[ddk632]

Yesterday's score:

Top bolt of diverter valve: 1,
Me: 0

Will get to that later.

So, all I was able to do was get 2 of the 3 bolts out from the diverter valve, and spent nearly an hour to no avail trying to get the top bolt out.

Man that thing is hard to get to! Well, it's actually not hard to reach, but it's hard to actually have enough leverage to turn it. Re-watched the DV+ video (posted above in #27), and will try using a standard closed wrench (do not have ratcheting wrenches) around my ball-ended 5mm allen key.

The leverage I tried yesterday was a small socket connected to a couple of socket extensions. Basically a long stick with a small object on it that can grab the long end of the allen key and add leverage to be able to turn/torque it. I think I did unseat it and turned it a hair, but not much. The closed wrench method should work better, as it's more direct.

First up was, identify the diverter valve. Attached photo has it circled, and also attached diagram - the DV is #9.

Then, getting to the first two bolts, was a little tricky, and having a long socket 5mm ball headed Allen (hex) key definitely helped. While I tried adding extensions to make it longer, that actually didn't work well. The reason is, the more extensions, the less force there is at the end.

Also, I think the tools I bought at Harbor Freight are crappy compared to my angled ball-head allen wrenches which I think are Craftsman, they just fit much better, and don't turn inside the bolt at all. The harbor freight one required a lot of push (force) to keep it as tight in the bolt as possible, or else, it would just turn inside the bolt and not turn the bolt. See photo where my hand is pushing the ratchet at the head, that's the reason for doing that.

So, one extension and the long allen did the trick for the first two bolts, while moving water pump out of the way to get at the bolts at a straight enough angle to be able to torque them enough and get them to turn. See photos for reference.

Then, patience is key as each ratchet stroke maximum was maybe 1/10th or less of a turn, so it's not a quick process.

Also attached, photo of the little wire clip that was on the DV, to remove it there's a tab at the top that you have to squeeze and the clip comes off easy. Photo attached has that circled as well.