Bathtub Drain Problems

The drain in my bathtub is leaking, so I tried to remove the drain in order to install a new gasket. When I tried to unscrew the drain the cross shaped piece in the bottom of the drain snapped. Now I have no clue how I am going to remove the broken drain. A trip to my local home improvement superstore yielded no help. If there is anyone out there who has had a similar problem, your advice would be much appreciated. Thanks.

-CTWW

CTWW, I had the exact same problem today...
check this post out from a previous thread.
good luck!
Reso

Terry said:

You can cut in a notch and use a chisel to tap it out counter clockwise.

Click to expand...

That is the method I would use, only I would make 2 cuts on opposite sides to give more possible angles to chisel it around. You need to be careful to avoid damaging the tub.

Brilliant!

That is pure genius! I'll give it a shot when I get home this evening. Thanks for the great info.

-CTWW

slot

You have to remove the entire groove all the way to the outside. A single cut on the opposite side will allow it to be collapsed inward to close up the slot and then the piece will almost pull out without rotating, or at least rotate with your fingers.

Well, I got the drain out last night using the method resojoe suggested and it worked, although it took a significant amount of effort. I love how the photo shows a nice clean work surface - kinda misleading. It probably doesn't help that it has been 95% humidity the past few days here in Southern New England. I ended up cutting my thumb, fouling the threads on the old drain, buying a new overflow assembly, and assembling-disassembling-reassembling a few times, but after 4 1/2 hours, my tub drain is leak free!

They don't call me the warrior for nothing.

-CTWW

Glad to hear of your success but sorry to hear of the injury incurred.
I hate to bleed!