcher

13. Brian said,

    May 13, 2006 at 8:18 pm

    Thanks a million. I had the exact same thing happen and I never would have thought to use a tap kit and a bolt. I would’ve called in a plumber and plunked down some serious cash.

14. Lottie said,

    June 2, 2006 at 10:45 pm

    Thanks alot for taking the time and going through the frustrations of changing a leaky cartridge! This helped so much! Exact thing happened to me….I was sitting here contemplating how I was going to get the rest of the cartridge out. Then I stumbbled accross your wonderful illustrations and directions. So, thank you for keeping me from calling a plumber and wasting money.

15. John said,

    June 8, 2006 at 1:12 pm

    Thanks for all the great information - when I pulled the plunger out and left the cartridge body stuck, I also called a plumber. I came accross this and since the plumber never called me back I was able to fix it myself. Some additonal info - when I went to my local Ace Hardware, they recommended using an EasyOut screw extractor #6. The stuck cartridge came out with just a few turns.

16. Dan said,

    June 10, 2006 at 7:44 pm

    Thanks for the help! My Home Depot didn’t have the tap. A friendly fellow customer recommended a screw extractor which is much cheaper than a tap. I bought a Vermont American Spiral Screw Extractor #5 Model 21835 (threaded) which came in a little blister pack. The tag said $4 but it rang up for just $1. I followed the above steps and then used the extractor instead of the tap described above. When you use the extractor, just put in down the barrel of the cartridge and then turn *counter-clockwise* with a hand tool/wrench (don’t use a drill) to drive it into the cartridge part. The cartridge loosened up almost immediately and began to rotate with the tool. At that point, I spent about 5 minutes tugging and pulling on the extractor to get the cartridge out. I had to reseat the extractor several times but eventually it worked. Note - the smaller the screw extractor, the cheaper it is. However, the size I used was probably the smallest that would have worked, so buy one this size or a little bigger (i.e., No. 6).

17. Steve Maricic said,

    July 3, 2006 at 10:30 am

    My problem was related to this. I have a Moen 3100 series single handle shower faucet (also called Monticello?).
    First, I couldn’t get the handle hub off. I couldn’t see the set screw in its hole, so I thought it had fallen out. It took me a while to realize that the set screw is VERY deep in that hole. I tried a few allen keys and finally one fit.
    Second, I couldn’t get the “handle stop” off (even after removing the phillips screw holding it in). I tried spraying a mixture of water and vinegar to dissolve any deposits holding it in, but that didn’t work. Finally, I got two boards to slip behind the handle stop, between the handle stop and the escutcheon plate. With one board in my left hand and one in my right, trying to exert equal pressure, I pried the darn thing off.
    Hope this helps someone.

18. aj said,

    July 18, 2006 at 8:53 am

    Excellent - findig this site reassured me that I wasn’t doing something wrong - and that that #$&^@ valve was stuck. I bought the tool designed to remove the cylinder - it was useless. Luckily I have a very smart father in law who rescued me. He had the same problems in the past and discovered the solution. He locates a socket from his socket set that matches the diameter of the valve body (not the cartridge). Then we found a machine screw long enough to thread through the drive hole in the socket and into the valve stem ( I believe its a #10-24 screw). Then we threaded a nut onto the screw almost to the head, then stacked several washers of increasing size onto the screw. These washers make sure that you can use the nut to push against the washers onto the socket body. Then you pass the screw through the drive hole of the socket and thread it onto the cartridge body. You seat the socket on the body of the valve. Then you use the screw and nut to apply pressure onto the socket and slowly pull the cartridge out of the valve body. This process ensures that you apply even direct pressure - and are not applying pressures to the plumbing atttached to the valve.

19. Jim said,

    July 20, 2006 at 10:14 am

    Thank you! You saved me money, time, and a lot of swearing. Threading the 1/2″ bolt worked like a charm. Moen, I’m sure you are monitoring this site. Pay the man for his sevice to all of your customers

20. Tony said,

    August 14, 2006 at 8:04 am

    Hey, this might seem a stupid question but did your Moen have a limit stop on that cartridge? In other words was there some little screw for adjusting the hot water maximum on the old dialcet or was there another way? Mine just won’t give me enough hot water.

21. Brian said,

    August 29, 2006 at 12:21 am

    Thanks for the info! My experience was that the tap did not make the cartridge spin and I cut threads clean through the cartridge. Got a 1/2″ bolt and with assorted sockets and washers pulled it out. I’ve had motorcycle flywheels come off easier than that! Lots of mineral build-up came out on the cartridge, but the bore of the valve was smooth. New one installed easily-shower works good!
    THX Again!
    ~B

22. Dave said,

    September 6, 2006 at 9:28 pm

    Wow, what a great help! I borrowed a 1/2″ tap and a bolt from a machine shop after my plunger sprung out (with much much wrangling) and the threaded inner piece removed fairly easily. Took the tools back the next day. That nylon tool that came with the new cartridge was a joke… I’m glad you’re posting such good hints.

    -Dave

23. Chris Kennel said,

    September 9, 2006 at 11:12 pm

    Thanks for posting this fix–it saved me tonight. I also read of another variation that involved tapping the cartridge like you outlined, but then inserting a short length of dowel into the cartidige. The dowel will bottom out at the back of the valve housing since the cartridge is hollow. Then insert your 1/2 inch bolt. It’ll screw into the threaded portion, then hit the dowel. As you turn the bolt, it’ll exert pressure on the dowel and force the cartridge shell forward. This seems like a better approach than the way I did it using a washer, wood blocks, and ultimately a vice grips that bore on the front of the valve.

24. Jeff said,

    September 13, 2006 at 11:17 pm

    Bless this Blog. Found this place on a google search. After reading it through, the 1/2 inch bolt method worked for me. But my cylinder is the plastic one. I had to make about 8 small holes with a drill around the shaft, then chisel the area apart with a screwdriver and hammer. Pulled the shaft out. I then screwed in a 1/2 inch lag bolt with a washer. Once it tightened down to the brass housing, further turns would slide the cylinder out. After getting it about halfway out, it still refused to come any further with vice grips, and the screw pulled out. I broke off as much as I could inside the housing, and used the screw again and finally got the last of it.

    The replacement from Ace has more gaskets, and seems better-designed. All is now smooth and leak-free.

    Thanks again for the nice page!
    Jeff

25. Tom said,

    October 15, 2006 at 1:47 pm

    To remove my Moen shower cartridge I first tried pulling with a pliers w/o success. Then replaced the handle screw with a different pan head screw and used a claw hammer to pull the cartridge out like a nail. I used a board to protect the tile and keep the pull straight. The power of leverage.

26. Ramesh said,

    October 17, 2006 at 8:30 am

    This was great. Also, http://www.masterplumber.net/moen_2.htm provided great info and step by step pic/instructions. After spending 2 hours getting nothing done, read this page here and at the masterplumber (where I realized I needed a different cartridge), and replaced it in 20 min.

    Might be important to turn the white tool 90 degrees, and then little wiggling and a pull gets the old cartridge out. The new cartridge might need to be tapped in a bit with the white tool b/w the cartridge and the hammer/mallet to help it get in place.

    Thanks!

27. Jeff said,

    October 21, 2006 at 11:23 am

    Hey…this happened to me once before and the guy at HD said “…you don’t need the tool, just use…” and I couldn’t for the life on me remember what it was. But the cartridge I was replaceing was only about four years old and was of the plastic casing variety. Nevertheless, it was stuck good. I put a 1/2″ deep well socket inside the thing, gave the socket a couple of sharp (not pounding) raps with a a hammer and it loosened enough to where the plastic cap supplied with the new cartridge was able to do it’s job…ten minutes, no kidding. Thanks!

28. tad said,

    November 20, 2006 at 5:41 am

    my problem is that i replaced stim and reinstalled new one.my tempature to hot is not up to the tempature that we had before.does the cartiage need to be seated deeper in the sleeve.

29. F.Ling said,

    November 20, 2006 at 1:03 pm

    Thanks for the tip. I just changed a 1222 cartridge. While my old cartridge didn’t fall apart like yours, it was somewhat of a challenge to remove. Hopefully this tip may help others too. While I used the white plastic piece to loosen the cartridge, the flanges on the cartridge broke off and it wouldn’t come out. What I then proceeded to do, was to screw a long screw into the socket of the plunger part so that provided a means of gripping the cartridge. I wrapped the screw with a towel to provide a better grip. With the white plastic tool in place and using a wrench, I kept twisting the cartridge clockwise and counterclockwise to loosen it. At the same time, I kept pulling on the screw/towel grip that I had fashioned. Eventually, the whole cartridge came out. Replacement was easy and my shower faucet works wonderfully. Plus I am no plumber and really no plumbing experience at all.

    For the 1225B cartridge, perhaps one could drill a hole through the top of the white plastic piece, then place it over the cartridge, then screw a screw into the plunger part and fashion a grip. Then use the technique described above to pull the cartridge out.

30. Charlotte Cross said,

    November 30, 2006 at 7:14 pm

    After an hour’s struggle to remove the old cartridge, another hour’s consulting of do-it-yourself plumbing books and various instruction sheets, I went to your website and found out what that plastic tool was all about and how to use it (nowhere on the enclosed instruction sheets). It probably helped that I had sprayed some WD-40 into the sides of the valve, but no matter — after a few turns right and left, the cartridge broke free and came out!!! Hallelujah! The new cartridge is plastic and I hope it works for another twenty-odd years like the old one! Thanks!

31. Roger Brown said,

    December 3, 2006 at 12:39 pm

    Found your info with a google search. It was just what I needed. I had my 40 year old house re-piped & the tub/shower valve wouldn’t allow a pressure test. The plumber tried the standard Moen extractor & pulled the stem out of the cartridge, then told me I’d probably need to replace the whole valve. I tried WD40, pliers, & the white plastic insert to no avail. After seeing your detailed post & pics, I spent about $7 on a 1/2″ tap, 1/2″ x 5″ fully threaded bolt, a nut & washer. After threading the cartridge, I broke off the leading metal edges of the cartridge with pliers, then ran the nut halfway up the bolt & put the washer on the open end of the bolt. The bolt was then threaded into the cartridge as far as it could go. I tightened the nut w/washer down against the valve, which moved the cartridge about 1/4″ out of it’s seated position & breaking the corroded seal that had it stuck. A little prying & twisting easily completed the task. Thanks for the solution!

32. rich said,

    December 8, 2006 at 11:04 pm

    I was lucky to find this site before I started to replace the single cartridge shower faucet. aj(july 18 2006) had a great idea, and I tried it. It worked beautifully. It is low-tech, low skill, and no-or low-cost.. Even if you don’t have a large enough socket, get a 3 or 4 washers with holes large enough for the whole cartridge to slide through freely. The bolt (10-24, as aj said) should only be about l l/2 inch long, so you don’t have to use a bunch of washers –any spacer will do as long as the cartridge can come out a little way before it hits a spacer. Since you can only get 4-5 turns on the bolt before it bottoms out, you will have to unscrew it and add two or three more washers and repeat until it comes loose. No problem. THANKS, aj

33. Adrian said,

    December 12, 2006 at 3:35 pm

    GENIUS! Had the exact same problem. And the singe 1/2 bolt that I had in my garage worked just like you said. Thread it in the cartridge body and pry the bolt head against the faucet body. Almost gave up after an hour and was ready to call a plumer because it was so locked in there. One more try and i could feel it come loose. Thanks!

34. tj said,

    December 16, 2006 at 12:57 pm

    old (1979-era) Moen shower valve was leaking and hard to pull out and push in…broke off (rusted) handle screw so handle came off easily…then stem came out but cart body would not budge. Used needlenosed ViseGrips on tabs on cart body, placed piece of wood against tile and used crowbar to force cart body out…came out with no damage to anything…used brass 12 ga shotgun brush to clean out the inside of the valve body of corrosion etc…worked great! Wrapped a cloth patch over brush to clean up any shavings….

