[dilohi]

Thanks for bearing with me. One thing you said made me wonder if I have miscommunicated along the way. I just want to make sure.
You said,
"Other than that, even if the packing was not even in the stem, it should not be leaking out the stem at all if you don't even have the water on."

The stems do not leak when the water is turned off. They leak when the water is running. This was the original problem that I was having with the cold water faucet that caused me to start this whole repair job.

Here is what I have been doing. Maybe it's some little quirky thing I am doing in the process of installing. Anyway, the water is shut off at the main. I take the stem and I turn the stem so that the back side of it is withdrawn fully into the body (I guess this would be the fully turned on position) so that I can get the stem threads to reach the receiving threads. The seat for the stem is set fairly deep into the wall. I hold the part of the stem where the handle screws in in order to reach the receiving piece inside the wall. Once I get the threads to catch, I take the stem removal tool and tighten the stem first by turning the tool with my hand and then slightly more with a wrench until it is just snug. I turn the handles to the WATER OFF position, and then I go and turn on the water main. I go back to the faucet and check the joints for leaks with the water OFF. Everything is always okay to this point. It is when I turn the faucets to WATER ON that the problem shows up. When the shower is running, water leaks from the front of the stems. If the handles were on the stems, it would appear that the water was coming from the handles. The leak stops when the water is turned OFF.

That is as much detail as I can think of. Did anything in there stand out as being faulty? Thanks again for bearing with me.