Tricks for removing old kitchen sink faucet?

[pasadena_commut]

The faucet on our kitchen sink is a single handle Delta. It looks like this:

The ball and seals have been replaced at least 6 times over the last 20 years and now there is something screwed up in the socket somehow so that it will only close with the handle at a slight angle up towards hot, even with all new parts. I would love to remove it and put in something better (and more reliable) but it is one of those situations where the back of the sink is only a couple of inches from the wall, so one must work in a deep narrow slot. Looking up (with a mirror and flashlight) the hoses on each side disappear into a mess of calcium deposits and corrosion. Ditto for the nuts which hold the faucet in place. I'm not at all sure that I can remove all of those pieces with a closet wrench and I sure don't want to try and fail, leaving an unusable sink. Pulling the whole sink isn't going to be easy either, as it is tiled in place.

I thought about using a sawz-all to cut the faucet off from the top (run the blade across underneath it) but it seems that is pretty much guaranteed to destroy the surface of the sink itself.

Is there some other trick for removing one of these things from the top?

 

[frodo]

they are removed from the bottom not the top. period

 

[Deerslayer]

I've removed a few of em from the top with a sawsall.
Remove handle and bonnet nut then pull spout straight up and you can expose more of it, sometimes you can holesaw chrome plate around anchor on left and sprayer on right, then holesaw around center. It can be done but it's last resort only.

 

[pasadena_commut]

they are removed from the bottom not the top. period

Let's assume that the bolts are corroded on and will not come off with a basin wrench alone. Let's further assume, for the sake of argument, that spraying them with penetrating oil is not enough for the basin wrench to work. How are the bolts to be removed?

The only thing that I could think of would be to get an 18" or 24" extender like these

http://www.harborfreight.com/3-pc-super-long-extension-set-67975.html

and try to take it off with a ratchet. But the bolts are so nasty looking I don't think the correct size socket is going to fit onto them, and the next size up might well round them off before they turn.

I'm less concerned about the hoses because I think they will probably fit up through the holes once the bolts are off, and if not, once the faucet is raised a few millimeters they could be hacksawed off.

 

[havasu]

Is that faucet connected to granite counter, an overmount stainless steel sink, porcelain, what? You may be able to use a sawzall and remove it from the top, but only as a last resort as it will probably cause damage that will be seen for life. If you are not up to it, I'd recommend getting either a plumber or a handyman in there and they will make fast work of the removal.

 

[frodo]

use a damn dremel, cut the bolts loose

or split the nut.i have even used a screwdriver and split the nut

a 3/8 ratchet with a 12'' extension on a deep well socket will twist the bolt off

if push comes to shove, pull the sink.

 

[SHR]

A tip for anyone else looking to repair rather than replace this type of faucet: Always use genuine Delta-brand parts. Never use generic, leaks may result.

 

[Deerslayer]

Let's assume that the bolts are corroded on and will not come off with a basin wrench alone. Let's further assume, for the sake of argument, that spraying them with penetrating oil is not enough for the basin wrench to work. How are the bolts to be removed?

The only thing that I could think of would be to get an 18" or 24" extender like these

http://www.harborfreight.com/3-pc-super-long-extension-set-67975.html

and try to take it off with a ratchet. But the bolts are so nasty looking I don't think the correct size socket is going to fit onto them, and the next size up might well round them off before they turn.

I'm less concerned about the hoses because I think they will probably fit up through the holes once the bolts are off, and if not, once the faucet is raised a few millimeters they could be hacksawed off.

If you can see and get to bolts then it's easy. Beat a socket on it put a long extension on it and as soon as you apply torque with a ratchet they usually break.

 

[pasadena_commut]

If you can see and get to bolts then it's easy. Beat a socket on it put a long extension on it and as soon as you apply torque with a ratchet they usually break.

Today I cleaned the bolts and nuts with a combination of green scrub pads, toothbrushes with vinegar, and a brass wire brush (tooth brush sized). Pretty much everything came off leaving almost clean threads and a visible nut which is pretty smooth. I think most of what I was seeing was lime deposits, with just a bit of color from corrosion of the nuts or bolts.

So maybe it will come off with a basin wrench now. More likely there is lime stuck up in the threads inside, gluing the nut in place.

I tried some sockets to see if any of them fit the nut. No luck. The bolt protrudes about 1 to 1 1/4" past the nut, so a deep socket is needed to reach the nut to screw it off. The smallest shower valve wrench in my set is 21/32" and that was too big - it spun freely around the nut without engaging it. I also have some deep metric sockets, and the largest of those was 13" mm, but either it was too small or the bolt hit the back of the socket. I just remembered that I have some metric impact wrench deep sockets. Perhaps one of those will fit?

Any idea what size the nut on a Delta kitchen faucet might be? I would rather buy the right size deep socket than have to cut off the bolt with a my generic piece of garbage Harbor Freight Dremel, which would let one of my existing sockets fit the nut.

 

[frodo]

i want to say 1 1/4'' but do not hold me to it

 

[Deerslayer]

i want to say 1 1/4'' but do not hold me to it

I'm thinking the model he has has a stud hanging down which usually requires a 9/16 iirc

 

[SHEPLMBR]

Keep trying until you find one that fits.

 

[pasadena_commut]

I'm thinking the model he has has a stud hanging down which usually requires a 9/16 iirc

It's like that on one side with the nut somewhere between 1/2" and 3/4" OD by feel. The side with the sprayer is completely different with a bigger flanged nut so that the spray hose can pass through. Like the part labeled 18 here:

https://www.plumbingsupply.com/deltakitchenfaucets.html

Any suggestions for a replacement faucet brand? Preferably a type which will not be phased by hard water and the occasional bit of grit. (The pipes are really old.) The Delta needed service at roughly 2 year intervals because either the rubber seals that push against the ball went or the ball itself broke (one had the rod snap off, two others developed holes). It would be nice to be able to put in new faucet and not have to mess with it for a long, long time.

One constraint is that we use a counter top water filter so we need to screw a valve like one of these on instead of the aerator

The filter doesn't have any valves itself to control the flow.