35. John said,

    December 16, 2006 at 7:51 pm

    I spent a night without water while I contemplated my options after going through all the same steps and results before finding your web page. At 6:00a.m. the next morning I went to Dixieline and not only rented the core puller for $4 but also purchased the die and tap, bolt, and screwpuller. On the way back I returned the Danco tool pictured in your original blog that did nothing but take off the cartridge ears and separate the core from the brass. The first thing I tried upon my return was the core puller rented from Dixieline and it worked! I was able to return the rest of the stuff, so was only out the price of a new cartridge and the $4 rental. Thanks for all the information. I do appreciate that had the puller not worked it would have been permanently lodged and would have necessitated a plumber and prevented all other methods of extraction. In retrospect I got lucky.

36. LjL said,

    January 6, 2007 at 8:46 pm

    Thanks!!! My story is like most of the others here. Destroyed the white plastic thing. Tap did the trick. This was a a huge help!!

37. LJL 2 said,

    January 12, 2007 at 11:36 pm

    Best free advice a guy could ask for.Thank god for the internet.

38. Jeff said,

    January 15, 2007 at 7:54 pm

    This technique worked great! I too had the core pull out, not the entire cartridge. Used the 1/2″ tap method, and 5 minutes later it was out.

39. Doug Wasilauski said,

    January 29, 2007 at 8:56 pm

    I too had the problem with removing an old Moen Tub Cartridge. I tried everything except short of paying $39.99 at the local plumbing suppply. The leak was getting worse and I was getting leakage down my basement where water was running behind the tile. I was determined to fix it tonight and after I got home from work began looking around the basement for a cure. Then I spied IT!!!!!!! A $3.00 A440 tuning fork that you can get at any music store. This and a pair of channel locks had the bad boy out in 5 minutes…..I hope this helps someone with the same problem

40. azcamper said,

    February 3, 2007 at 7:05 pm

    Saved my life today, I have another shower that has been out of commission because I ended up bending and destroying the pipes. Today your tap set idea and a bunch of calcium remover did the trick.

    thanks

41. Randy said,

    February 10, 2007 at 9:42 pm

    Thank you. I used a 3/8″ tap, and the core started coming out when the tap was about 1″ in. Worked like a charm.

42. Phil said,

    February 12, 2007 at 11:45 pm

    THANK GOD for the internet and blogs like these! Otherwise we would be sitting here with no water in our house and no showers tomorrow. Same thing happened to me. Got the new cartridge and tried to use the plastic doodad to remove my corroded brass cartridge. SNAP! Not even close. Then I went and bought one of the cartridge removal tools. Great thing to have if your a home owner. But even that didn’t work. Bent the brass tounges like butter. So after pull out the entire inside I was at a loss on what I was going to do short of sweating off the entire fittings inside the wall and reconstructing. Thanks SO much for the idea of tapping it out. It was a snap. $7 on a 1/2″ tap at the local hardward store and some 1/2″ washers for spacers. A little trick I did that wasn’t mentioned. We grabbed some 3/4″ washers as well (my father in laws idea!) The wall of the shower is cheap old fiberglass and couldn’t support you tugging on the bolt against the wall. Instead using the 3/4″ washers as the stopper of the rest of the pipe so as you screwed in the 1/2″ screw, the 3/4″ washers were pushing up against the pipe as a brace. Worked great! Came out so easy. Now the faucet works great. No more pulling hard or pushing in hard to turn on and off. Thanks again guys!

43. Dave said,

    February 17, 2007 at 9:30 pm

    Thank you so much for this post. It was a life saver. I started at 2pm this afternoon to change the cartridge for my Moen single handle shower. I went to Home Depot and bought two replacements (one plastic and one all metal (figuring I would return one once I saw what the original was). Well, I took the face plate off and opened the first replacement cartridge to get the white plastic end. Broke after two turn attempts. So I opened the second package to get the other white plastic piece figuring perhaps I did it wrong. Same result. Then after trying to turn the cartridge with a pliers, the two end tabs broke off. I then went to pulling the stem which after a while came out but not the outer shell. Went back to Home Depot and purchased a stem puller that had a spring loaded pin that was supposed to lock into one of the holes in the cartridge shell to allow me to turn it loose. Well, that was a waste of time as well and only served to frustrate me more. It didn’t move and worse, the puller was stuck in he faucet. I was finally able to break that free. I was about to call the plumber figuring they would have to cut the pipe and replace the fittings when I tried the web and found this site. I went back to the store on a last hope and bought a 1/2×4″ bolt and a tap. It did the trick. Once I tapped the inside of the cartridge and put the bolt in, I was able to free the unit which allowed it to turn easily, but it still took a half-hour to pull the thing out. Cleaned it out and put the new cartridge in in 5 minutes. Finished at 8:30pm. What a pain. But thanks to this site and post I didn’t have to worry about a plumber and my family didn’t have to go to my in-laws to shower the next day.

    Thanks!!!!!!!

44. Jack, Orlando Florida said,

    February 25, 2007 at 4:51 pm

    THANK YOU, THANK YOU,

    I have to admit I was somewhat sceptical when my wife suugested I google “stuck faucet cartridge”. You can imagine I was very pleasantly surprised to find I was not the only one having a major challenge with this. All the websites suggesting to “just pull out the cartridge” obviously have never actually attempted this.
    I did finally pull it out with the removal tool, I was ready to give up because I couldn’t believe how much force was required and I was afraid to break the entire piece. Reading your comments gave me the confidence to keep cranking the removal tool until the cartridge finally came out. For anyone trying this, once the removal tool is inserted into the valve stem, use a large crescent wrench to tighten the bolt on the removal tool. This will take considerable force, but the cartridge will eventually budge.

    Good luck.

45. Bruce said,

    February 28, 2007 at 5:08 am

    Hmmmm, I’m not sure what model shower single handle Moen faucet I have. The screw holding the handle wouldn’t come out, and the phillips ha\ead rounded off. I finally had to take some channel locks and break the handle out by squeezing it and fracturing the plastic. Now I could get a pair of pliers on the head of the screw; two turns and it broke off in the stem. How do you get the shaft out without having any threads to screw into? Just because of this, I’m considering hiring a contractor to replace the shower stall surround and the tile walls with cultured marble. Any suggestions?

46. Mark said,

    March 3, 2007 at 10:04 am

    Bruce,

    I don’t have any brilliant suggestions. Have you tried a vise-grip pliers on the stem? Otherwise, that cultured marble sounds nice.

47. John from Chicago said,

    March 3, 2007 at 11:32 am

    Fantastic site that’s a big help to Moen users everywhere! I’ve maintained faucets with these types of cartridges for over 20 years. The 1/2 inch tap is a great idea for the brass cartridge removal.

    Here’s a few Preventive Maintenance tips:

    1) Replace the cartridges every 2-3 years or at the first sign that they are becoming stiff to operate.
    2) Use the OEM plastic cartridge instead of the brass one. These seem to stick less for some reason. Don’t use non-OEM plastic cartridges, some of which have a plastic stem. They bend and do not operate smoothly.
    3) Lubricate the outside of the cartridge before insertion with silicone plumbing grease. The cartridges already have a small amount of this applied in the package - add more. This is a clear/white color grease available in the plumbing department.
    4) Use the genuine Moen cartridge removal tool (similar to the Danco one) for normal preventive maintenance cartridge removal, but don’t pull on the T handle to start with. Secure the tool to the cartridge with the screw, then turn the large nut with an adjustable end wrench to provide slow, even pressure. The tool sits against the faucet body, so the movement does not stress the faucet body inside the shower wall. The Danco tool does not sit down against the faucet body, and it encourages tugging on the T-handle as a result. Pulling with the T-handle is only to be done after the cartridge has been freed by turning the large nut.

48. John from Chicago said,

    March 3, 2007 at 11:44 am

    Oh, two other comments I forgot:

    1) Lubricate the screw with the silicone grease before securing the handle upon cartridge removal. This lessens the chance of screw break-off as a previous poster encountered. Replace this screw if the head is damaged. Only use a stainless steel screw, not brass (head is too soft) and not steel (rust).
    2) Even with the Moen tool, do use the plastic tool to rotate the cartridge back and forth. In the preventive maintenance mode, it should turn OK.

    As far as the broken screw scenario,
    a) Check to see if the plastic tool (nut) will rotate your cartridge at all. If so, that’s a good sign that your cartridge is not stuck too badly
    b) Use vice grip pliers on the stem, and apply even/slow force. If the cartridge is not stuck too badly, it will come out without the stem separating from the cartridge body. If the stem separates, use the tap and bolt method mentioned by the author if it’s a brass cartridge.

    Your other alternative is to drill out (screw extractor bit), holding the stem with vice grips to prevent rotation). But the screw may not come out cleanly to insert the removal tool screw in its place. Then, you’d be in a situation of trying to tap that hole, use a different size screw that’s long enough yet also fits the cartridge removal tool.

49. Clay said,

    March 19, 2007 at 11:42 pm

    This website and everyone’s comment was a life saver. A huge THANK YOU to everyone. My story…
    I started out with the “Two-in-One Core Puller” that Mark linked to above http://virginiawind.com/tips/doityourself.asp
    It was no help at first so then I went to the hardware store (trip #2) for the “Core Puller” made by Ace which is pictured in the photo’s at the top. This device pulled the inside of the cartridge out no problem leave the outer body still firmly stuck in place. So then I used the “Two-in-One” tool to try to get the outer cartridge out. It slid in just fine and firmly locked in place… but no amount of tugging would budge it. Twisting did finally cause the outer casing to twist a millimeter or two… but the tool broke off leaving part of it inside. At least then it was out. Went back to the hardware store… got a half inch tap and it worked very well. Didn’t even break a sweat. Maybe the “Two-in-One” loosened it up a bit… but the 1/2 inch tap was what got it out and it really worked well… which after watching two other tools fail miserably was a great relief! The now cartridge went in no trouble and the shower is working. 1000 Thank You’s to everyone. Lifesaver.

50. DM said,

    March 24, 2007 at 11:31 pm

    After pulling pretty hard with vise grips and a crow bar, I went back to the store for the Moen brand cartridge puller. With that and a big wrench the job was done in 10 minutes. The old cartridge appeared to made of aluminum??

    Thx for all of the advice.

51. Pete from Anaheim said,

    March 25, 2007 at 9:43 pm

    Excellent post!

    The $1.00 solution is to use a 1/2″ lag bolt of decent length (8-10″) to accomplish the same task. Just be careful not to over stress the faucet body and plumbing when ratcheting it in. I also use the new cartridge as a gauge to mark the lag bolt with a Sharpie so that I don’t penetrate the old cartridge and damage plumbing. Chances are the old cartridge will break free long before this happens, though.

    I have tried the Danco and Moen removal tools in the past, and found them to be worthless on cartridges frozen by hard water.

52. FrancoVT said,

    March 26, 2007 at 3:25 pm

    Thanks guys, yesterday went to the local hdw store with the Moen faucet plunger on my hands, with my disappointment the store mgr (the expert) was not there and the employee, a gentle retiree, did not have a clue of the problem. I ended up buying a few O rings, replace them, grease the whole plunger. put it back and .. for a day it worked great. Today it was stuck as it has never been before.
    I checked over the internet and found this site, and finally I’ ve learned about the cartridge body inside and there it was.
    Used the screw #6 extractor method, in a sec the cartridge started turning, but could not get it out. I broke the tabs on the cartridge by pulling like crazy and was at the point of giving up with this method and go buy a 1/2″ tap, but I was not sure how to tap a cylinder that is turning freely.
    The good thing in common between all the contributors of this forum is the fact that they are determined to have the job done. Me too!!
    A last try, I remembered one of the tips, use WD40, I sprayed inside a generous amount of wd40, turned the cartridge many times so, through the holes on the plunger, it distributed evenly on the inner surface of the cartridge.
    Big pair of pliers, rubber working gloves, I gave a little tap to the screw extractor to byte more inside the cartridge, a decise pull and puff… the rat came out as magic and almost fell inside the tub.
    The new plastic cartridge went on quite easily, but I had to tap on the plastic cap a few blows to get the O rings settle into the groves, again someone said it needed to be done, thanks again.

53. Chris Olson said,

    April 3, 2007 at 7:23 pm

    I have to say, this is one of my new favorite home repair threads. I too have an older house, and after spending hours trying to get the brass casing out, I too was about to call a plumber.

