Need help removing drain in my old bathtub

Erin H
by Erin H
When i tried to remove the drain in my old yucky bathtub all the "cross hair things" in the inside broke out. Now I am unable to make the drain turn to unscrew it. And helpful ideas out there?
  2 answers
  • There is a tool that you can purchase just for doing this. If you have access to the bottom, which I hope you do if your doing this type of job to install perhaps a new drain? You can get channel lock pliers and work it loose from the bottom. If your simply removing the part you see to change it out. You can purchase such a tool. You need to go to a plumbing supply however for this. Its not something you will find at the big box stores. You could make your own with a flat metal bar that just fits into the hole from side to side If the cross is gone you would push this down further and turn with large pliers so the edges of the metal bar catches on the edge of what is left of the old cross bars. Sometimes you may get lucky other times you may need to replace the entire drain assembly as it will become damaged when taking this out.
  • Erin H Erin H on Jan 21, 2012
    Thank you for taking so much time and helping! The whole thing just ended up crumbling. Which made it pretty easy to take out. =) But I did end up needing to buy new parts - obviously!