I have a gear-driven control valve on my water softener. I am not
sure of the model but the only sticker on the valve (on the bottom of
the plate under the valves) says "brookfield, WI" along with the
patent information.

My problem is that the valve leaks where a vertical metal rod comes
out of a plastic 'volcano' shaped bushing. THe rod runs vertical and
attaches with a screw that runs through a 1/2" slot on it's triangular
metal plate (on the top of the rod) to the back of the large center
gear (On the front of this gear are the time labels to set the time of
day for regeneration).

Do I have to replace the entire control valve (it is only a year old)
or can it be fixed?