    Then, I found this thread. I used the screw extractor method that was mentioned. I went to Home Depot, but they did not have a size 6 extractor, luckily the Lowes across the street had a size 6 extractor. The 5 might have worked, but it would have been a really close fit.

    I literally put the screw extractor into the casing, took my trust adjustable wrench, gave it a few tugs, and the sucker came loose. I couldn’t believe it! I grabbed the end of the extractor with some pliers, gave it a few tugs, and the whole brass casing came out! I finally saw the cause of all my demise!

    It took me 30 seconds to pop the new one in, and about another 15 minutes of messing with things to get everything exactly right with no leaks.

    Thank you so much for this extremely informative post. Like you said, every other guide you find out there says “simply remove the casing”, and if you can’t, to go and buy that cartridge extraction tool. Luckily, I never bought the tool, because I could tell just from the looks of it that it wouldn’t help my cause.

    We now have a wonderful new shower handle (the old one must have been there 24 years or so), and it’s amazing how much easier it is to turn it on and off, even just to go from hot to cold, it’s like brand new!

    Thank you so much posters, I owe you one. The beer I’m about ready to pop open I drink in your honor!

    P.S. Plus the wife is happy, instead of 100 bucks for a plumber, cost us 3 bucks for the screw extraction tool at Lowes. Can’t beat that!

54. Sean said,

    April 7, 2007 at 4:29 pm

    Man, just allow me to express my everlasting thanks! Once I thredding what was left of the old cartridge, I used a 1/2 bolt (just like you said) and a series of washers in descending sizes along with a nut to create my own adjustable extraction tool. It was out in seconds. I thought I was throroughly fucked when the inside of the cartridge first spit out. Your thread gave me an idea and hope, and the end result saved me $$. I’m getting drunk tonight to celebrate (may as well be honest here!), and every drink will be to you!

    Thanks man!

55. Maria said,

    April 11, 2007 at 2:03 am

    This site is a godsend.

    I had a leaky single handle bathtub that was literally pouring out hot water. To make that worse, the faucet is old (~25 years) and I didn’t know what brand it was. I was told I would have to remove the stem before Home Depot could point me to the correct part. So off the water went and then the handle and the clip. This left me puzzled because the girl at Home Depot said I would just have to remove the clip and unscrew the stem. So I started unscrewing and called Home Depot and again got the same instructions, no mention of a possible cartridge. Searching the net I stumbled on the Moen site with their removal instructions. This led me to realize I had a cartridge, well at least I thought I might. Now, I was simply trying to tug out the cartridge to no avail. (I also sprayed tons of bleach, vinegar and slick 50 for lubrication and build up removal - this may have helped in the end.) Finally, the stem did come out on it’s own leaving the exterior of the cartridge in the pipe. I assumed I had just removed the stem as Home Depot said and my troubles were over. Next, I went to the hardware store and they told me I left the rest of the cartridge in the pipe but at least they were able to match the stem to a new cartridge which happened to be a Moen. Now, I had the white plastic piece that was suppose to easily jiggle the remaining piece in the pipe and then hopefully just slip out. Well, within ten minutes the plastic thing was destroyed and one of the ears on the pipe was nearly broken off. Ugh…. I can’t put in the new cartidge and I can’t stick the old one in because it is broken. Now if I turn on the water my large leak would turn into a complete flow… at this point I was ready to call a plumber. Then searching the internet, I found you, heavenly you and it was like you were telling my story except you had a happy ending.

    I took matters into my own hands and went out for 1/2″ tap and bolt. Home Depot didn’t have a tap that big so I too ended up buying a whole tap and die set at Advanced Auto and the matching bolt. Home I went with new vigor, threaded and screwed in the bolt and then tugged, and nothing! Then, I came up with a technique for banging the bolt. I stood in front of the faucet and put my knee against the tub wall to keep from damaging the interior pipe. Then I took the prying end of a hammer and slid it up and down the underneath of the bolt rapidly with out hitting too hard to again not damage the rest of the plumbing. To my astonishment the cartridge actually came out!!

    Putting in the new cartridge took 5 minutes max compared to the 8 hours removal took. Now I can enjoy the sound of silence in my bathroom. Just thinking of having to spend the night with out water, call in a plumber, tear out a wall in my closet, and replace piping! Yikes, this site must have at least saved me $500!

    Can’t thank you enough!

56. Paul said,

    April 14, 2007 at 10:23 pm

    I had the same problem with the plastic removal tool that comes with the new cartridge. The expensve tool you showed also proceeded to brake off the ears of the outer body. The only benefit of this tool was that i was able to pull out the center stem using the large nut and screw. Then I was able to tap the center body with a 1/2-13 tap as you suggested. The tap will bottom out since the body diameter becomes smaller at the center. Since I work in a machine shop I used a 1/2-13 hex head bolt and screwed it into the hole until it bottomed out. Using a long end allen wrench to turn the bolt in a clockwise direction forced the cartridge to rotate. It took a little pressure, but it broke loose fairly easily. Even though I work in a shop ,I never would have thought of your great solution. Thank god I found this before I attempted this fix.

57. matt said,

    April 22, 2007 at 11:58 pm

    Add me to the list of people who benefited from the tap-set suggestion. After struggling with the valve for a couple hours, I stopped to check the net to see what I could find out, and found this page. Ten minutes after arriving home from Home Depot with a new tap set, I had the old valve out and the new valve in. Perfect.

    Thanks so much for sharing your ordeal.

58. LolitochkaBC said,

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59. Tom said,

    May 18, 2007 at 4:33 pm

    The little plastic removal tool that comes with the replacement cartridge just breaks off the plastic tabs if you try to twist it but if you place a 1/2 inch flat washer under it so that the washer bears on the valve body and then put on the faucet handle (shower faucet) and tighten the handle screw it will cause the cartridge to start to come out and once started it becomes easier to get it all the way out.

60. Dave said,

    May 19, 2007 at 8:23 pm

    Thanks for this article and the many follow-up comments. In the end, I got luckier than most here. I tried following the instructions on Wikipedia, but pulling the cartridge out by yanking and hammering turned out to be futile. This site showed the panel from Moen’s instructions, though, which suggested rotating the cartridge assembly before removal (I didn’t have instructions with my replacement part). A locking long-nose pliers set to the right width allowed me to gradually rotate the cartridge several times to loosen it, after which it pulled out easily.

    As usual, knowing how things work and are assembled made the difference.

    Anyway, my faucet is now working better than it has in years. Thanks again!

61. Mike Davis said,

    June 7, 2007 at 12:38 pm

    Thanks for the tip because the same thing happened to me!! Luckly I already had the 1/2″ tap.

    One note though from my experience, I didn’t tap it real deep the first time and it broke off. So I had to tap it again… deeper this time. It did the trick!!

    I have yet to do the reinstall … hopefully it will be easier than getting it out!!

62. Mike Davis said,

    June 8, 2007 at 6:25 am

    Me again ….

    Just wanted to say the reinstall was the EASIEST STEP!!!!

63. Pete said,

    June 8, 2007 at 7:38 pm

    I was about to call a plumber until I read this. All I can say is THANK YOU!!!!! You save me a hell of a of of time and money. The same thing happened to me almost word for word. Thanks again! I owe you a beer!

64. Moen Man said,

    June 12, 2007 at 2:22 pm

    If you ever have a problem with any Dialcet or Moen or Stanadyne call this number - 1-800-289-6636 and they will be able to help you through anything!

65. Tom said,

    June 18, 2007 at 10:51 am

    I just replaced one that was stuck this weekend. once the stem was removed I applied a bit of heat (not enough to melt any solder) and used an internal pipe wrench/nipple extractor. It worked well.

66. Robert said,

    July 4, 2007 at 8:51 am

    Thank you for your advice on extracting broken Moen faucet. I did nearly the exact same thing you did by purchasing the worthless Moen Puller device which got me into trouble by pulling out only center core. I wrote the manufacturer at http://www.danco.com using their support email address and got no response:

    For Danco product related questions, please contact the Technical Support Center at support@danco.com

    Best regards

67. George said,

    July 14, 2007 at 2:45 pm

    Your website was very helpful! I was lucky to find it before starting. Knowing that the cartridge was very prone to breaking inside the pipe, I focused on trying to loosen it inside the pipe and pull it out in one piece. I did use the Teflon wrench to loosen the cartridge. I tapped on the pipe all around where I thought the the cartridge sat. Some WD40 and pulling in and out (you have to actually push in hard which is counter-intuitive) with some force (this lasted about 5-10minutes) with a vice grip and trying to keep even force on it and not pulling/pushing in to the sides worked for me. It pulled right out in one piece.

68. Joe said,

    July 15, 2007 at 2:13 pm

    You are a LIFE SAVER. After 2 hours of sweat a swearing, my lovely bride Bonnie found your site and your Tap and Bolt “easy as can be extraction”.
    So, after 2 .5 hours of struggle, it took 45 minutes and a $.56 bolt (I had a 1/2″ tap) to complete the job.THNAK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!

69. Bill said,

    August 12, 2007 at 2:52 pm

    Thanks, this work great. The puller was worthless, just like you said. I wish I had read this article before I bought it.

70. Andrew said,

    August 27, 2007 at 2:28 pm

    Add me to the long list of people benefited from all the hints added by all those with similar problems! Add to this only that I didn’t even know I did’nt have the full cartridge. And when I showed the inside stem to the hardware store, they didn’t recognize the issue either. Moen could save a lot of people a lot of time by adding to their instructions (including their web site). I even emailed Moen directly, telling them the piece I pulled out looked nothing like their replacement parts, did they have any other cartridges, they just emailed me pics og the same two parts (1220 & 1225). They’ve got people working there that they don’t even explain/train that this is an issue.

    Anyway thanks all for the great help!

71. Beth said,

    September 3, 2007 at 3:19 pm

    This was a big help–we canceled the plumber, too. We used numerous suggestions from the comments list (I made the Lowes run for the size 6 screw extractor and a 1/2 inch bolt, which when I called it a tap, they didn’t know what I meant–what should I have called it?).

    The adding-washers technique got it out a bit, then it jammed. An adjustable wrench with threads winched it out, eventually, although at times it seemed to be destroying the entire mechanism in which it was stuck. Hours of no water with company coming on Labor Day made it NO FUN, but this site made a difference (plumber would have been at least 325 dollars). THANKS!

72. Rich said,

    September 4, 2007 at 7:31 pm

    Seven years ago my Moen shower head was dripping and I had a plumber come out and he gave me an estimate of $275.00 make the repair. It seemed excessive but what do I know. So I asked him if he could do something a bit cheaper and he said he might but with no guarantees. I think he charged me $85.00 and I now surmised that he removed the cartridge: cleaned, LUBRICATED and replaced it.
    Well, this time the Moen got stuck and I didn’t want to pay $$$$, so I googled ’til I found this site. After reading the article and all the blogs twice, I freaked out and anticipated the worse scenario. I went local “Do it Center” and bought the tap set, bolt, grease, cartridge, wire brush—the whole steamy nine yard enchilada. After the Family cleared out and the dog coward to her dog house–the mire sight of me and any tool puts the fear of doom in that dog, I commenced the home repair. After pulling the clip and shattering the white piece of plastic crap on que, I then set my vise grips on the stem and gave it a mighty tug and it released out like— butter. I stood there dumbfounded with this greasy cartridge in my hand feeling like I was Danny Ocean.
    So, I got lucky but remember to use the plumber grease when inserting the cartridge-easy in and easy out the next time.

73. Anikrichard said,

    September 5, 2007 at 9:05 am

    hello , my name is Richard and I know you get a lot of spammy comments ,
    I can help you with this problem . I know a lot of spammers and I will ask them not to post on your site. It will reduce the volume of spam by 30-50% .In return Id like to ask you to put a link to my site on the index page of your site. The link will be small and your visitors will hardly notice it , its just done for higher rankings in search engines. Contact me icq 454528835 or write me tedirectory(at)yahoo.com , i will give you my site url and you will give me yours if you are interested. thank you

74. Jim said,

    September 9, 2007 at 5:03 pm

    Thanks! This was so helpful. Moen should post this on their website!

