Thanks guys for weighing in...long story short, a friend who runs a pool cleaning and repair service--but not close enough to me to do the work--had the tool and has allowed me to use it. Let me say, that in lieu of some other option I have yet to discover, this overpriced tool is the ONLY way to get these off. Yes, a 3" slip wrench would fit but you HAVE to have the offset that this tool has.

So after a long drive after work on Monday to get the tool from him, I thought I was on my way to having this fixed. BUT--Woke up Tuesday morning feeling sick and ended up leaving work early to go to doctor. Bad respiratory infection that knocked me down and out from work Wednesday and Thursday-so even with the tool, the repair had to wait until I was better.

So went to work on this first thing this morning and discovered there was no way to fix this lower bulkhead without draining all the sand and pea gravel. Reason is that to screw the internal fitting into the bulkhead, you have to expose the laterals and remove them from the PVC. OK, so I did the messy job of draining 275 lbs of pea gravel--able to capture and salvage most of it--and 650 lbs of sand. Got that done, ran to the home center for replacement sand, and ready to put this thing back together.

Bulkheads went on like a charm--glad I decided to replace with entire new bulkhead kit on both (bulkhead, oring, gasket, internal and external spacers, locknuts). Cost me an additional $50 over replacing one and just new gaskets for both but with this much work--basically dismantling entire filter components to fix this--just seemed like a no-brainer to make it all right. Plus the years of immersion in sand, chlorine, and water, the threads on the old locknuts and bulkhead were not in the best shape and tightening the locknuts was not smooth. Even inspected all other internal parts and cleaned the laterals thoroughly and made sure they were not cracked anywhere.

OK, ready to replace pea gravel and add new sand AND...UH-OH, the drain plug broke when putting it back on. Did not overtighten, in fact, got it 3/4 of the way on and it just seemed to be spinning when I realized that the threaded part had come apart. Of course, this happens at 7:05 pm, just after the only place that might have the part locally had closed. I hate doing business with Leslie's--overpriced, limited stock, and underknowledged--but I really hope they have this part because it will be the only place to get it tomorrow. If not, I guess it will be Monday before I can get it and Monday night before I can hopefully get this thing up and running again.

Send good thoughts my way--please!!!

It just makes me sick to see the water so green. Since I had the pool remodeled 8 years ago and stuck to Ben's advice on chlorination and testing, I have never added anything to the pool but water, tri-tabs, cal-hypo, and occasionally acid. Never any algae. Never any algaecide. I went ahead tonight and double shocked the green water, brushed it good, and stirred the water as best as I could. Hopefully, this will keep things from getting worse before I can get it fixed in next day or two. Hopefully I can keep from having to add any algaecide or drain the thing and refill. FINGERS CROSSED!!!

Sorry for the novel, but thought I would update the status. I figure I will write out a complete repair report and post it appropriately for those that may run into this problem in the future. Had I had it to do over, I would have not tried to do this without draining sand and gravel. Oh well, live and learn. But maybe I can help someone else avoid my pitfalls in the future.

For the record, despite this one beatdown, I love and hope to continue to love my Triton II 140 sand filter. I know many are partial to DE or cartridge, but for the cost and (usual) ease of use, I will continue to be a sand guy. Not a pro, just a shade tree fixer upper who refuses to not tackle most any home project.

Take care and thanks again for those that chimed in with help...have a great rest of your weekend...

Paul