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How to Fix a Leaky Shower Drain – Replacement Parts

Bob Jackson
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by Bob Jackson

How to Fix a Leaky Shower Drain – identify the shower drain manufacturer and find a replacement part for the cracked shower drain body.  This repair is continued from How to Fix a Leaky Shower Drain – Part 2.

Replacement Shower Drain Body

I bought a Sioux Chief brand 2″ PVC shower drain. You have to buy the whole drain module just to get new gaskets and strainer body.

When I got home and tried to screw in the new drain body, it didn’t fit! The threads on the Sioux Chief were much finer and square shaped compared to the much courser and Vee shaped threads on my shower drain. I went to Lowes and checked the Oatley brand of shower drains. The Oatley drain threads were different (same type as Sioux Chief) and didn’t fit my drain.

I was getting desperate because replacing the entire drain would be very difficult due to the suspended drywall ceiling in the finished basement and I couldn’t get access to plumbing in that area. So I kept searching for a new drain with matching threads. I located an old style hardware store in an different section of town that I rarely frequent. The sign just said “Hardware Store”. Going inside the store, my reaction was “Wow!” They have all kinds of items that you can’t find in the big box retailers! Lot’s of unique brands and stuff I hadn’t seen since I was a kid!

Old Fashion Hardware Store
Old Fashion Hardware Store

I had almost given up while rummaging around in the plumbing section, when I dug out an offset drain from underneath a pile of stuff. I had the old strainer body with me and the threads matched perfectly! I was very pleased, the repair would be simple now!

Shower Drain Repair: Replacement Drains
Shower Drain Repair: Replacement Drains

Here are the parts of a shower drain and the difference in the course and fine threads. I used the strainer body on the left with course threads and the new gaskets.

Shower Drain Repair: Course and Fine Thread Drains
Shower Drain Repair: Course and Fine Thread Drains

The old and new matching shower strainer bodies:

Old and New Shower Strainer Bodies with Course Threads
Old and New Shower Strainer Bodies with Course Threads

Compatible Course Thread Shower Drains

The unbranded drain I bought at the hardware store didn’t have identifying marks. I’ve since learned through gracious reader feedback there are two course thread shower drains on the market that are drop-in replacements:

This repair is concluded in How to Fix a Leaky Shower Drain – Part 4.

Take care,
Bob Jackson

Oatey shower drainPlastic Odditiesplumbers puttyplywood subfloorshower drain
Bob Jackson
Bob Jackson
Technology product manager by day and a prolific handyman in the evenings and over the weekends. Bob was the founder of the original Handyman How To website and that tradition continues on this site with excellent new handyman content into the future.
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