75. Valerie said,

    September 15, 2007 at 9:07 pm

    Thank you so much! I though I was losing my mind when I got the core out, it didn’t match the replacement, so I went back to the store. Nobody had ever seen one like that– what did I know? It’s almost 30 years old. That’s when I noticed that it looked like the core of the replacement…. I actually called the plumber, and was told there was nothing stuck in the pipe and that there was no way to fix it without cutting out the piping and putting in a new faucet. Not an option with a fiberglass surround that backs up to another bathroom’s fiberglass surround. That’s when we found your website. The tap got the cartridge spinning almost immediately- too soon for the threads to really cut into it enough for a bolt to bite. Once it was spinning, I used one of the metal can opener things they give you when you buy gallons of paint. I got it hooked into a gap and with a little leverage (the handle from the tap holder fed through the handle of the can opener), it popped out.
    Thank you again!! The shower is back– and works great! Only an 8 hour job…

76. Sam said,

    October 7, 2007 at 3:36 pm

    Hi Folks this is a great post I had my old Moen Dialcet bathroom cartridge out in about 20 minutes. Thanks to all of you I bought a #6 tap a 1/2″ bolt and remove the center plunger and tapped the cartridge body and it started to rotate. Took me another 5 minutes to pull the body and then went to Lowes and came back with the new one.

    The problem I have now is my water pressure is now cut in half with the new cartridge any help will be great thanks.

77. Donnie said,

    October 14, 2007 at 3:14 pm

    I have been in construction & remodeling for over 15 years but plumbing is not one of my specialties. I have never paid to have any work done on my home since I can usually do it myself. I was about 10 minutes away from calling a plumber until I found this site. The plunger pulled out of my casing. I went to Home Depot and bought a replacement filter hoping it was the right one. It turns out it was (Moen Universal #1200). I went to use the white plastic piece to rotate the housing and it shattered immediately. I then used needle nose pliers which bent then snapped off the tabs. It was really stuck. After I found this site, I went to Home Depot and the biggest screw extractor they had was a #5. I bought it but it was way too small. I went to Lowes and got a #6 screw extractor for $9.00. I put it in the housing, put my wrench on the end and the housing rotated on the first turn. With some turning and pulling, it was out in about a minute. I cleaned it out by stuffing a baby wipe in and pulling it back out a couple of times. If I had to do it again, now having these instructions, the entire job would take about five minutes instead of the three hours I messed with it.. Thanks for the great site. Saved me $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

78. henry said,

    October 18, 2007 at 9:21 am

    I am facing this problem at the moment. I gave up last summer and simply swapped of the oring and placed the center part back in. Now the water the water pressure is pushing the handle out causing leakage into the tub and i have to use the shower curtain rod to prevent this from happening over night. Thanks to your post, i now have the direction i need to correctly replace the cartridge.
    Thanks so much.

79. Marlon Liotta said,

    October 27, 2007 at 2:53 pm

    Thanks for everyone’s input. I used a #6 screw extractor and it worked like a charm, I had the tap & bolt just in case the #6 didn’t work. If your going to try this go straight to the #6 screw extractor. It’s a piece of cake.

80. Brian said,

    November 3, 2007 at 9:49 pm

    Thanks. This saved my marriage! jk

    I would add one thing… after tapping and using the bolt, I pried it out carefully with a wonder bar and a piece of 2×4. Came out easily.

81. Daniel said,

    November 5, 2007 at 9:03 pm

    Thanks for the tips. We had a Moen shower faucet that was leaking and tried repairing it. We also bought the standard tool Moen sells for removing the cartridge. Completely useless when the cartridge is stuck from years of hard water. (It did work just fine on a sink faucet after we finished the shower, however.) We, too, took the advice here and I bought a tap set from Home Depot. They didn’t have a 1/2″ tap sold by itself, so I bought the set. I’m actually glad I did as I wound up using the tool for the smaller taps, as I’ll get to shortly. I bought a 1/2″ x5 1/2″ bolt, with a hex head on the end. I tapped the cartridge, which went smoothly as the tap eats through the brass easily. I was quite concerned with going too far in, but I went in what seemed like 1″ to 1.25″ or so. I threaded the bolt and tried to remove the cartridge. Didn’t even budge. The bolt was so long that it stuck out a good 3-4 inches. I was seriously concerned with how I’d get it out. After much pulling, screwing the bolt in and out, I was at my wits end. This thing was seriously stuck. We read some more entries on this blog and another site and my wife came across someone who had stuck a dowel rod into the cartridge first. So my wife found a small dowel rod she had (it was 10 PM on a Sunday and all stores were closed) which was only about 1/4″ in diameter. I was just very concerned that it would be too small and simply get shredded when I put the bolt in, but I tried it. I shoved it in, put the bolt on and screwed it in. I screwed and screwed until I thought the bolt would come out the back. (I was deathly afraid of seriously screwing up the pipes even worse). I screwed it in until I couldn’t turn it anymore. Then I tried to get it out. I couldn’t turn it at all to unscrew it. I was using a robogrip pliers to turn the bolt, but it wasn’t budging. I really thought I was seriously screwed at this point. I went and got a socket wrench and a 3/4″ socket. I had to put all my might into turning it, but it finally started to turn. So I tried to unscrew the bolt. I turned and turned and it wouldn’t come out. I realized at this point that the cartridge was turning. I was elated! So I tired pulling the bolt straight out. Wasn’t budging. I could rotate the cartridge, but couldn’t pull the bolt out no matter what. I then took the tool used to hold the smaller taps in the tap set (two straight bars with handles that have two screws that screws the bars together) and it just fit around the base of the bolt. Now I had two handles with which to pull on the bolt, as the bars pull on the larger hex end of the bolt. Still nothing. I pulled and pulled for about 3 hours. My wife helped me - nothing. Went to bed and got up the next morning (no water) to see about calling a plumber. We tried pulling a couple of more times. This time, however, as I pulled, my wife decided to use a wrench to rotate the bolt back and forth a little. Finally saw that we had about 1 mm progress in getting the cartridge out. One more pull and I fell backwards in a spray of water as the cartridge finally came out! Getting the new one in was straightforward.

    Thanks for the site and the good idea of tapping the cartridge. Hopefully this can help someone else. Being able to both pull straight out and rotate the bolt really helped.

82. Chi-town Nessa said,

    November 12, 2007 at 3:54 pm

    I’m also dealing with this!!! I was lead to this blog by a link that wouldn’t open last night. By the time it opened today, unfortunately, I bought another Moen cartridge puller tool (I already pulled the inner core out with the Danco tool) and it’s stuck in the brass outer part this very moment. I will keep tugging and hopefully it will pull the whole cartridge body out. Wish I would’ve seen to do the 1/2″ tap before getting this new thing stuck in there!

    Well, if for nothing else, I’ve learned not to give up from the rest of you persistent people! Back to the bathtub to yank endlessly on the Moen tool!

83. Chi-town Nessa said,

    November 12, 2007 at 5:50 pm

    Well, thanks to my renewed hope and endurance from all of the previous stories (as well as some help from a friend’s man muscles), I succeeded in yanking the darn outer chamber out of the valve. Moen needs to put some instructions like these on their website and stop pretending that the little plastic tool will do the trick.

    Thanks so much! I now have my life back (and the shower, too.)

84. Ken said,

    November 18, 2007 at 8:45 am

    Replaced one of these a few years ago and it went just as the Moen instructions indicate…simple and easy. When the one in the second shower started getting hard to adjust I figured it would be a piece of cake to replace it. WRONG! You know the rest of the story. Thank goodness I found your article before I did serious damage. I borrowed a 1/2″ tap from work and completed the job in minutes. If you live near San Antonio I’ve got a cold one in the frig for you.

85. Mike said,

    November 19, 2007 at 11:59 pm

    I ran into a similar problem this weekend. My 13 yr old Moen single handle shower cartridge broke at the shaft. The point where is broke was about 1/8 inch past the plastic casing on the inside of the cartridge. I tried the easy approach and just tried using a pliers to grab on to the plastic and pull. No luck. I could not get a good enough grip to pull it out.Then I ran across this post and got the idea.

    I picked up a #6-32 tap from Home Depot and used it put in a threaded hole in the shaft. Then I screwed in a machine screw into the new hole. I then was able to get a very good grip on the head of the screw with my pliers and pull. No luck. I wasn’t willing to give it full weight as I feared it would break loose and I’d fall back and crack my head on the tub.

    The solution was to used a piece of metal to go across the pipe opening where the cartridge was. I conveniently had a piece that alread had a hole large enough to let the machine screw pass through. I first threaded a nut onto the screw and then put a washer on after the nut. Then I put the screw through the hole in the metal spanning the pipe and screwed it into the cartridge’s shaft. So, I had, in order, cartridge, metal strip spanning the pipe opening, washer, nut. screw head. With that arangement I was able to wrench the nut down the screw shaft, using the metal strip and pipe end to leverage the cartrige out of the pipe. Worked very well!

    Thanks to the OP!

86. Steve J said,

    November 27, 2007 at 2:53 pm

    I used a combination of several suggestions. I was not able to get the cartridge to budge. The suggestion to remove the core was the key to getting the cartridge removed. Rather than tap out the sleeve and insert a machine bolt, I got a 70-cent lag bolt, 4″ x 1/2″, and inserted it enough to get the cartridge to twist inside the valve housing. I then removed the lag bolt and reinserted the core with the retaining ring as before. I used two small blade screwdrives to snap the ring into place. I took several washers and the bolt from the faucet handle and screwed them into place. I used a 2-ft 2×4 to support a claw hammer leveraged against the washers. It surprised me how easy the cartridge came free. I was relieved when the new cartridge slid easily into place. It’s amazing how easy it is to operate the new cartridge.

87. paul said,

    November 27, 2007 at 9:35 pm

    This help me a lot and worked great -however I did the whole 9 yards with the $20 puller and it pull out the I.D. stem only- I went to the junk box and found a 1/2 Allen Bolt(socket head bolt) about 6.0 inches long -I took my little die grinder and cut groves down the side to make it look like a tap. Than took a drill bit about .421 in dia ( a little less than a 1/2. and drilled the brass valve stem out - It would spin so I keep plug away at it for about 15 mintues ( drill in steps if you have to ) Note do not drill all the way thur -
    I screwed the bolt in and used a pry bar on the head of the bolt - It came out after a fight -Thanks Paul

88. Hank said,

    December 2, 2007 at 8:47 pm

    Excellent thread. The tool made by Moen was a waste. I had to buy a cheap tood and die kit at an auto parts store. After that it was a breeze. Thanks for all this info!

89. Jerome said,

    December 17, 2007 at 7:50 pm

    I bought my century-old home in part because I thought the new Moen faucets installed by the rehabber meant quality. I remember when a twentyfive cent washer fixed a faucet, w/o plumbers and special tools.

    Tell me, please, once again, what is so good about Moen and its $18 cartridges.

90. Craig Frazier said,

    December 28, 2007 at 4:59 pm

    Is this really necessary? I have 4 bathrooms; all with moen brass fixtures. House is circa 1977, but I live alone and use one bathroom. Turn off the water. Pop off the cap, unscrew the screw while in full open position. Lubricate with WD-40. Work it in !!! ( Some of mine wouldn’t even turn right or left; let alone pull on and push off so…………. Work it in !!!. Re-attach the head and screw to work it in. push in, pull out. Seem to work in better by removing cartridge retainer clip, but one wouldn’t budge. Waited an hour. Four bathrooms with sink and tub/showers. Well, three did and some were previously replaced. Fixed six brass units. Actual work time, 10 minutes per faucet, 20 minutes per shower (tile fixture; two screws really long. Cost? no new cartridges, no tap, no puller…. got a can of WD-40, screwdriver and slim blade to pop off the cap?

