Tub Drain Extractor

Summary: The tool worked great as there were only two other options, spend several hours trying to cut it out or try another internal wrench at 4x the price (which had marginal reviews). If you don't get around to replacing these tub drains every few years (depending upon your water condition) before the center cross is gone, it's not a matter of 'if' but when you will need one of these tools to get the drain out. First a couple of comments about the tool itself: The one I received was "MADE IN USA". It also was stamped with "HUSKY" and is the same one I saw at HD but this was $5 less. The photo shows, it came packed in a 'Superior Tool' blister pack. There were some questions about the sizing of drains that this tool will fit. I took actual measurements at the largest and smallest diameter of the tool I received as shown in the photos. The tool will fit in a hole diameter of 1.5" to 1.75" and get a bite. If the hole diameter of the particular drain is outside of these limits, it will not work. Make sure when measuring the diameter of the drain to measure deep enough in the hole using a caliper, not just the top radius. As other positive reviews have posted, there is some technique that I will sum up here. I also suggest watching a few of the videos. 1) I didn't heat the drain prior to removing. I don't know if that would help or not. The drain was installed with a lot of plumbers putty coating the threads and flange. (see photo) It's been in for 15 years and pretty dried out. I should have replaced the drain a long time ago but I wasn't sure of what I was getting into. Rest assured, it is not too complicated. However, if you do not know what the drain pipe connectors below the tub are made out of, assume it is ABS plastic. Hence, watch out if you use a heat gun as you could melt the pipe that the drain is screwed into and you won't be able to get a new drain installed! Also, my tub is fiberglass and could be damaged by too much heat. 2) I used a file to clean up some of the loose corrosion so the tool would get a good bite on the drain. 3) "tap" means hit it pretty good (as if you were center punching steel but not driving nails) several (8-10) times until the tool is seated firmly and squarely the in the hole. You should be able to feel when the tool is seated firmly as the hammer will bounce differently when it is seated. If it pops out when turning to extract, just repeat tapping it in. I had to do this a couple of times until I seated it in firmly enough because I was a bit timid in the tapping. Just keep tapping until the hammer bounce is firm is the best way to describe this. When re-seating, twist until you feel it get into the grooves already started. 4) I used a 16" breaker bar to get the drain loosened a quarter turn, then switched to a standard ratchet handle. It took some effort to break it loose even with the breaker bar. 5) To remove the drain from the tool, I just held the drain with a big channel lock and reversed the ratchet. Didn't take much effort at all and it popped right off. Total time in the tub: about 5 minutes. If your drain is too far gone, this tool might not work and you might have to go an alternate method. But if there is still some metal left, it's probably worth it to try this first for $15. Watch the return policy because the seller might not take it back if the pack has been opened.

A quick tap with a rubber mallet was all it needed and I got it going with a ratchet and extension bar. I wanted to put some heat on it with my heat gun first, but I couldn't reach it to the tub so I just gave it a try. It did slip a few times, but it got a hold again without the need to tap again with rubber mallet. Like everyone else, it did the job it was intended for! I watched a few YouTube videos first just to be 100% sure and it is easy enough a baboon could do it, but I'm glad I went the "better safe than sorry" route because I would have just assumed the rubber gasket that came with the new one was all I needed. Plus, I'd have probably put it right on the backside of the new drain instead of between pipe and bottom of tub had I not seen the old one there. Lucky, the video showed the professional applying plumbers putty first and I made sure to do the same! After I tightened it with about 10lbs of torque, I cleaned up the mess with the corner of a credit card getting around the edge and a few hours later I gave it a bit more of a tightening probably stopping at 20lbs max of torque. I didn't want to crack or mess up the tub, pinch the rubber gasket or anything that the research warned me about. Cleaned up more of the putty mess that seeped up, and a few weeks later everything looks fantastic! No issues, looks like it should, no more putty appearing. It may cost a little for this tool, and I may have gotten away with using a dremel or other means of cutting and getting the old rusted drain out, but it was worth the cost for peace of mind. Insurance if you will. A little mistake could cost you big! I love saving money, but I also am lazy and I didn't want to gamble with accidentally cutting the drain pipe, or hitting the tub, or anything where I may have had to take everything out, buy replacement parts, etc. I understand if you are very careful, you may be able to save money by doing what, what not. I'm over 40 years old, and if I were to give examples of how often I've saved money by doing something other than the proper way vs. doing it the right way. The correct way wins. Creativity is great and all, and I enjoyed bragging rights as much as the next guy. Now, I'm an old goat and I just don't care much anymore. I have no problem with fixing things the easiest way possible with the right tools!

