install gate valve

[wiredgeorge]

I was going to install a new gate valve on my black tank. The tank has a 3" pipe coming out directly at a 45 degree angle and then into the gate valve. Problem is, the mid-gray tank is only a few feet away and has a very similar position on the opposite side of the gate valve and is also a 3" pipe feeding it. There is NO give between. How would you create enough room to replace the gate valve? I think a tank will have to be moved but the black tank has the toilet plumbing which would limit how much it can move and the gray tank has a hard connection (1 1/2" line) from the galley gray tank.

[travelin texans]

You can replace the gate & seals without removing the valve bodies, there should be 4 bolts holding the gates sandwiched between the 2 halves of the valve body.

[chuckster57]

Are you changing the whole valve or just the seals? We have had to remove the 4 bolts on both tank valves to get enough play. Sometimes it takes two of us and we lay underneath and push with our legs.

[wiredgeorge]

I know how to change a gate valve... just not enough give to slide the old one out. I figured something like chuckster57 suggested would be needed. There is not even enough room to replace seals without loosening tanks I guess. This project can wait till a bigger dose of ambition strikes.