What is the trick?

Those nuts that connect a faucet shank to inside the tower...how in the hell do you tighten those? I have tons of tools and I can't find a wrench big enough to get around that nut, but still small enough to fit in the tower. It is pissing me off....what do you guys do?

You need a spanning wrench Dude! I recommend this one from Micromatic.

I use a sturdy pair of long needle nose. It's not ideal, but it works. They don't have to be super tight.

EdWort said:

You need a spanning wrench Dude! I recommend this one from Micromatic.

Click to expand...

Ahhh...yes. Wonder if they can get me one by Saturday. ????

Not a lot of room to move in there even with a faucet wrench. If you can picture this. Install the faucet on the shank so you can use the faucet as a lever. Get the nut on the back of the shank as tight as you can by hand. Turn the faucet, which will move the shank and nut as well, until the faucet wrench can be placed on the nut. Now turn the faucet CW to tighten, remove the wrench, turn the faucet back CCW to move the nut and allow you to get another bite with the wrench and repeat until tight.

I hope this makes sense. It is one of two ways that I discovered to get them tight without screaming at the top of my lungs. The other way that works if you can't get your hands on a faucet wrench right away is to, again, get the shank nuts as tight as you can by hand and then use a drift and a small hammer. Place the drift on one of the "flats" of the nut and gently hammer the drift to move the nut. With patience it works quite well.