How to replace sink drain stopper

Question

The stopper has come out of my bathroom sink drain, and I'd like to put it back in. (It's been this way for years, and I don't recall how it came out in the first place.)

The stopper has an offset stirrup (is that the right term?), and the drain has a post sticking out of the side of the pipe that doesn't quite reach the opposite side of the pipe. The post tilts up/down when you manipulate the pull knob on top of the faucet.

If I align the offset stirrup with the gap at the end of the post, then the stirrup slides onto the post. However this is not a secure connection, and it comes off fairly easily.

It seems like the right way to do it is to rotate the stopper 180 degrees so the stirrup offset is flush with the base of the post, instead of sitting near the the end of the post.

But as far as I can see, there's no way to do that. If I go underneath the sink, is there a way to retract the post so that the stopper can be inserted in the correct orientation?

Answer 1

You're going to have to get under the sink on this one. Once there reach behind the tailpiece coming out of the drain. There will be a knob attached to the tailpiece that has a lever running through it. Unscrew the knob and the lever which is what you see when you look down the drain will pull out. Simply drop the stopper in the drain and reassemble it running the lever through the hole in the bottom of the stopper stem.
Tighten the knob just enough so that it doesn't leak and when you open the drain the stopper stays up.