Early 1940s "Standard" Tub Drain

[Bldn10]

I am renovating a house built in the early '40s and it has probably the original cast iron tub w/ probably replacement Sayco faucet and probably original "Standard" drain and overflow. The drain is my problem - it does not close. It is an odd design in that there is a rod that runs horizontally through the pipe below the drain opening. See photo. The operating mechanism is just a lever that flips from one side to the other, moving that rod up and down. Not back and forth. I don't know how this drain worked - did the rod simply raise and lower a stopper of some sort? Did the stopper just sit on the rod by gravity? It must have been heavy. I did not have a proper wrench but I did try unscrewing the drain and I'm afraid that after 80 years it is not going to come out. The hole diameter is 1 1/2".

 

[Reach4]

It is possible that the rod controls a hollow cylinder, similar to this: https://terrylove.com/forums/index.php?threads/tub-stopper-is-stuck.85773/

Could be a different mechanism.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Terry]

There is a stopper for that Standard drain. Yes.

Dumbell wrench is the removal tool.

 

[Bldn10]

Thanks, guys!

Reach4, that looks like a typical trip lever drain but the lever in mine does not move up and down but side to side. It makes about a 270* arc. But same difference - it moves the vertical rod up and down.

Terry, that looks like a combination trip lever and rocker arm pop up! Although I can only see through the drain opening, I do not see any articulations - just a straight rod.

Attached is a crude drawing of what I see from underneath. The rod seems to go through a slot and ride up and down inside that rectangular protrusion. I see no provision for attaching a stopper. The drain you you show does look exactly like mine. I really don't want to take this 80 year old drain apart. :-/

 

[Marlinman]

The waste was assembled around the lift rod. Unfortunately the drain stopper is no longer available. There could be some old stock left in someone's inventory. If I run across one I'll post it.

 

[Bldn10]

That is absolutely it, Marlinman! Thanks.
It does not look like the plunger cage is actually attached to the rod so how would it close tight enough to seal the water out? I might try to find a 1 1/2" plunger and cut it to length and see if it works.

 

[Terry]

If you have access to the tub drain, it may be a good idea to replace it.

 

[Bldn10]

I bought a dumbell wrench but the drain will not budge, it is tighter than the wrench metal is strong. :-/

 

[John Gayewski]

There are different tub drain extractors. Remove it and replace it with a toe tap or lift and turn.

You can also peel the flange up to grip it. It'll come out one way or another. Just replace it with a less overly complicated design. These were never a good idea.

 

[Breplum]

Heat can help when we find it difficult to remove the top of a drain flange. If that fails, then cutting it out is the way.
Short stroke reciprocating saw vertical cuts into two or three places, then peeling the cuts from the inside.

 

[Ole_Jeffy]

Can anyone suggest an overflow cap and drain flange compatible to this Standard setup in matte black?

 

[Hot_n_low]

So I appear to have a very similar goofy American Standard drain setup as the original poster of this thread.

My kids would get the water sloshing in the tub and cause flooding in the room below because the gasket failed on the overflow of this style of tub drain. Long story short, I am in desperate need of a 37367-08 “Spud”.

I’ll attach a picture of what it looked like before I softened it (with heat) and broke it trying to get it out.

It has 14 threads per inch and an O.D. On the threads of 2-1/16” and appears to be a pipe thread.

Basically, I’m in bad shape and even the specialty plumbing shops I’ve reached out to are telling me I’m out of luck. If I can’t repair this I need to cut into floor joists to make the currently available drains work as the geometry is completely different and would really like to avoid that…

I’m at the pint of trying to machine a compatible piece to replace it and that is a whole thing.

Any thoughts or suggestions would be super-appreciated!

 

[bdgrant20]

The waste was assembled around the lift rod. Unfortunately the drain stopper is no longer available. There could be some old stock left in someone's inventory. If I run across one I'll post it.

Is there a trick to getting the lift rod out? I’m in the middle of trying to do that but it seems almost impossible with it continuing in one piece all the way to drain location.

 

[Hot_n_low]

I had to disassemble the whole unit to remove the lift rod. Attached is a photo of how mine looked post removal. The drain section (the foot?) is already reinstalled so it requires a little imagination. I wanted to replace the gasket between it and the tub.

The talentless hacks who owned my house previously put in a new faucet and shower and broke out (just some of) the original tile.

I think the reason the overfill drain is leaking was because they appear to have screwed up pretty much everything they got near or touched.

I can’t envision a way geometrically how one could remove this style rod without complete disassembly.