Disconnected, jiggly shower diverter valve stem

I am having a bit of a problem with the diverter valve on my shower. The valve is one of the three handle varieties. The issue is that I can't get the stem out.

It seemed like a pretty straight forward task. Remove handle, escutcheon, decorative cover. Use a plumbers socket set to get to the diverter assembly. Unscrew. Remove. Replace. Use plumbers grease on new parts.

Well, it all went well until the "remove" part. Everything is loose, but the stem itself will NOT come out of the housing. The nut (for lack of a better word, I am relatively new to these issues) is completely loose, and the stem is ALSO completely loose. But the stem just wants to spin freely, jiggle about and rotate all it wants--but NOT come out of the housing. I can wiggle it back and forth, but I cannot remove it.

Know this--I am quite tired and exhausted at this point (very, very long day). First thing in the morning I will be shining my brightest light into this murky little hole to see if I can line up the stem with any gearing inside the housing to see if I can get it out. Also, I recall my father telling me an old tale that if you count the number of rises on the gearing, and can tell what type of gearing it IS, on the stem where the handle connects you can identify the manufacturer of the hardware. I just might consider that as well...

Any ideas will be extremely helpful. Probably more cost effective too, as I am also considering chopping the whole thing off.

Tim

 

I think you mean threads, not gearing. IIRC on some of these, once the packing nut (what you loosened) is loose, you have to put some pretty strong pressure on pulling the stem (out of the valve body), then turn the stem some more for the lower threads to engage and pull the stem AND the packing out of the valve body. Even if that's not the issue, it's likely the packing around the stem is in very tight and not allowing the stem to come out.

 

Well, I guess I'll clamp on a pair of vice grips on the stem and give it the ol' college try!

Because at this point I have two options, one of them involves high explosives and the other requires a plumber...and I don;t want to call a plumber! Besides, what am i going to do...I am in the middle of a complete remodel of the bathroom.
What else am I going to do? Get a whole new valve assembly for the hot, cold & diverter....actually, that could be a viable third option...

Regardless, back to the task at hand.

Tim

 

Attached is a picture of the problem area. Packing nut removed. Brand is SAYCO.

 

Well, stem no longer stuck.
It broke off inside the steel assembly.