91. denny said,

    December 29, 2007 at 1:40 pm

    thank you for all the good advise. i used the long socket with the bolt through it method to extract my stuck old cartridge. came out without a hitch and installing the new brass version went fine. we’re back in business. thanks again.
    denny

92. Paul G said,

    January 5, 2008 at 7:33 pm

    The exact same circumstances presented themselves to me. An 18-year old Moen shower faucet that had weakened so badly that it was impossible to shut off the water. The handle kept popping back out. I went to a plumbing store 8 months ago and they sold me the exact replacement cartridge and housing for $25. The cartridge (stem) came out easily but the cartridge body wouldn’t budge so I inserted the new stem into the old cartridge body and the system worked fairly well until New Years eve when the stem popped out and the water wouldn’t shut off. I tried HOme Depot but they have nothing and their staff is clueless. I was extremely pleased with Lowes who had the entire stem and cartridge body AND the tool to extract the old cartridge body. That tool broke within 10 seconds of trying to use it. Then I read this blog and gathered together every tool that every contributor suggested. The #6 screw extractor was useless. The 1/2″ tap and corresponding 1/2″ X 5″ bolt worked PERFECTLY! Here are a few tips to others who may come across this story.
    A. To the person whose water pressure is not as strong as it once was following cartridge replacement - I am sorry but you need to take the cartridge body back out again and make certain that the two water supply holes that are drilled into the cartridge body are perfectly aligned with the water supply pipes coming into the valve body. I fear you have turned your new cartridge body just slightly enough to be blocking the water supply ports entering the valve body.
    B. To those of you who think you must go to bed with the water turned off - Buy a 1/2″ PVC on-off valve in your plumbing or sprinkler section of Lowes. Install it at the shower head. You can then use that valve to temporarily turn on and off the water while leaving your wall faucet in the always on position. It is a bit “Jed Clampet” but it works and prevents you from taking a day off work to fix the wall faucet or from keeping your water off and going to bed dirty.
    Many thanks to the original author and to all those who contributed to this blog. You people are absolutely wonderful and saved me a ton of grief and cash.

93. BZ said,

    January 5, 2008 at 11:19 pm

    I’ve already replaced three of the five Moen (Moan?) faucets in my house as I was sick of fighting the cartridge design. My latest adventure was with one of the showers, which would not shut off one morning before I had to leave for work. Unlike the other 5 or 7 times I’ve replaced the stinking cartridges, this time I couldn’t get the body out and only managed to rip out the stem, just as so many of the other contributors here have experienced. I installed a West Virgina shutoff in the outlet just to keep the house running like the previous poster, and took a cople of more shots at getting the body out over the last week with no sucess. I was just about to bite the bullet and cut a hole in the drywall on the backside to install a new American Standard unit when I found this site.

    I picked up a #6 extractor and while I was at the store I also snagged a 1/2″ inside pipe wrench, a hex ended steel tool with a round serrated steel shaft on the other end with a cam-like piece that drops out of the shaft that allows the tool to bite into the ID of a pipe, about $9 at Lowes. I tried the extractor and could not get it to bite into the body, but then with some fooling around I was able to get the inside pipe wrench to bite and a large wrench I was able to get the body to spin and then pull out. I had the tap and bolt as my third option, but I figured I’d use that as a last resort as once you cut the threads there’s not much chance to stuff the old stem back in.

    For those of you who have had enough of the Moen junk I highly recommend the American Standard line with the ceramic disk innards. I have three of them, all at least 10 years old, and have not had to touch any of them.

    Thanks to all of the contributors.

94. Ken Teixeira said,

    January 17, 2008 at 5:07 pm

    Thanks for the help! It made my life a lot easier, but hey, WHY IS EVERYBODY REPLACING THE CARTRIDGE? Unless you need to damage the cartridge body to get it out (bad water like the initial poster had), you can restore it as follows:

    - use a needle-nose pliers to remove the little C-clip that retains the
    plunger, and pull out the plunger

    - use some very fine emory cloth to clean up all surfaces.

    - If you happen to have one, a pistol cleaning rod with a 9mm or .38
    caliber brass bore brush will be useful for cleaning out the inside

    - replace any damaged or worn rubber O-rings (real cheap)

    - use plumbers waterproof lubricant on all the O-rings

    - make sure the plunger moves freely (but tightly) in and out and reinstall it.

    - reinstall the C-clip and reinstall the cartridge. Don’t forget to put in the cartridge retaining clip.

    That’s it. There’s no reason to pay Danco, Moen or anybody else unless your cartridge is toast.

    No need to pay Danco, Moen or anybody else for a new cartridge

95. rajalde said,

    January 22, 2008 at 1:24 am

    Just wanted to add my experiences so it would be known that it’s not always hard to get the cartridge out.

    I was lucky. I had the plastic cartridge (for Moen shower stall handle). I have hard water and had to use the plastic tool that came with the replacement cartridge. After taking apart the faucet and removing the clip inside, I put the plastic tool on and started working it right and left with a pair of pliers. It took a little patience, but once I was able to budge it, I continued to turn it - making a full rotation with it. Assured that I had broken the seal caused by the hard water build-up, I used the pliers and pulled on the stem. The old cartridge slid right out and I was able to easily replace it with the new cartridge. The faucet now works great and the annoying, constant drip is gone too.

    Before breaking the hard-water build-up seal, I tried pulling on the stem and it wouldn’t budge - breaking that seal is pretty important.

    My house was built in 1997, so if your home is 10 +/- years or newer, maybe you too have the plastic cartridge. I couldn’t tell whether I had the plastic or brass cartridge, though, until it came out.

    Good luck — and don’t be afraid to give it a try. You may be lucky too, and if not, there’s some great advice on this page.

96. Andrew Dinh said,

    January 26, 2008 at 8:03 pm

    Thanks. It works great. I spent $8.98 for one 1/2″ tap, $1.33 for 1/2″-4″ bolt at Lowe. One more note: After screwing the bolt in I’ve to keep on turning it really hard until the cartridge starts to move along.

97. Bill said,

    February 7, 2008 at 9:11 pm

    This method rocks. I was told at the store to replace the entire valve assembly because it was game over. I had to use some heat with a micro torch to help break it free. Once heated and this, it was game over for the cartridge.

98. Steve said,

    February 19, 2008 at 8:03 pm

    This was awesome. My cartridge stuck and was tough to pull out. Used some wd40 and left the screw in for leverage. Kept twisting and pulling. Eventually came out after about 5min of wd40 soaking. Not sure if that helped but it came out. Put in moen replacement (19.95) HD. Works great. NO Dripping.

99. Lee Rothrock said,

    February 25, 2008 at 2:28 pm

    I’ve had the new cartridge sitting on the bathroom counter for months. More than once I thought “I’ll do this TODAY” only to get to where I was afraid I’d break something and not be able to turn the water back on! Today was the day! I didn’t read all the comments so I don’t know if this is already covered : It was not easy to seat the new cartridge. To do so, I sawed the end off the white plastic tool so the handle spindle would fit through it. Then I used an appropriate sized socket against it to tap on with a hammer. Bingo! I just had my first HOT BATH since moving into this house five years ago!

100. Andy said,

     March 1, 2008 at 8:27 pm

     Had a stuck cartridge where the tabs ripped off so the inner ring wouldn’t provide any force to pull it out. Tapped it with 1/2″ tap and threaded a 1/2″ bolt in. Before screwing it in put a washer and a nut on the bolt so when you get it in far, tighten the nut to put some force on the cartridge. After a few spins back out the nut and then start rocking the bolt left to right while pulling. It should come right out.

     Great tip!

101. Me said,

     March 3, 2008 at 8:16 pm

     This blog is awesome. I bought the Danco wrench and all it succeeded in doing was break the tabs on the cartridge and the tabs on the wrench. With the tabs broken on the cartridge the stem just came out. I got a tap set and a lag bolt. I was afraid the lag bolt would chew things up since it would only go in at an angle so I used the tap to spin it loose and then stuck the bolt in. Then I just pulled with some vice grips and it came right on out.

102. Fausto M said,

     March 8, 2008 at 1:25 pm

     Great tip and it inspired me to search for a cheaper way. A split lag screw shield (the kind you use in concrete) 5/8th inch OD and a 3/8th x 5 inch inch lag screw works well to pull out the old cartridge for a total cost of about $2.50.

103. Dan F said,

     March 13, 2008 at 4:25 pm

     Before starting this job get a stem and Cartridge Puller from Wolverine Tools PST161. The 1/2 inch tap is only for last ditch effort, but i am sure the pst161 will free up most of the frozen cartridges. Off coarse with a 1/2 bolt that cartridge has got to give.

104. Jack W said,

     April 6, 2008 at 10:32 pm

     My solution was a bit different…
     I had figured to remove the clip first,
     and had then pulled the center shaft out.
     I used a vice grips to grab a teeny weeny bit of the protruding lip.
     If this failed some long hooky thing was next, like http://tinyurl.com/5tr3hf

     Wish Moen had some customer-friendly instructions. There are plenty of solutions and it does not have to be so hard.

105. David said,

     April 9, 2008 at 10:29 am

     My wife and I wish express our gratitude and add our thanks to those of many others who have benefited from the excellent account of the Moen Dialcet cartridge. Five years ago ,when we moved into a house built in 1938, we became acquainted with this device ,but not intimately until reading the article .
     We discovered that turning on the shower and off was difficult ,because it took near Herculean strength to move the plunger in and out of the cartridge. By taking body-building exercises and developing arm muscles like Arnold Schwarzeneger we were able to cope with it. However it was a bit irksome having to climb into the shower to help-out less muscular guests who, with our two visits, we were able to view in their unwashed state with our turn on-visit, and newly-showered at our turn off visit.! I do not have releases to show you their photos.
     We had explored the possibility of replacing it ourselves ,but although we have solved most of our plumbing problems, without taking out a loan and calling a plumber. Before reading your article , we decided that this project was probably too challenging.
     The word “plumber ”always brings to mind the joke about the brain surgeon and the plumber. The brain surgeon has a plumbing emergency and calls a plumber who takes a great deal of persuading to come to his home. He fixes the problem in short order, hands the surgeon a bill and holds out his hand for cash. The surgeon is astounded by the charge and says “My god ! I am a brain surgeon and I do not charge this much” The plumber replies “ Yes I know. I used to be a brain surgeon”
     Its no joke any more!
     Following our reading of the illustrated article, we removed the cartridge and replaced it with a new one. We were a bit doubtful about how to remove the retaining pin ,but an upward pull with a needle nosed pliers did the trick. Replacing it in the correct position took a bit of care.
     The replacement cartridge could not compare with the quality and beauty of the original, which, I am sure, will never be made again.I had hoped to free up the plunger but it remains imprisoned in the cartridge.

     Reading the comments in this blog provided more enjoyment than some of the books on The NY Time best seller list.

     Many many thanks.

     David .

     ,

106. Fred said,

     April 10, 2008 at 12:22 pm

     I started off with a stuck cartidge that’s been installed for at least 20 years if not 30. It would not budge. My repair took into account some of the above and the following saved a lot of time. Having a lot of minerals in the water, I sprayed CLR all around the end of the cartridge sticking out. I used a small brush to get the CLR over as much of the mineral deposits as possible. I did this several times and let it ‘cook’ for around 10 minutes. I then used the method above where you put a socket or some similar device over the valve end and a combination of washers and a nut on a 1 1/2 long 10-24 screw. I got it to move a little (about 1/8 inch) and then sprayed some more CLR and pushed the cartaridge back in. Then out again with the screw and nut method. (I used a 3/4 copper pipe nipple instead of a socket). It came out fairly easily from that point on. I had to use the nut to get it about half way out then the rest by pulling slowly. I used the 12gage copper brush method with CLR to clean the bore of the valve. Lubed up the cartridge and bingo . . .all done. Leak free and smooth as silk.

     I suggest trying this first. It only took 10 or 15 minutes to get the cartidge out.

     Thank you all very much for contributing to this subject.

107. venkat said,

     April 20, 2008 at 10:27 pm

     I am trying to repalce the spigot with the diverter ( after a week’s hurdle with repalcing the cartridege-MOEN) , since thw ater flow in the shower head is weak and most of the water still flows from the spigot.
     I unscrewed the hex screw and treid rotating the spigot coubter clockwise as instructed in the new part I bought. The spigor keeps rotating but does not seem to come out.
     What I am doing wrong- need this fixed by Tuesday (4.22/08) Please help.

