Tub Drain

[RickW]

How does this bathtub drain come off? What kind of replacements do people use?

[1987Commodore]

Try sticking plier handles down it and unscrewing. You probably will need access to the bottom of the tub, either through an adjoining wall or through the belly wrap. I think there is a nut underneath, like a sink drain.

[Greg]

As long as you are this deep into the flooring project, why don't you just pull the tub and do the floor with no seam? The drain should have a nut on the bottom of the tub (most do). You may still need to gain access under your home to put it back together.

Greg

[HouseMedic]

If it is a standard drain assembly the top part will screw into the drain elbow / shoe. If cant get it with the pliers handles they make a tool for it that only cost about $8.
You can get an idea of the parts involved on this page.
http://www.plumbingsupply.com/drains.html (just scroll down the page)The strainer body screws into the elbow / shoe.

Ron

[HouseMedic]

RickW, I just seen your other post about the floor. I agree with Greg that you should just take out the tub and put down a good 3/4" flooring board in the whole room then replace the tub.

Ron

[JD]

I have run into drains like this that were so locked together that i couldn't unscrew the drain with pliers or the drain tool. In those cases, I would use a sawzall starting at the inside edge of the drain hole (the X part of the drain already ripped out by failing pliers) and carefully cutting into the edge, then directing the saw blade down into the hole. Don't cut the tub and you don't have to. i mostly just scar or cut a groove in the metal drain and don't even damage the threads of the drain elbow. There is enough wiggle room to cut from the inside edge down to the end of the threads on the drain. If you will need to move the drain location, then don't worry about saving the elbow. They are cheap. Then using a screwdriver and pliers, pry the threads away from the rest of the drain plumbing and this will loosen it up enough to pull out. If you don't cut into the threads of the ABS drain elbow, you will need to give the screw driver a tap to break though the side wall of the drain. I don't cut the top flat part of the drain at all so I won't scratch the tub. I have done this many times without a problem. Anymore, if the drain does not come out with the plier trick, I go to the sawzall. It takes me maybe 1-2 minutes to remove a stuck drain, once i put the saw to it. Much easier than it sounds.

[RickW]

JD,

Drain tool? Not sure what tool you are talking about. I went under the home today and wasn't sure exactly where the drain was till I saw a square piece of tin screwed under there. I unscrewed that and cut a slit in the home apron and water fell out. I was able to see the drain connections. It looks like a metal nut holds it in place against the bottom of the tub. What do you use to get that off if I don't go the sawzall route? The drain pipe is leaking so good thing we were changing the drain we wouldn't have known. Not totally sure if I trust myself to do the sawzall trick. TY though for the suggestion.

[HouseMedic]

RickW, The drain tools look like this and help hold the drain while you take the nut off the bottom. If you have a pair of pliers with skinny handles you can also just put the two ends of the handles down between the plus sign in the drain to hold it.
http://www.ronshomeandhardware.com/0602 ... 4AodLxQAXA

Ron

[RickW]

Thank you for the reply. I was just going to post that I looked at the above posted link and saw the drain tool. To get the nut off the bottom what do you suggest to use? A spanner wrench maybe? Not much room under there. Also, is the drain glued into the drain elbow or just screwed in. So sorry for all the stupid questions. Not too knowledgeable about this stuff.

[ponch37300]

To get the drain out of the tub you should be able to use a big channel lock pliers or similar.

My tub drain had a nut that attached the actual drain to the tub. So I could unscrew that and take the tub out. But the rest of the drain was glued together. I just cut it out with a sawzall(hacksaw will work if you have the room) and replaced with new. The ABS drain stuff is pretty cheap so I just cut and replace to make things easier for myself.

[JD]

You can also enlarge the hole in the floor under the tub, if needed. These holes are usually quite large, like 14"x14". If you don't have a sawzall, Stanley makes a folding sawzall blade holder/knife type thing. Works great on abs and it is cheap. All of the abs fittings, except the one the drain screws into are available threaded or slip/glued, so each abs drain assembly you run across can be different. If you are pulling the tub, just cutting the abs and pulling the tub with drain out, like Ponch mentioned, is the way to go. Plumbing parts themselves are relatively cheap. Plumbers are not.

[RickW]

Well I got under there and grabbed a good light and was able to see the drain much better. There wasn't a nut like I thought. All I had to do was unloosen the nut on the P-trap and then I was able to turn the entire drain. I bought a drain tool from harbor freight but still couldn't get the top drain out. So I used the sawzall trick and was able to get it out. I am so happy! Thank you everyone! Great bunch of people on this site! One other thing I have to mention. A mobile home guy was supposed to come over today and fix this, he didn't call me yesterday like he promised to set up a time. So I took a crack at it. He wanted to charge me $75.00 to $125.00 for this job. With the money I saved I went to harbor freight bought the drain tool for $4.99. Sawzall for $29.99 three day sale starting today normally $49.99 and blades for $9.99 normally $15.99. Plus when I go get the new parts I'm gonna buy a case of beer. I'm GLAD he didn't show up! Thank you again.

[JD]

Who knows, your plumber may have brought plenty of beer for both of you. You did great!

[RickW]

MH store doesn't sell this style of P-trap. Is this type still available?
The beveled edge is on the bottom and the threaded edge is glued to the drain pipe. If not I guess I'll have to do some cutting underneath. Was trying to avoid that cause there's two drain pipes next to each other.

[HouseMedic]

This is what you are looking for. I can't believe the MH store did not have them. They must not stock that much.
Mark has them here. http://www.mobilehomerepair.com/tubdrainkit.htm

Ron