I am trying to change the showerhead and discovered that the current showerhead has a ball tip not threads. I bought a new shower arm pipe with threads on both sides but can't get the old arm pipe out! Any tips or tricks for removing a pipe that is stuck? I can't seem to get a good grip with my regular wrench or strapwrench.

I use a 14" pipe wrench and a few well chosen cuss words. Since you're changing out the shower arm anyway don't worry about digging into the chrome with the wrench jaws. Regards, Tom

Soften it up a little with a hammer. Work you way around it hitting it as near as you can to the wall without marring the part of the wall that will show outside the little cover. Don't drive it against ceramic tile. Also apply a penetrating oil or other oil. Impact will help the oil wick into the joint. If it still doesn't yield, cut it off before the bend and hammer it directly toward the wall. You can heat it with a torch, and then quench it with cold water.

Hit it with a what?? Excuse me. Lets just take this a step at a time okay. If you have a trim plate carefully remove it. If it is caulked in place, take a razor knife and cut it away from the caulking then if it doesn’t pull away take a pair of tin snips and cut in half and get it out of your way. Now you can see where the arm goes into the female fitting, right? No? If the shower arm is buried in cement you will need to take a small chisel (about a standard flat screwdriver size) and chisel away about an 1/8th inch at a time. Easy does it especially if you have to remove a little tile. Don't go after any big chunks, just work your way around until you can see the connection? Okay now you can see the connection and you have it cleaned off. Now you can use some penetrating fluid to lubricate it. Easy now that stuff reeks. Get a few drops right where you need it and take a 10-minute break. Your home right? Browse the Internet. Whoops you spent 2 hours browsing, no problem it just keeps penetrating. Okay you put your channel locks or 14" pipe wrench on there, both at the same time on oposite sides of the arm are best because you wont be as likely to put pressure on the arm wrong. Okay it came right out right? No? You snapped it off at the threads? Oh no! Don't worry, but you will need to get a hold of an easy out and there is only one kind I suggest for this instance. It is called a 1/2" Internal Pipe Wrench.
It is easy to use and 100% effective in my experience. When you put your new shower arm in be sure to use teflon tape or pipe dope or both. Do not apply pipe dope to inside of fitting, only to the outside of the shower arm and do not get it inside of the arm. Other than that you should be good to go. Click back here if you have any questions. Oh by the way I tried to include a picture of the internal pipe wrench for your convienence. You can probably guess how it works by the picture. The more you turn the bolt on top the further the slots protrude, gripping the inside of the shower arm. Hopefully you won't even need it. Good luck. Darrel

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Thanks to the guy who provided the pointer to the 1/2" Internal pipe wrench easy-out. $8 at my local HW storage and along with a pipe wrench for leverage the broken off piece of pipe came out of the elbow joint just fine, rotating counter-clockwise to loosen. Counting the easy-out, shower arm and new shower head, I'm only out $30 instead of the $150-200 it would have cost me to have a plumber do this.

Now, I have to repair the wall when it dries out enough to do so.

Thanks,
Greg

I'm having a similar problem replacing a showerhead except I'm trying to get the balltip off. Try as I may, I cannot loosen the nut holding the balltip. Any suggestions for loosening that nut?

Hi golferrr and Welcome to The Plumbing Page. At AskMeHelpDesk.com. You're responding to a 7 year old dead thread so I gave you one of your own. Look in then upper left hand corner of the first post form the date before you post, Thanks,
Just put some muscle into it. These are brass /chrome to brass/ chrome threads and should unscrew. If you still can't get the nut off simply remove the shower arm, (see image) and install the new shower head on that. Good luck, Tom

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