I have this Moen faucet shown below that I am trying to repair. When I turned the handle body with a strap wrench, the the escutcheon below (gold colored ring) turned with it. I think there is a threaded connection between the handle body and the escutcheon. But it is so thin and it is impossible to hold it in place. I've seen suggestions of drilling a hole in the escutcheon so a screw driver can be used to hold it. Anyone knows a better way? Thank you for your help!

You either have a retainer clip that holds it or you should be able to unscrew a chrome nut that keeps the cartridge in place when under pressure. Are there slits (holes) through the brass body that a clip would insert into? It is difficult to see from your photo. But if it has retainer clips, MAKE SURE THE WATER IS OFF before you try to remove them. Pull the clip straight out from the side with a pair of channel locks. Be careful not to deform the clip so you can reuse it. If you must replace it take it with you to the hardware store so you can match it. There are several types of these clips. Good luck.

Thanks for the caution. I did remember to turn off the water. The cartridge is still good. There is no leak. It is the inner plastic piece that broke, as shown in the original picture, which holds the top portion of the handle to the chrome hub (or nut). That's why the left handle became separated from chrome hub. Moen is sending me the replacement parts, which should look this:



The challenge is to remove the chrome hub. When I turn it, the escutcheon underneath turns with it. The whole thing turns without becoming loose. On the right side, the situation is the same except the handle's top part is still attached. There are not clips I could see.

I think with newer Monticello models, the escutcheon is not attached to the handle hub via threads. The hub is screwed onto the stem. With my model, it is screwed onto the escutcheon and it is stuck.



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contact moen for free replacement parts.
get a hot and a cold cartridges as well as all the trim for above.
you may need a helper to hold back on the valve body below the sink.
i did one of these last summer but i don't remember 100%.
moen did change the design but sent everything needed.

brae09 (OR), many of these lavatory cabinets do not have adequate space for a Plumber to get his Basin Wrench in to position to unscrew or screw the connector tubing to the faucet. This is really poor design on the parts of the Manufacturers and a consequence of the designers not understanding the problem of access. This is one reason Plumbers are hired. Good luck.

Everything loosens and installs from the top. Do not worry if the brass trim spins with the handle hub. They are independent pieces held together most likely with putty. The link shows installation for this faucet. The Allen wrench is 7/32.Once you have the new handle adapters on tighten back down to the lavatory surface.

[www.moen.com]

I managed the fix. In case it helps anyone in the future, here are some things I figured out.

This was an older Monticello, apparently. The handle hub was screwed onto the base ring. The supply stem was held up by the base rings with a retainer clips that clipped onto the stems and fit inside the rings. In my case, the handle hub was stuck (hard) to the base ring. In order to loosen it, I had to first loosen the entire assembly by loosening the center screws. (First remove the sprout which exposes the screw that can be loosened with an allen wrench. With the assembly loose, I could lift it off the counter creating some space below the base ring. This allowed me to put a channel lock (or monkey wrench) on it and held it in place. I put a strap wrench on the handle hub. Even with another person's help, we still couldn't loosen the hub. This of course destroyed the base ring. Next, I applied some WD40 to the joint between the hub and the ring and waited for a day. That helped. We still needed to use a lot of force. But the hubs came off.

Luckily, Moen still had this kind of base rings and they sent me a couple. However, the original retainer clip would not fit into the new ring, because the new ring had a slightly smaller inner diameter. So I fashioned a clip with a copper wire. That did it. What an ordeal! If I didn't need to match the faucets in the same bathroom, I would have just get a new faucet.



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