toe touch drain stopper won't come off

Question

I have a toe touch drain stopper that is causing a leak. I'm trying to unscrew it, but to no avail it just keeps spinning. I tried a lubricating oil and it still just spins. Is there anyway to get it off without breaking the bolt?

thanks

Answer 1

Just to clarify, a Toe Touch Stopper is smooth topped & doesn't have a knob on top to just pop up & down with no turning to engage. Yours is probably a 2-piece pop-up where the decorative coin-thick cover that must unscrew first.

Plan A - You can push or hold the stopper down & try to just use finger or palm friction to unscrew the thin top cap off. If that doesn't do it, then you need either a screwdriver or Needle Nose Pliers, along with a Large Plier, Monkey Wrench or Channel Lock Plier.

Plan B - With the Screwdriver, you would just press the head of the screwdriver firmly against the internal shaft to provide some minor resistance to spinning & then unscrew the stopper's cap by hand or by dropping a cloth on the drain cap to protect its finish & use the Large Pliers to spin the cap off.

Plan C - With the Needle Nose Pliers you would hold the internal shaft stationary & then drop a cloth on the drain cap to protect its finish & use the Large Pliers to spin the cap off.

With the cap off, a large screw should be revealed. You can replace the sealing washer here & screw the cap back on. If you're replacing the entire stopper, then you'll unscrew this large screw with the screwdriver & remove the rest of the stopper.

Answer 2

what may be happening is something i have seen often. the outer decorative cap on the drain is freely spinning on top of the metal or plastic functional part of the drain plunger. if you are replacing it, just drill a hole or two off center from the drain down through both parts (dont drill down too far, just enough to get through the two parts - you dont want to drill a hole in anything below) then place a short nail into each hole and rotate. the two nails act essentially as pins on a pin spanner that you just made out of the decorative cap. this will allow you to remove the inner drain plunger and replace it.