108. Jerry S said,

     April 21, 2008 at 10:54 pm

     Terrific blog.

     My Moen shower leak meant “Saturday project” - as I’d never even replaced a faucet washer before. So I googled to find the right part (#1222, the $40 cartridge), turned off the water supply, disassembled the shower lever, discovered the tightly recessed hidden cotter pin (which was not even visible till I tightened the screws holding the chrome exterior collar to the faucet), then tried to deduce my way through using Moen’s somewhat poor line drawing instructions.

     The old cartridge had nearly disintegrated from years of use: the plastic was just starting to crumble around the edges, an O-ring had broken halfway from the cartridge, and one of the lateral rubber gaskets was pulling off and doubling back. This greatly complicated removal (nothing’s more reluctant than a doubled up rubber gasket, expanding outward in the pipe to make a tight fit even tighter).

     I had read much of this blog beforehand so I had my screw extractor set ready, but I discovered I could improvise my own patented “Jaws of Life” method: using a vice-grip, I grasped the center brass cylinder, and then I leveraged the vice-grip handle forward, away from me, playing it against the chrome collar of the shower handle (and against my soon-to-be-mangled mallet handle, as a brace). This leverage action allowed me to PUSH (rather than pull) which worked to my advantage to extract the ancient, decrepit cartridge. For an hour of relentless tugging. It worked.

     Midway through: the brass core broke off. By sheer luck I had exposed enough of the cartridge base by this point to grasp the exterior of the cartridge and continue prying.

     At last, cartridge extracted, I examined the open pipe, removed all remnants of broken o-ring and gasket, inserted the replacement, tapped it into place - but now the cotter pin could not be reinserted until I worked and pounded it into place (a 1 hour task, just for the cotter). Once cotter was inserted, it would not sit flush (which is mandatatory, it must sit flush so you can then install the thin chrome cylinder housing). Persisting, I reshaped the cotter ends to bend inside the interior pipe, brute forced it into place, reassembled the rest, crossed my fingers, turned on the water supply, and - HEAVEN!

     Wow, a new #1222 slides like butter. I had no idea what I have been missing. I’m amazed the old one lasted this long since it was half decomposed.

109. David B said,

     May 4, 2008 at 12:04 pm

     Thank you for the suggestion, less then $ 5.00 in parts and 3 hours of fustration saved ! I had a replacement cratridge in my shower and when I broke the seal and started to pull the old cartridge out, it split in half.
     I went to Lowes,
     bought;
     1/2×3 bolt
     2 inch Washer
     dug a piece of PVC out of the garage (1 1/2 inch).. and Poof instant cartridge puller!

110. greg said,

     May 21, 2008 at 9:41 am

     This blog has been very informative and helpful with detailed and accurate info. I encountered the same issues as the previous contributors from the wrong cartridge to the
     incorrect removal procedure.
     Another trip to Home Depot rendered the Danco 88675 replacement cartridge and the T161 removal tool. The tool barrel was narrower in diameter than the valve body. This required a simple shim which a wide washer to the tips of a vise grip. It is the same principle
     as a cork screw. I t works well and the removal is 90 percent of the job. 13$ well spent.
     Smooth action, no drip no problem.

111. Stan said,

     July 8, 2008 at 9:03 am

     I’m trying to find the replacement cartridge for a Moen (so I’m told) single stem system. The one I removed is brass, approximately 5″ long with plastic on either end. It has a C clip approximately half way down the cartridge. To adjust the water, it is a “turn-style”, that is I rotate the selector to the left for hot , right for cold. The center knob rotates ccw/cw to turn the water on and off. I hope this is enough info to get some help.

     Thx Stan

112. Howard said,

     July 13, 2008 at 3:06 pm

     Of all the sites about “fixing” a moen bath fixture, this is the best. I was able to use a spark plug socket, molly bolt screw, nuts and a washer to leverage the cartridge loose in a fashion similar to what you described. My plunger remained inside the unit (plastic) that is only 2 years old, but would not budge. The plastic ones DO get stuck! Thanks!

113. Jeff said,

     July 23, 2008 at 9:57 am

     So grateful, am currently half-way done and thought I’d stop to recheck the instructions. Am crossing my fingers I can finish the job:)

     Jeff

114. Tony said,

     August 11, 2008 at 5:46 pm

     I like to think that I know why these stick, use a little CLR and wait a few minutes. I have had the 1225 stick, I just rotate the cart.

     I am lucky to have a background with auto repair. It really helps to do mindless plumbing work. Not to down the guys here in the forum, just that those “pros” charge way too much for a job that takes no real skill. But charge like a surgeon. I heard one plumber replaced the hole faucet assembly behind the wall.

     Also, if the inner body is corroded, I like to use a brake hone to clean it out.

     I’d like to find the parts to replace the rings on the inner stem. Maybe a hydraulic store. Anyone have any clues? Tony@hell.biz

115. Tony said,

     August 11, 2008 at 6:03 pm

     You can also use a round file or large screw as an extractor. This is for other projects. And for the best hint of all. If a bolt head breaks off in your engine, just wire weld a nut to the stud from the inside and turn the stud out. Takes less than 5 minutes.

116. joe d said,

     August 11, 2008 at 7:08 pm

     Apparently others list the tap as a core extractor!
     http://www.homefixitparts.com/showparts.php?dept=Plumbing&cat=Tools&subcat=Moen%20Cartridge%20Puller

117. Caroline said,

     August 24, 2008 at 9:55 am

     Question: So, I am being told that I need a valve replacement for $1000.00. I had 2 plumbers come out, and they were unable to take the cartridge out. There is a metal part in the cartridge, do you think that I can use the above techniques and take out the cartridge. I feel that I am being taken advantage of by the price…. as I can see in this post others were going to be charged a lot less. I do live near San Francisco, and our labor rates here are higher then those elsewhere in the states, but, still, I feel that I am being taken advantage of. Anyone with info, please let me know. Thank you

118. Randy T said,

     August 24, 2008 at 10:43 pm

     That was such a great idea. I had already bought the extractor that was a waste but it did come in handy. I pulled one out with it. The next one broke the ears off like was mentioned above. So I had to try what I read here and to my suprise it worked great. I pulled three out on a Sunday afternoon.One shower and two sinks. Two I used the method with the tap. I found a tap set I have not touched in over twenty years. I followed the directions exactly but I did use the roud part of the extractor as a cylinder to pull the inner cartrige out. After tapping the cartrige I placed the extractor cylinder over the faucet head and put a warsher on the bolt. Ran the bolt into the cylinder and into the cartrige. I got a ratchet and socket, started tighten and I could not belive how easy it came out. I was amazed. Only one mishap. I turned the water back on and I noticed I installed it in the wrong driection so I pulled the clip to turn it 180° and boom water everywhere. So just a reminder don’t do that. But that idea about the tap was from a genius. I have had this same problem before but this is the only way to go. Thanks!!

119. Bob N said,

     August 26, 2008 at 6:08 pm

     THe tap tool idea was brillant! THe clerk at home depot told me it just slides right out. I took the cylinder back with the bolt still in and asked him again about it “just slidding out”. I also used a slide hammer with a hook around the bolt since just pulling wasn’t enough. Installation was one minute. Great Idea
     Thanks,

120. atish said,

     August 28, 2008 at 5:58 pm

     After removing the lock, I opened tha main water valve and the water pressure pushed the cartridge of the shower faucet out.

     I got the free cartridge from meon) as it is a new house

121. doug w said,

     August 28, 2008 at 10:43 pm

     I plan to try the tap and bolt method in the morning. Great solution I hope. I just wonder if anyone else has this problem: It seems the only people who break my plumbing fixtures are members of my wife’s family.

122. doug w said,

     August 29, 2008 at 1:00 pm

     It worked!

123. peter cellarius said,

     August 29, 2008 at 4:24 pm

     Once again - it works! I actually called Moen, told them what I was doing, and they said “Oh yes, that’s exactly what we recommend.”

     BTW - go with the 1225 - the plastic version - not the old 1200 - Moen no longer recommends replacing with a brass version since 1985 -

124. mumu said,

     September 7, 2008 at 3:34 pm

     I have a 20+ year old MOEN single handle kitchen faucet. It was leaking badly, and I couldn’t get the valve out for replacement.
     After using a vise grip on the valve I squirted some WD-40 into the cylinder and worked the control vavlve up and down a few times. After a few more squirts and valve working I gave it a tug.
     It slipped right out!
     The new one went in and was closed up in 3 minutes!

     Leak free water restored and no aggravating trips to HD, Lowe’s or any hardware store, and no money spent on one-time use tools.

     Give it a try. Just work that lube in!

125. 12yrOldMoenMoan said,

     September 18, 2008 at 3:18 pm

     I have a problem that just may be unique. At first I bought tools to fix the problem you guys have had (not the tap, because I realize my problem’s different).
     No, I don’t have the “slide up and down within a cartridge” type like you have: mine just turns steadily and decreases pressure with that turn (i.e. one-handle, one motion).
     And yet I have the problem of loose rubber gaskets (ones I imagine that looks like a police shields) on the sides of the plastic, stopping the cartridge from coming out. I made a puller-it comes out to some extent, then stops, and when I let go, some of it is sucked bask in (no doubt due to “rolling action” of the gasket.
     Any ideas as to lube and pulling action, or am I doing something wrong (BTW, I can only twist the ears to about 90 degrees left or right. Then something (the rubber?) stops it.)

126. JLS extractor said,

     September 19, 2008 at 12:20 am

     We finally did it. Designed and patented a tool to remove all Moen cartridges, some Delta and Kohler. Looking for a distributor. Even if the screw is broken off, the stem is pulled out from the outer barrell, you name it, it will fix it.
     No need to replace the faucet, or open up the wall, or remove tiles.

     Need distributors. Patented item.
     Call for information. JLS Extractor 1-800-810-8920. or 1-608-322-6988
     We rent our tools for $35.00.
     Designed by a plumber with over 60yrs. in the business, and field tested by others.
     Brochures and instructions available. CALL NOW.

127. Paul Byer said,

     September 22, 2008 at 3:53 pm

     After wasting a day with the problem of the stem coming out of the cartridge which was about 40 years old, and the old cartridge not coming out, I was getting pretty frustrated. I broke the brass ears off in my attempts and was considering a plumber when I checked on the internet and came upon this site. It started me thinking and I ended up getting a 5/8″ lag bolt lead anchor and a 3″ 5/8 bolt. The anchor fit the cartridge perfectly and threading the bolt into it tightened it in. I then took the vice grips to the anchor and voila, 10 seconds later had the cartridge out. Easier, faster and cheaper than a tap and puller. Thanks to this website. Saved me a lot more aggravation and expense.

128. sheri said,

     October 1, 2008 at 5:37 pm

     Has anyone else had a problem putting the new cartridge in?After the usual struggle to get the old one out, I find that the new one has a copper u~shaped pin which prevents it from sliding in….

129. reuben said,

     October 8, 2008 at 9:06 pm

     Ugh. I just replaced one of these on a 1981-vintage tub-shower. It came out fine, fortunately, but did it ever require pulling. Fortunately, I didn’t remove the shaft from the cartridge. I only even attempted this after a maintenance man at work replaced a completely seized Moen cart from 1972… no movement or water there…that sink hadn’t been used in years and froze under the hard water. Mine was uneventful, but a pain nonetheless. The new one is quite nice, though. The old all-metal carts look a bit more respectable, but they were always sticky, and man can that brass bind.

130. Carl said,

     November 1, 2008 at 5:28 pm

     Read your article before starting on a 1960’s faucet that was leaking. The advise worked great. Add a nut, washer and a wrench sized 9/16 (14mm) to 5/8 (16mm). Break the cartridge loose with the tap and bolt thing Then use the nut and washer on the bolt to work as a puller. Place the wrench between the washer and body, being careful to align so the tangs will go in the open space. Tighten the nut down and pull the cartridge out without having to beat, bang or pry.
     Once the cartridge is out, use a wheel cylinder hone. can be purchased from an auto parts store, to clean the bore. As a previous poster said, lube the new cartridge heavily with silicone grease. Or while you’re at the auto parts store pick up a single use packet of brake caliper grease, My experience shows it lasts longer, has a higher temperature and water resistance then silicone grease.

