I just took an old crane drexel sink off the wall and replaced it for the time being ( I want to fix the older sink) with a cheap vanity/sink set. All that was easy enough, but now to my chagrin I can't finish the job.

The p trap is too low, the extension pipe from the sink doesn't go all the way down to fit into it. I can line it up no problem, but the two parts don't meet, and so there is no working basin.

Is there such a thing as an extension for the extension? As in, a little tube that will make the drain pipe that came with the sink a bit longer, so I can fit it into the p-trap?

They make them. Look in the section where the P-traps are. Also consider buying a new tail piece and cutting it to length. Just remember all the new parts will be labeled by their ID.

They make them. Look in the section where the P-traps are. Also consider buying a new tail piece and cutting it to length. Just remember all the new parts will be labeled by their ID.


Thanks for replying. I hope they have one I can add on. The pop up of the faucet I bought came with the pvc tail piece and the pop-up works with that tail piece. A new brass one I presume would not?

Hi Sarah,

The original tailpiece that came with your lavatory, (kitchens have sinks, bathrooms have lavatorys) should be threaded into a fitting that contains the pop-up. They make a extension tailpiece,(see image) that is double threaded and designed to be cut to length. Simply measure the distance between the fitting and the trap and cut with a set of tubing cutters. Wrap the threads with a few turns of teflon tape and replace the old tailpiece. Good luck, Tom

Hi Sarah,

The origional tailpiece that came with your lavatory, (kitchens have sinks, bathrooms have lavatorys) should be threaded into a fitting that contains the pop-up. They make a extension tailpiece,(see image) that is double threaded and designed to be cut to length. Simply measure the distance between the fitting and the trap and cut with a set of tubing cutters. Wrap the threads with a few turns of teflon tape and replace the old tailpiece. Good luck, Tom


The new faucet came with a PVC tube that screws onto a bit of tube coming from the sink.
My grasp of the plumbing lexicon leaves a little to be desired, but I thought that pvc tube with the pop-up on it was the "tailpiece." However there is a bit of pipe sticking down from the sink that the bit of PVC piping with the pop-up tingie screws onto. That would be a one-piece bit that has the flange on it, and on the ends are screw-threads.

WHIch part do I replace, and how do I keep the pop-up part?

You do not need to replace the tailpiece.

Some assumptions first:
I assume that the tailpiece off the popup is 1 1/4". I also will assume that the P trap is 1 1/4". If that is the case, measure the distance from the popup to the P trap. Make sure that when you measure at the P trap that you include the portion that the extension will fit down inside the P trap. With that measurement, go to your local hardware store and ask for a tailpiece extension. You normally will be given the choice of white PVC or chromed tube. Make sure the diameter of the pipe is what you need (either 1 1/4 or 1 1/2 pipe).

Hope this helps.

"You do not need to replace the tailpiece. " Not the best advice to give someone with too short a tailpiece. What you have suggested is a tailpiece extension, (see image) with a compression fitting. While this would work you have just gave the asker one one unnecessary compression fitting that could develop a leak. While they are both tailpiece extensions I've always worked on the theory that the less connections the better. And you are correct lavatories are 1 1/4 inch not 1 1/2inch.

Sarah, The piece that was too short to reach the trap is the tailpiece. If the PVC pipe that was too short has threads then use the tailpiece I put up first.
If the PVC tailpiece is a part of the pop-up then you will need the one I have pictured here. Good luck, Tom

Yay, my sink is installed.

The PVC tailpiece is part of the pop-up. I found one of Tom's gizmodo's above ( the chrome extension that looks as though it has a slip-nut at the top).

It needed cutting to fit the gap. I took it back to the hardware store to look for the right pipe-cutter, even though I had a hacksaw, because I didn't want to mess it up.

This time I went to the Ace corner hardware store ( not a big box store) because I was in a hurry. They did not have the right size pipe-cutter to cut my 1 1/4 lavatory pipe, but the "store man" put it in a vise and cut it with a hacksaw for me. He did about a crap a job as I would have, but at least the crazy cutting wasn't MY crazy cutting. And it worked fine.

Only, the older slipnuts on the p-trap leaked, and I had to go back and get one new one and one new slipnut washer . Ouila! A working sink.

Now to figure out how to get some parts off that original crane-drexel integral faucet sink!

I am disappointed in the Ace hardware. They are franchises or maybe a buyers' group, an likely vary with the owner. Fittings like that will stand a lot of bad workmanship as long as they are clean and have a new gasket.

One advantage of the extension is that you can just remove it if and when you ever have the old sink ready to go.

Hi Sarah,
"Now to figure out how to get some parts off that original crane-drexel integral faucet sink!"
Is this the sink you're attempting to dismantle?

That is IT! That's the one, at least if it's the one that mixes the water inside the porcelain. I can't get the valve body (or bodies) off,or at least couldn't with the sink on the wall - which is what I will have to do to make the sink useable again. There's place that machines new ones ( and makes high quality replacments for the canopy handles, too.) The porcelain is in perfect condition. And I've always liked the sink.

Hi Sarah,

You're going to need a special tool called a "basin wrench"(see image) to get up there to remove the retaining nuts that are recessed. This tool can be purchased at any plumbing supply house, Good luck, Tom

Heh. Went into Ace again to get a basin wrench. The nut on the old-fashioned crane drexel valve body is big. BEEEEG. The biggest shower valve socket wrench in a set of shower wrenches fiits on it. (1 and 7/16) THe ace guy couldn't tell me what size nuts the ordinary basin wrench in the store would work on, but it looked like no more than an inch. He also denied ever hearing of a nut so big on a lavatory sink and tried to convince me it was 7/8.

To paraphrase Richard Dreyfuss, I'm going to need a bigger wrench. :)

Sarah,

A basin wrench doesn't have to fit all the way around a nut. All it needs to do is get a purchase on on one corner and a flat surface of the nut. Regards, Tom.