Danco 39616 3-Handle Tub/Shower Trim Kit for Central Brass, Chrome

Had old Central Brass stems, ( numbers stamped on shaft of stem was 1548CT including diverter valve stem, all stems measured 5 1/16 inch in length.) They have been in the bathroom since 1994 and were getting worn and rather than cleaning and replacing gaskets and washers and fixture handles, I took a chance on this Danco Tub/Shower Remodeling Kit # 39616. The new stems fit perfectly and work great. If you are unfamiliar with this type of work I recommend watching YouTube videos on how to do replace tub fixtures. Also, it is very important to check and make sure the parts are compatible with your old stems. Check pictures carefully and dimensions of the new stems as compared to yours. I researched online replacement stems for mine and found this kit should work.Some have complained of handles being hard to turn, this can be adjusted with compression nut again check on YouTube. Also some have said the handles come loose and this had happened on my original old unit, I just use Loctite Blue on the screw head threads that hold the handles in place and have not had problems, also make sure the compression nut is not too tight, this would make turning handle hard and cause screw to loosen. One last thing, be sure after removing old stems that the old plastic washer for them is not stuck in the area the valve stems go, this could cause issues. So, if these are the proper size stems for your old Central Brass stems, they should work fine if installed properly. Highly recommend this kit to help reduce repair cost !!!

This kit includes complete replacement parts for an existing Central Brass fixture. The internal assemblies were ready to install. The handles were the same as the originals. The item received was exactly what I inspected. Note: The optional chrome plated brass levers or cross handles would be better quality than the plated zinc handles in this kit, but they were not available. However, the kits with those handles (same internals) will cost a lot more if you can find them.

No idea how you would pick the right parts for older Central Brass showers. This only half worked - the handles more-or-less fit the old cores, which was good, because the new ones totally didn't fit the internals of our shower. The valve seats were way to small to work with our install, so the washers and the rest of the parts totally wouldn't work either. I mostly bought this for the shiny new handles, and I could just replace the washers and some packings and get things to work and look good again. But the handles have a bit of slop on the old parts - still works, but not like I expected.

The stems and seats threaded onto my existing plumbing with no problem, replacing Central Brass hardware. Solved my dripping faucet problem, and no other leaks have presented themselves. The only downside so far, as mentioned in other reviews, is that the handles have some play. The splines on the valve stems do not mate well with the handles. I even tried my old handles on the new stems - same amount of play. So it must be an issue with the machining on the stem splines. This results in the mounting screw slowly coming loose, which becomes annoying. For the price, it is about what I expected overall.

Easy to install, but expensive.