🔧 Effortlessly Remove SharkBite Fittings with the SharkBite U711A Universal Disconnect Tongs: A Must-Have Push-to-Connect Fitting Removal Tool (1/2 Inch) Review

This tool appears to be well made. Second, it's Sharkbite. And Sharbite makes quality stuff. I had a very hard time removing a few fittings with them. It's like I'm pressing down on them hard, but they don't press down on the small ring for the fitting to disengage. Maybe it's just me, but I'm good enough at plumbing to say that changes need to be made to the design of this tripping pliers.

I needed a tool to replace the shark bite check valve. It worked fine with one exception. They need a lot of muscle to squeeze themselves tight enough to extricate themselves from a shark bite. I ended up using a wrench to hold it in place to remove the shark bite. A previous poster said he actually drilled holes in the tool and added a bolt and wing nut for extra grip. It was a great idea.

I tried it as soon as I got it, having tried the cheap plastic parts that sometimes come with fittings or can be bought as plumbing fittings. Plastic ones are garbage. I'm older and I don't have the strength in my hands that I once had. This tool works very well. Even if you run out of strength, you can attach a small C-clip to the handle to push down on the fitting and release it. Definitely five stars!

Removes and curves. I find it unfair to charge such a high price for a tool to sell your products. It's just not right. I have to use a vise to hold them in place because I don't have strong male hands lol. But it works better than the plasticky looking tool they sell you. It's ridiculous and I can push her to do anything, even a strong man in a hardware store could almost do it and it took forever.

I have used the orange SharkBite tool to remove plastic fittings with limited success. You have to be able to get a good grip on the faucet, which is tricky because I mostly use it in hard-to-reach places. This tool works when you can't reach the opposite end of the fitting. You simply slip the forked end over the end of the fitting and squeeze. I like. It takes up a little more room in my toolbox, but it's worth it.

Nowhere in the product description does it say (or even indicate) that this tool cannot be used on a 1/2 inch tee. You have to pay money and wait for delivery to find this surprise on the tiny print on the back of the package. Guess which fitting I need it for. I bet there is at least a 50% chance during the life of this tool that it will also need tees. If so, then you are SOL. With a leap of faith I gave it a second star because I'm just assuming it will work on non-tee connections.

One side of the tongs has a smaller diameter of 1.125 to fit 1" copper tubing, PEX tubing and PVC tubing. This is done so that the pliers can be used with a variety of fittings. The pliers can be bent slightly to adapt to the respective application. I found that the force required to remove an existing 3 year old fitting was greater than I could apply by hand. I was able to use a 3" clamp to apply the force required. This left my hands free to remove the fitting.

So I finally used mine to remove the old pipe which I was planning to replace with flexible XLPE pipe. Yes, the thing doesn't bend that easily, but that can be a good thing when it comes to quality. I saw reviews and how some modified theirs so I had pliers handy. I never needed them. I squeezed and the old pipe popped out easily. Was able to reuse this 3 way push to connect a splitter already in place. I actually had to replace a few pipes and this little tool made the job a lot easier and…