I’m going to write a quick review but focus on some tips since some people had questions or problems. This is a great solid tool made in the USA. Worked great but I understand that some people’s’ experiences were not good. The product itself is solid but situations can vary. A great tool to keep in your arsenal. Some tips: I suggest using a socket wrench and hooking in at the top as opposed to trying to wrench around it. If you wrench around you may experience spinning forever (more on that later) and the tool may inadvertently pop out and you’ll have to hammer it down again creating an unpleasant and frustrating experience. The directions say gently hammer it down but you can apply medium force without a problem. Don’t worry about apply a little more force to make sure the product stays down. Just don’t over due it like a mad man (or lady). I used a mallet to preserve the tool itself. I would suggest cleaning inside the drain plug and getting out any dirt debris etc so the tool can easier grip. Some people, including myself, experienced an issue with the plug spinning forever. No worries. I was originally using a wrench. Then I switched to a socket 1/2” driver and actually attached it to an impact drill (battery powered). I then hammered down the tool once more and connected the driver into the tool. During the first few seconds I pressed down with medium force while using the drill. This made the tool finally get a grip with the plug. After a few seconds I continued and slowly eased up on the pressure eventually not pushing down. At that moment the plug came out. Some people don’t have 1/2” drive socket. You can get these at your local hardware store for under $5. Get the one for an impact drill and use that. So much easier.

Quality rebranded husky brand steel tool. With a couple LIGHT taps with a hammer and slow steady crank of a 1/2 drive ratchet and a VERY corroded damaged 1.5in tub drain came out without issue. I did soak the drain in CLR a couple times a few days in advance to help out. Works out great and is about $7 cheaper than Home Depot. Don’t know when I will need to use it again. Cheaper than calling a plumber.

I first tried one of those drain removers with the fork on one end. Apparently, one of two things happen when you use one of those. Either the poor quality fork breaks or it tears out the cross pieces in your drain both making the tool useless. I was lucky and broke the cross pieces in the drain so I would still be able to use the fork tool to install the new drain – assuming I ever got the old drain out. Enter this guy. I tapped it in with a hammer and gave it a twist with my ratchet. It turned but slipped out. It took three or four tries for the tool to get a good grip due to the massive amounts of mineral deposits built up in the drain. Once much of that had been scraped away this tool gripped perfectly and the drain turned. Great! Uh oh…. Yeah, the drain is turning, but so is the pipe (the tailpiece) it’s connected to. Not so great. Now I have to go under the house and grab this pipe and secure it and then go back with this tool and try to remove the drain. I got my son to go under the house with a pipe wrench. He gripped that pipe, I tapped this tool into the drain and twisted. Uh oh! This small job just got bigger. The tool did a great job of grabbing the drain. The issue was that the drain has been in there corroding and rusting for thirty years. It didn’t break the drain loose from the tailpiece. It broke the tailpiece. That’s not the tools fault. It gripped as it was supposed to. I went and bought a new tailpiece and installed the new drain using that fork tool. So, after lightly tapping this tool into the drain with a hammer it did eventually grip and I was able to get the drain out. It did slip a few times due to the ten pounds of mineral deposits that had built up in the drain. (It was like that when I bought the house.) Once it scraped a bunch of those deposits away it gripped the drain well and you know the rest of the story. It works almost to well.

Plumber said he has to go through the back of the wall, where the tub is situated, to replace the entire drain assembly, since the tub drain crossbar had corroded away and fallen off. Quoted $1200 to replace both tubs drains. I showed him this tool and he dismissed it as not appropriate for my tub. He just wanted to do the work for the $1200, even when it isn't warranted. Glad I didn't listen to his opinion. This thing did the trick. Total time: about 10-minutes of work for both tubs. And the job was rather straightforward, considering how impossible I thought it would be to remove. What I found useful, especially on the tub drain that was in really bad shape, was to use 100-grit sandpaper to even out the top edge, where the tool would bite into. After the top-inside edge was even, but coarse, I hammered this tool into the tub drain, used my "Gorilla Automotive 1721" tire wrench (available on Amazon) that has a 1/2-inch socket head, pushed slightly down into the drain and SLOWLY started to crank the wrench (REMEMBER: right-tight-left-loose. That is: counter-clock-wise) FYI: 1) 1.5" Tub Drain designation: Most newer tub drains are 1.5" tub drains. This measurement is a bit misleading, as the opening is about 1.65" on top and about 1.75" outer dimension, when you take into account the outer threading of the tub drain. Both measurements were confirmed via a digital caliper. I thought my old tub drain wasn't a standard drain, but it is. The 1.5" is simply an approximate designation. 2) DO NOT USE THIS TOOL TO INSTALL YOUR NEW DRAIN!: Use a tub drain wrench and an adjustable wrench with at least a 1" opening. Search for "Superior Tool 06020 Tub Drain Wrench" on Amazon and you'll find the right tool. If you use this tub drain removal tool, you'll ruin the finish of your new tub drain, since it bites into the metal to gain traction. 3) Don't forget to use plumbers putty when reinstalling the new drain! Also, clean the area of all the old putty after removal of the current drain.

