Bathroom sink pipe fitting stuck in drain stub out - please help!

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paulncarol

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Hello,
My husband and and I are DIYers living in a 40-year-old house. Our pipes are good old fashioned copper, thank goodness. Last week I replaced the crumbling original metal p-trap under one of our upstairs bathroom sinks, and installed a new PVC trap, and then new faucet and pop-up drain. I was able to unscrew the trap from the stub out, and bought a new brass waste connection ground joint male fitting (photo shown) and attached everything with the compression rings. All good, perfect, no leaks.

Then we decided to replace the sink in another bathroom, and planned to put in all new PVC, new vanity and sink, etc. Piece of cake, right? WRONG. While trying to unscrew the trap pipe from the stub out, the corroded metal pipe just crumbled, leaving the threaded part of the pipe end stuck in the stub out. I've attached a couple photos to show what I mean.

Can anyone help with a solution for getting that stuck circular piece out of there, so we can screw in a new waste connection ground joint? There is absolutely nothing to grab onto to try to unscrew it. Any quick help would be GREATLY appreciated. Thank you!
 

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JohnjH2o1

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Cut a notch about a 1/2" wide out of the solder bushing. Then pick out the remaining section of the solder bushing. Be careful not to cut into the threads of the female ell in the wall.

John
 

paulncarol

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Hi John,
Thanks for the quick reply. Is the solder bushing just the greyish part in my photo, or the entire circular thing including the gold-colored piece? And would you suggest cutting a notch with a Dremel tool?
THANKS!!
Carol
 

Dj2

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This is a precision job. I wouldn't use a power tool for this, just a hacksaw blade.
Slowly run the blade back and forth, without a lot of pressure, till the cut reaches the thread - but don't touch the thread. Then make a second cut about 1/2" away.
When you have the cuts, use a flat screwdriver to get that section out, and the rest will come out easily.
 
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Terry

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This is a precision job. I wouldn't use a power tool for this, just a hacksaw blade.

I concur. I always have a hacksaw blade in my tool box for things like this.
Power tools are over rated for what you can do with them. Sometimes slow and easy is the best fix out of a bad jam.

It's nice to have a glove on while sawing with the blade.
 

paulncarol

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Well, guys, it just won't do the trick. I was able to carefully cut the small section out of the solder bushing, but because of the tight angle of the solid metal elbow coming from the main drain, I couldn't get the blade through the back portion of the bushing, so of course it still won't budge.

So now I'm looking for another solution. Is there a way, to your knowledge, to attach some sort of double-ended contraption to the drain (as it appears in the photos, nut and all, now throughly messed up my my hacksawing), and a new piece of PVC tailpipe for the new trap?

Worst case scenario: we have to replace the copper pipe and/or the brass elbow behind the wall. What would that entail?

Thank you so much for the help!
Carol
 

hj

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quote; Worst case scenario: we have to replace the copper pipe and/or the brass elbow behind the wall. What would that entail?

Unless you have made an easy job difficult, a good plumber could cut the rest of the solder bushing out in a matter of minutes. It would normally have taken about 10 minutes to do the entire job from the beginning, because I DO use a power tool, but use it very carefully.
 

Craigpump

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Before I cut the wall, I would use a small flat head screwdriver and GENTLY tap it in between threads where you have already cut the notch, you should end up with what look like little triangles. Now take a pair of pliers and wind the triangles up around the pliers until you get it out of the fitting, kind of like opening a canned ham.
 
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