I have an old house that is one story and no basement. One of the bathtubs is leaking at the drain. I cut a small hole in the room behind the tub to see what was the cause. The lock nut for the waste elbow was broken. I can cut a bigger hole, but there isn't much clearance and I can barely get my hand where the lock nut was.

What is the best way to go about fixing this? Are there tools to help reach this? Does the tub have to be removed to fix this properly?

Hey MB:

No tools to reach the work, except a good, large pair of pliers! Open the hole up stud to stud and maneuver body in such a way that you can reach in and disassemble the tub waste and overflow assembly.

You may be able to disasemble this and repair.. OR you may need to replace the entire unit.. depends on what you find as you go along.

Here, loosen screws and remove the front trip lever and overflow plate assembly from the front (see pic.) of tub. Then disassemble the nuts as needed to get the old tub waste and oveflow assembly apart. You will need to loosen the nuts and remove the upper half of the tub drain and waste overflow tube. That should allow you to kind of jiggle/rock the bottom half of the tub drain & waste overflow tube/assembly and pull it up and out.

Then, if replacing the nut only, slip new washer on and reassemble unit. If replacing the whole thing get back to us as you will need to remove the tub shoe... that requires use of a removal tool (see pic... there are a few types of these) and a large tubing cutter, putty, pipe dope, etc... Let us know.

This is a hard job in that you need to squeeze into tight spot... but I am 250lbs.. and I have been doing it all my life. Give it a shot... let us know how it goes.

If this answer helped please RATE THIS ANSWER. Thank you.

Thank you for the help. I haven't started yet, but I have a question. The bottom half of the tub drain and waste overflow tube goes into the slab. I want to make sure you want me to try and pull the tube out of the slab. I don't want to break something in the slab and cause a bigger problem so I am want to fully understand before I do this.

Thank you for your fast replies. I have been reading some of your other posts and this site is very helpful.

Hi MBdozier:

As you see in the largest picture previously posted, the tub waste and overflow assembly is a complete unit... if necessary, you will need to remove in pieces as a complete unit... then change out nut and washer... or *worst case* replace the entire tub waste and overflow assembly.

Do not worry much about pipes below the tub waste and overflow as they are almost never an issue... except if you decide to replace the entire tub waste and overflow assembly... then you will need to be concerned with transition from drain pipe to new tub waste (this should be a desanco type fitting, so will need an 1.5" tubular nut and washer as well as the new GERBER tub waste and overflow assembly).

Get back to me... Mark