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I've spent all afternoon trying to uninstall this faucet, and I'm nearly done except for this last part. This widespread faucet has been a pain in the neck to remove. The spout and left side handle I was able to take out, but the same method isn't working for the right. enter image description here

The mounting "nut", if you can even call it that, will not budge. I've put on as much penetrating lubricant as I can, but to no avail. I don't even care about damaging the part itself because we're going to toss it in the end anyway. I'm not opposed to sawing anything off, but its so flush with the porcelain that I'm afraid of damaging it. enter image description here Here's what it looks like up top. As you can see, trying to loosen it from the top hasn't been very productive either. The wrench is more likely to just chip off more metal rather than actually free anything. I have a Dremel available, but I'm not even sure where I should cut that won't cause too much damage. The sink is on a pedestal and it's tight with the wall so my room to maneuver is very small. Any advice at all would be appreciated, because I'm about to take a sledgehammer to my entire bathroom.

Christiana Tushaj
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  • I would try to cut some slits in the top part of it, enough that you can push/squeeze/hammer it inwards into itself and it will fall through the bottom. I would use a small pistol-style hacksaw first. That'll probably do but if it gets tedious maybe switch to a power tool ... with care. – jay613 Apr 29 '23 at 20:15
  • What type of wrench are you using? It looks like maybe there are some flats on the sides, especially in the 2nd photo. Are you wrenching the metal part closest to the porcelain? – Armand Apr 29 '23 at 21:22
  • I've tried using a basin wrench and a crescent wrench on just about every part I could get a grip on. If I just try loosening it from the metal part closest to the porcelain it just spins in place. – Christiana Tushaj Apr 29 '23 at 21:32
  • @ChristianaTushaj To stop the spinning, use a second wrench (either below or on the central part on the same side) to hold it in place. Then you are using the two wrenches against each other to unscrew the nut from the main body. – Armand Apr 29 '23 at 22:10
  • There are basically two ways to install a faucet. From above with a large nut, or from underneath also with large nut. Yours looks like a from under the counter install. In most cases the faucet is inserted from above true the hole in counter/sink hole, and the tied down from under. What you are doing is disassembling the faucet it self. – asinine Apr 29 '23 at 20:22
  • You could try a hack saw to cut across the bottom of the flange on top of the sink. Or an angle grinder or Dremel tool to section pieces off the faucet above the sink, until the bottom can just drop out. – Huesmann May 02 '23 at 13:55

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In the scenario where I can't get the nuts to come off after 5 minutes of work, I typically use my angle grinder and chop it into pieces from above that fall through into the cabinet below.

That's a 10m job with an angle grinder tops.

You can spend a lot of time with penetrating oil and monkeying with nuts that are frozen solid on a faucet you are going to toss in the garbage anyway.

Helps to have a piece of sheet metal as a shield in case you slip and want to accidentally gouge your porcelain.

Fresh Codemonger
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