131. Plumbing newbie said,

     November 16, 2008 at 9:59 pm

     Many thanks to all you guys! This is my first time fixing a leaking faucet!!
     I was naive enough to believe the “animated” instructions that the cartridge can be removed easily. But it doesn’t!! So I googled for help and found this thread. From here I know that I have a plastic cartridge so I went to Home Depot (Toronto) and got a 1225 replacement. I put the plastic white cap on the stem and turned it carefully because you guys said it may break. It was quite tight so I put in some MD40. Jiggled it several times in both directions and it finally turns! After turning it several times and fought for around 10 min the whole thing came out! Put the new cartridge in and all the parts back. The faucet now works perfectly. What an achievement!! I love you guys

132. Fauster said,

     November 17, 2008 at 8:24 pm

     My shower faucet was slowly losing the ability to blend in hot water, causing a less-than-acceptable shower experience. The root cause was most likely a clogged or damaged cartridge.

     Even with several applications of penetrating fluid, the outer portion of the cartridge wouldn’t budge on my 28-year old faucet. So off to the hardware store I went for a 1/2″ - 20 tap and a matching bolt.

     The tap threaded easily into the brass cartridge. I added a large washer onto the head of the bolt and it provided just enough bearing surface to break the cartridge loose as the bolt bottomed out. Old cartridge out, new cartridge in. And we now have hot showers again!

133. Jason said,

     November 18, 2008 at 12:51 pm

     Just want to add my thanks! A screw extractor, size 6, worked for me. New cartridge installation was easy after that.

     Thanks

134. Rich G. said,

     November 23, 2008 at 9:19 pm

     Great help. I used a #5 extractor and it worked like a charm

135. Doug L said,

     December 6, 2008 at 9:50 pm

     1/2″ tap and bolt worked perfectly……………THANK YOU!

136. Dave F said,

     December 10, 2008 at 7:31 pm

     ***Thank you for posting this!!***

     Worked incredibly well using the 1/2″ tap and bolt in combination with some washers. I just turned the spanner and after some creaking and groaning (from the pipe and from me), the prehistoric cartridge yielded and slid out.

137. KRC said,

     January 25, 2009 at 6:33 pm

     I had a similar experience today, although by the time I found this post, I had already pulled out the core, broken off the ears, and got one of those tools with the spring-loaded pin that locks into one of the holes in the cartridge frame stuck in my faucet. It was the kind where the puller screws onto the piece with the locking pin. Anyway, the plumber was en route when I hit upon the idea of using a piece of wood as leverage. I drilled a hole through a bit of 1×3 scrap, put the hole around the stuck part with the threads, and screwed the puller on the backside. Initially I got it loose by cranking on the puller with a wrench, but then was able to use the leverage of the wood to work it completely out before the plumber arrived.

138. Gary said,

     February 21, 2009 at 3:45 pm

     This is the same problem that I hit. Glad to find a solution - I started to fix this leak on Saturday and plumbers cost more on the weekend if you screw up big time.

139. Steve said,

     May 21, 2009 at 9:16 am

     Thanks, I was having a terrible time. What I happened to have was an
     Easy Out used to take out frozen bolts and it worked great!!

140. Thomas Grigal said,

     May 30, 2009 at 7:28 pm

     YOU ARE THE MAN!!! This saved my entire day and gave me the peace of mind for my first rental unit not to have a leaky faucet. Can’t thank you enough!!!!

141. sinker said,

     June 5, 2009 at 6:32 pm

     MAny thanks to this posting, it saved my butt. IF I ever find the Moen people responsible for designing these cartridges they will pay dearly.

142. rotha said,

     June 11, 2009 at 1:06 pm

     I had used the cartridge puller he has shown above and it took some time but worked great. My Condo is a little over 30 years old and the cartridge is about the same. I would recommend the puller to anyone, just need to know how to use it. P.S. Ace hardware will let you borrow their puller (same kind) if you buy the cartridge from them.

143. Mark from Morris, IL said,

     June 14, 2009 at 6:27 am

     Thanks. The 1/2″ tap, 1/2″ bolt, and 3/4″ washer worked for me too. After tightening down the bolt quite a bit, I heard a “snap” that sounded like something broke. Luckily it was only the hard water deposits giving way.

144. Mitch in Homer NY said,

     June 16, 2009 at 8:50 pm

     Many, Many Thanks…

     the 1/2″ Tap did the trick… here’s what I had:
     - the core pulled out of the cartridge
     - one tab broke off the cartridge but with lots of lots of CLR and WD40 it freed up and would spin)
     - the o-ring, on the outer part of the cartridge had rolled or split and would not pull out… the o-ring jams between the brass body and cartridge
     - the pull out “hook” tool (home made) could not overcome the o-ring jam ( I tried for hours).

     TAPPING the Threads into the Cartridge:
     I had to hold one tab on the cartridge tight against the brass lip on the faucet body with needle nose while I tried to drive the 1/2″ tap into the smaller bore of the cartridge. It took about 15 minutes to slowly work the tap in all the way (maybe 3 turns?). Then I backed out the tap… removed needle nose. [remember to turn the tap 1/4 turn back, for each 1/2 turn forward … this clears the metal particles from the tap and makes the next 1/2 turn forward go smoother].

     Next, I assembled a 1/2″ x 4″ threaded rod, so it had threads all the way to the two jam nuts on one end)… If you use a bolt, get one with threads all the way up to the head. you may find it hard to find - so try a carriage bolt and spin a nut all the way up to the head …. continue:

     next on the bolt goes a 1/2 nut (this is the “jacking nut”) and a flat washer so the jacking nut can spin easily against the next piece, a 1/2 drive socket (7/8″ ) with the square hole toward the washer and jam nuts ( bolt head ).
     The open end of the socket faces the brass body of faucet and rests on the round brass lip… having the same inside diameter. This allows a space for the cartridge to be pulled into ( a cavity). Thread the bolt into the tapped cartridge and snug it up so the 7/8″ socket is aligned with and resting against the brass body. If the cartridge spins like mine, the threaded rod is GREAT. You can just work with the 1/2″ rod and use needle nose (or similar) to stop the stupid cartridge from spinning, to get the rod threaded into the tapped threads in the cartridge… then, slip on the socket, washer and nuts.

     Now snug it up tighter. Check socket alignment. Then begin turning the jacking nut ( the “extra” nut) until it contacts the flat washer and 7/8″ socket. Now, as you continue to tighten the jacking nut, it will pull the 1/2 bolt (threaded rod) away from the faucet… and the cartridge will come along too. [You have to prevent the 1/2 rod from spinning while tightening the jacking nut. put a wrench on the bolt head.]

     Mine pulled out as smooth as butter … I couldn’t believe how easy this was compared to the tug of war I had with the hook / tool.

     After the cartridge slides out - I could see the ripped oring . The bore inside the faucet was pretty smooth but dirty .. Q-tips and CLR .. a little water, wd 40 on a tee shirt wrapped around the 3/8 wooden dowel I bought (but didn’t use).

     NOTE - if your cartridge is spinning freely like mine, the wooden dowel method won’t work. The tap will just spin the cartridge and never butt up against the inserted dowel.

     Replacement:
     I used some silicone o-ring lube ( 7 bucks at the swimming pool place - great stuff to have around)… and the new unit (Brass - stock Moen 1200) slid in almost all the way…. I had to use the little white “tool” that comes with the new unit to spin and push it home the last 3/8″. Then put in the clip. The rest was just the final assembly of external parts and handle.

     All done .. works fine ! WoW celebration time !!

     THANKS to all you folks…
     I struggled all night and finally gave up at midnight. I was sure I’d have to rip out the old faucet and the drywall, the plumbing… and what a mess.

     I bought the moen removal tool for 17.99 .. HEPs plumbing place
     the Tap (and drill bit) was 8.99 Valu home center
     Moen 1200 was 22 bucks - Lowes

     I hope this helps some body … the 1/2 Tap saved me BIG trouble

145. Paul said,

     June 26, 2009 at 7:33 pm

     Excellent write up! I found it and the comments here very helpful! got my problem fixed up right quick!

146. Fran said,

     July 16, 2009 at 3:58 pm

     OK, it is sort of depressing to see everyone here has had the same problem almost word for word as what I went through. Break the center, break the wings, etc… I am very glad I found this site though. I ran to the hardware store (True Value, have to give them a plus since they stayed open late) and picked up a #6 screw extractor. Got home and 10 minutes later the shower was fixed!!!!! Thank you very much for the help!

147. Jason said,

     August 10, 2009 at 2:01 pm

     Outstanding!

     I went with a 1/2 ” tap (bought a tap kit at harbor frieght, since the whole kit cost *less* than what lowes/HD charged for 1 tap, bought 1 $1.50 1/2″ x 12″ threaded rod, 1 3/4″ washer, 1 1/2″ washer, and 1 1/2″ nut. Oh, the tap I used is 1/2″-13 I guess that is for fine threads, so the nut and the threaded rod was also 1/2″-13

     After the tap (I would guess around 10 or so turns, maybe more–I forgot to count), screwed in the rod that had the washers & nut on it ([nut][1/2″washer][3/4″washer]==valve) then, once I screwed in the rod until it stopped, I then started to tigthten the nut, pushing the washer toward the valve, and after about 8 or so cranks, the thing started to come out.

     The rest was easy, clean out pipe with some CLR, let it sit for 15 mins, then rinse it out, and slide new cartridge in, and works great!

     Thanks again!

148. David said,

     August 20, 2009 at 5:17 pm

     Again, bravo on a clever way to extract the cartridge. I used the nut/washer configuation and viola, it popped out. Thanks all for your input.

149. Uncle Kenta said,

     August 29, 2009 at 11:32 pm

     Mine was a 40 year old Moen shower faucet. I went throught the same ordeal everyone else has. Yanked the inner cartridge stem out. Thought: “Oh Shizer!!” Broke the stupid plastic tool that comes with the Moen 1200 cartridge, and bent the tabs. Then I tried a Home Depot tooI (Brass Craft Stem and Cartridge Wrench for Moen Faucets model# T161) DO NOT USE THIS TOOL! HORRIBLE. It broke. Then the treads stripped trying to pull, so then I had to sheer off the spring knob to get it back out. If you get it stuck in there, you have to take vice grips to the bolt threads and turn like hell until the spring tab breaks off. Arrrgh! Otherwise you are SOL because the tool is stuck in the cartridge.

     At this point, since I had nothing to lose, I tried the tap it and turn the bolt method until 1) the cartridge starts turning or 2) I torque the entire faucet and rip the pipes out of the wall. And so… IT WORKED!!! Except it didn’t start turning during the threading/tap part. After tapping the treads as far as it could go, about 3/4″ as described, the cartridge still hadn’t moved. So I screwed that bolt in and turned and turned like mad with a very long 19mm socket wrench. The stuck cartridge finally broke free. I had to keep turning it back and forth and pull very hard on the bolt to get the cartridge out. It was covered in corrosion.

     In summary, I tapped the cartridge, screwed a bolt in, then kept turning (tightening) with a giant socket wrench until the cartridge broke free. I used a 12mm/1.75 thread tap which I had already, and bought a matching bolt at Ace hardware.

     This saved me from calling a plumber on a saturday evening. Imagine: $$$!!!

     So THANK YOU for posting this idea!!! Fantastic!!!

150. UK said,

     September 27, 2009 at 11:18 pm

     After doing my own tap and turn removal, I had a friend go through the same problem. Thanks to this article I knew what to do. I made a video to document my friends removal and gave you credit and a link. Thanks again!!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CC_45AG63HE

151. Edmund gomez said,

     October 7, 2009 at 1:54 pm

     Our shower is producing cold water only but the rest of the house is normal. My Uncle came and take out the cartridge and cleaned it with solution. He put it back again and then it gave the other way, hot water only. He pulled it out again and put cartridge the other way or upside down if I’m not mistaken and then just cold water came out. He put it back the other way again and it’s hot water now. We dont know what model it is and what should I do? Will I call a plumber coz I cant find the right item in the internet because of no knowledge of the model. Please help me. Thank you.