Worked well on an extremely corroded drain where the only other option was to cut it out. Hints on using it can be found on YouTube.

Be careful when using this tool on corroded tub drains. Normally when the tub drain is corroded it is fused with the pipe under the tub and can be twisted and broke off with this tool. You are better off using a reciprocating saw with a metal blade and cut the inside into segments and pry out with a sharp tip prying tool.

Superior Tool 05255 1.5" tub drain tool... I'd tried a few other tricks/tools to remove the tub drains -- ratchet socket wrapped in sticky tape, a couple of screwdrivers braced with crane neck pliers, a customized wood tool, drilling and hammering lightly, and using a hacksaw. Nothing worked. I wasted time driving around to stores, looking elsewhere online, and landed on Amazon to buy this one. Expensive part, but none of the other options, some more or less $$, were worthy. Even the plumbing store was selling some weird contraption at double the cost, which I was skeptical about the viability. Anyway, I wish I would have just bought this tool immediately before wasting 5 hours looking elsewhere. Yes, overpriced at 28 dollars, but sometimes the options are few and the results are fast. It worked nearly flawlessly. Slight slippage, but if you are careful in setting it with a light hammer tap, careful and holding it steady, and slowly turn (use a long bar), it will unwind the drain. I found that if the tool was slightly angled it was biting/gripping better. Be careful and slow, as you do not want to damage the plumbing. You may want to try heating the drain with a hair drier/heat gun, as some have suggested. UPDATE Mar 2024 - used this drain removal tool a second time. 30 yr drain this time, less concerned about ABS snapping, as there was crawl space access to pipes. Used heat gun on low to apply moderate heat, placed tool at angle, fought a bit to get the bite, slowly turned with breaker bar and extension. Job done. The teeth on the tool are wearing down and the bite is less.

Excelente! Gracias!

This tool is brilliant and removes wastes that do not have a crossmember inside. Many of the newer bath wastes in particular, some of the click clack type, do not have enough of a ridge inside to turn them out with mole grips, long nose pliers or other tools. You tap the tool into the waste lightly with a hammer and insert a 1/2inch ratchet into the slot at the top of the tool and turn anti-clockwise and it unscrews the waste with ease. The tool is not available in the UK but it's worth waiting for from America. Highly recommended.

todo bien, gracias

Looks like a lot of people have had success with this well made tool. There maybe a small percentage of old drains that the tool just slips and wont bite. Unfortunately mine is a very old drain and the tool won't grab where as the knurled bite of other removal tools like the rigid tool may have been a better choice for my drain but there is no way to tell in advance of buying one and trying it. As a last resort tactic I have been advised to use a Dremel tool to carefully cut a slot down the side my old tub drain. I still rate it a three since I am sure it will work well on the next drain. UPDATE UPDATE. My tub drain was probably the worst situation you could encounter. It was very old very corroded, the cross bars were completely gone and it turns out the original installer had used a sealant compound not conventional to plumbing and thus the threads were literally glued. I tried all the suggestions listed but the tool just spun in the drain and would not retain it's bite. A 20 inch flex bar in the hands of a gorilla would cause any tool to slip. Finally I used a heat gun followed by a cordless impact driver and finally a long flex bar with my wife standing atop it in the drain on an 8x8 scrap of 3/4 plywood and it finally gripped but remained a fight to the last thread. I doubt any other tool would have been useful in my case. This tool allows you to hammer it as much as you like then and utilize the flex bar for additional leverage, and you can use the impact driver with it and stand on it as well and after all that the tool still looks like new. I have upgraded my review of it to a 5 star. Thanks for everyone's suggestions.