152. BadgerDidItMyself said,

     October 10, 2009 at 2:15 pm

     You saved me many hours of figuring out how to solve this. Big Thanks

153. Rick F said,

     October 11, 2009 at 7:54 pm

     Hey, I just wanted to say thanks for the great tip to remove the core. I was in a similar position where the slide came out of the core and the plastic “tool” that came with new core was useless. I was scheming on how to get the core out when i came across your technique. The core tapped out easily and I threaded a large 1/2″ bolt in. Instead of just trying to pull the core out with brute force I used the bolt to twist the core which loosened it and I was able to pull it out without much effort. Any ways thanks again!

154. vivian said,

     October 27, 2009 at 2:27 pm

     Help! I’m a single female trying to get the job done! I can not get my moen shower handle off! It is old (about 15 years) and has a screw in the center. I removed the screw and thought the handle would pop right off so I could replace that shiny plate that lays on the shower wall. (the screw holes are eroded) Anyway, the lever didn’t pop off. I tried on of those handle puller thingys, but it still won’t come off. I can’t afford a plumber and am in between boyfriends. Help!

155. Kristen said,

     November 3, 2009 at 5:05 pm

     Oh my goodness… I don’t know if I am reading this to early and now feeling defeated because I do not know what a tap is……… I am trying to get my cartridge out. Soaking it with some wd 40 and now feeling it’s snuggle due to hard water build up too. I am using the plastic handle to pull and holding onto to the cartridge with pliers. I DO NOT want to snap off behind the wall. Keep your fingers crossed!

156. Ed said,

     November 13, 2009 at 1:50 am

     Man, your method worked great!! I thought i was going to have to call a plumber but then i saw that video on youtube, then read your site, so i tried it and it worked!! The stupid cartridge finally came out. Thanks Alot!!

157. Joe O. said,

     November 15, 2009 at 12:41 pm

     The info. above was very helpful, however I had a few variations to this plan when I did had to do it that save some money and headaches. The first helpful hint (After the locking ring is removed) would be to mix 1/2 vinegar and 1/2 water in a spray bottle and squirt as much as you can into as around the cartridge, this helps to loosen all the junk that’s holding it in (I did it after I pulled the plunger out, but if you did it before, it may a bunch of steps). I’m not sure how long this takes to work, but I let it sit overnight (You may want to disassemble the knob and sleeve and squirt the cartridge before damaging it by breaking out the plunger. That way, with the cartridge still in tacked you can turn your water back on until the next day. Once the plunger is broke your water needs to stay off until you’re done. The other variation to the helpful hints that are listed on this page is that you don’t need to use a tap to pre-thread the inside of the cartridge. All you need is a course thread 1/2 inch bolt and begin turning it clockwise with a socket or wrench. The treads will grab even without being the cartridge being tapped out and as you continue to turn the cartridge will break loose and come out. Hopefully these tips will help you get your stubborn cartridge out. Once the cartridge is out you need to use more of the water and vinegar and a toothbrush to scrub the inside of the pipe thoroughly before trying to put the new cartridge in. If you don’t do this there’s a good chance that water will leak out of the holes in the new plunger (This will also make trying to slide the new cartridge in a lot easier. Once the new cartridge is in, you can turn the water back on and see if you have any leaks (You don’t want to put the handle back together yet). If nothing leaks your next step is to turn the plunger (Starting with one of the plunger holes pointing up) approx. 90 degrees to the left and you should get hot water (It may take a minute to start warming up) or 90 degrees to the right should be cold. If these seem to be backwards all you have to do is turn the plunger so the other hole is starting pointing up, this should reverse the hot and cold functions. Once this is right, make sure that you put the locking ring on the new cartridge and reassemble the knob. I hope this help prevent some frustration for you. Good luck and God bless.

158. Jerry said,

     November 30, 2009 at 5:03 pm

     Ingenious way to pull a broken cartridge. My first Moen cartridge fell apart on me too.

     I bought the tool you show, read and FOLLOWED the instructions, and it worked like a charm. I’ve had the same one for ten years now, and have used it at least 100 times, and I have not pulled a cartridge apart since that first one.

     The clue that tells me you misused it is that the “ears” broke off. Can’t happen if you’re using it correctly.

159. sharon said,

     December 4, 2009 at 6:27 pm

     you saved my day !!! yes my tap was i think as old as yours and the cartridge was stuck solid in there also.But many thanks to you and the info it did not take long to get it loose and out, you are great!!!!!

160. Just turn water on tiny bit! said,

     December 9, 2009 at 5:46 pm

     Hey, I fixed a Moen kitchen faucet and when I couldn’t get the cartridge out, I turned the water on just a tiny bit. The thing shot out- no troubles.
     Keep a rag over and maybe a metal can, so you can control things.
     Just a slight slight bit of water pressure, and the weasel will pop right out.
     - lo-tech! —– Kristine in Chicago.

161. HankMurph said,

     December 15, 2009 at 12:19 am

     Moen 1220, probably about 35 years old. Any tips on how to get the horseshoe clip out? This has to come out before the rest of the cartridge. Currently I’m waiting a day to see if WD40 will help. Any other suggestions?

162. jim said,

     December 16, 2009 at 12:01 pm

     It took me 3 hours to get the old cartridge out of the pipe(its 10 years old).
     When the stem were the handle screws onto broke I did’nt know what to do
     so I tried to turn the plastic housing with the tool provided with the new cartridge, it did’nt budge.
     I then drilled little holes on the plastic body and ran 2 screws in the holes and tried to turn it with a screw driver, it broke the plastic in front of the cartridge so now I pulled the valve out of the cartridge body, now I had to get the plastic piece out. After about 20 minutes it was out. I cleaned out the hole with vinegar and a toothbrush and installed the new cartridge. AND THE NEW ONE LEAKS.
     I don’t know what else to do. any one with any ideas please help. THANKS

163. Anonymous said,

     December 17, 2009 at 12:36 pm

     I have 1222 cartridge. The plunger is broken. WHat can I do

164. jim said,

     December 17, 2009 at 7:25 pm

     Phone Moen and tell them the part is broken, they’ll send you a new one
     “no charge”

165. Anonymous said,

     December 18, 2009 at 10:20 am

     Jim, the problem is that it is stucked and can not be removed. Can I use the methed mentioned here. And what size of tap and bolt should be used? It is a plastic. Thanks.

166. jim said,

     December 18, 2009 at 12:56 pm

     Anonymous, mine was also stuck and the stem was broken off, I had nothing to grab onto to pull it out. So thats when I started to wonder what is next. And all this time the water is shut off.
     I drilled a 1/8 inch hole on the sides of the stem and put a screw on each side and pulled on the screws after about 20 min. that piece of plastic broke and came out, then the center of the cartridge (the brass plunger) was able to be pulled out. Then you have to pick at the plastic housing that the plunger sits in.
     This is what I did and it worked. And after I installed the new cartridge it leaked but I also got that to stop leaking. Now everything is right and my wife is happy and if she’s happy I’m happy. Good luck.

167. Anonymous said,

     December 18, 2009 at 7:44 pm

     Jim, I use a M10 bolt pulled the catridge out. Because 1222 is plastic, i even don’t need tap it first. Reinstall the new cartridge it easy. Thanks for your help.

168. jim said,

     December 19, 2009 at 7:44 am

     Glad it worked out for you, Happy holidays!!

169. Norman said,

     December 24, 2009 at 12:58 pm

     Thank you for sharing your idea. I was scared that after those ears broke and the stem came off, leaving the brass cartridge stuck. I was going to replace the whole housing ( which will be a lot of time and money till I came into your blog.

     Thanks a million…

170. Dennis said,

     December 28, 2009 at 6:45 am

     I went with the #6 screw extractor method and it worked like a charm. The back end of my brass cartridge was stuck way in there, but this method retrieved it. I was pulling my hair out until I found this site!

171. Richard said,

     December 28, 2009 at 7:40 pm

     Thanks for the tip it worked like a charm! Used a 2 1/2″ long bolt, not threaded all the way, and two washers. Cranked the bolt tight against the housing the cartridge came right out.

172. TCE said,

     January 9, 2010 at 3:04 pm

     Thanks for posting this. You saved us a great deal of frustration and what probably would have turned into several trips to Home Depot. Very much appreciated!

173. MC said,

     January 13, 2010 at 9:33 am

     I used the method from aj (july 18 2006) to remove my cartridge stem and body-it worked like a charm.Thank that smart father in law for me.

174. Zoe said,

     January 16, 2010 at 2:17 pm

     Hi,

     We have a desperate situation with a stuck Moen Dialcet tap control in Melbourne, Australia. There are no replacement cartridges available here!! Can you please advise where you can purchase parts for the Moen Dilacet in America? Our tap is approximately 30-40 years old.

     Someone please help:)

175. Mikemo said,

     January 17, 2010 at 6:39 am

     I always research before tackling a home improvement job. I was ready for a stuck valve! I had the tap, bolt, screw extractor, dowl, vice grips, vinegar, 2×4, pry bar, washers, etc. I put the little black plastic tool on the valve, pushed while turning, expecting nothing. The valve body turned! I moved it back and forth a few times, took my pliers and pulled the entire thing out intact. Wow, it usually happens the opposite of that, when you are prepared for an easy job and it turns into a nightmare. This blog was great reading anyway, and I will store this info for the future. Thanks.

176. cj said,

     January 17, 2010 at 11:08 am

     just a thought here. i have a new Moen valve in my hand. Was told to pull cartridge out before sweating into wall. Of course, it won’t come out AND IT’S BRAND NEW. THIS SHOULD BE A DEFECT OR A COMPLETE RECALL ….especially considering there are years and hundreds of people on this page alone who are experiencing the exact same problem. Unbelievable.

177. Frank said,

     January 24, 2010 at 5:08 pm

     Thank you very much for the tip. My cartridge was stuck because of age/ hard water, and your trick of tapping to 1/2″ worked perfectly. I used threaded rod and tightened a nut and washer against some wood blocks pressed against the housing so I wouldn’t strain the piping, and it worked like a charm. Thank you not only for the great idea, but also putting it out there for everyone to benefit.

178. MJ said,

     January 25, 2010 at 9:57 am

     I recently removed an old cartridge over this past weekend. This page was a great find. Being prepared to find a brass cartridge, I was surprised to find a plastic housed unit. Unfortunately, same exact problem, tabs/ears broke off using included tool, center came out, but housing remained. I could have chipped it out, but chose to use a 1/2 tap. Threaded a bit, tap ended up taking housing out without the need of my 1/2 bolt waiting in the wings.

     A footnote, not sure elsewhere, but in California due to recent laws you won’t be able to buy any of the brass(lead) housed units. I had the “fun” of finding one at my local Home Depot, only to get to checkout and be told I couldn’t buy it. Luckily, they had some plastic housed units in stock..Orchard Supply Hardware not expecting any replacements until March 2010.

179. Keith Troake said,

     January 29, 2010 at 4:49 pm

     Your blurb about replacing a moen cartridge was invaluable. I used the half inch tap and die and the bolt and it worked like a charm. Thank you so much!

180. Moe said,

     January 29, 2010 at 9:57 pm

     When are we all going to realize that Moen makes plastic junk cartridges and we stop installing their faucets and shower bodies. I have slowly replaced all my Moen plumbing equipment as they fail since 2 time consuming and frustrating experiences.

181. Steve Troake said,

     January 30, 2010 at 1:18 pm

     Okay… to begin, I cannot express enough my gratitude for this post - - which is worth it’s weight in moonrock! The system described here worked to perfection! Once the bolt is in place you can now break teh old cartridge free to spiral it out, pulling as your turn. Thank-you, thank-you, thankyou! Also saved me the time and expense of replacing the faucet! Well, everyone else has tried to improve upon prefection, so here’s my 2 cents… Before putting in the new cartidge, I tuirned on the water for literally 2 seconds to flush out the debris from cutting the threads with the tap (which could possibly damage the new cartridge). Other than that, I followed the instructions to the letter. Once again, I must say, THANK-YOU!!!

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