the problem is the tub drain in the concrete sub floor has been placed almost touching the wall.

(1959 construction) and getting the tub drain kits piping of today over to the wall is challenging.

the house main sewer line is under the wall at the top of the picture. cast iron.

that is obviously a 1 1/2 in nipple coming out of...... is that the J trap there? that ancient looking elbow coming out of the ground? is that cast iron too?

but no way in hell am I getting wrenches in there.

I have already taken two of these 1 1/2 pipes out of the 1959 cast iron and it takes a lot of force to break them loose(it sounded like child birth).

so I think that is not an option.

but the height of the current nipple and it's position are both problems in regard to installing the tub.

the height would be fine if the drain was not against the wall.

my thought is to cut the pipe off with a grinder leaving just enough pipe coming out of the coupling I see there at the bottom, to attach a rubber boot.

then I was going to put 1 1/2 in PVC flex tubing all the drain sections instead of hard pipe, to give me more "play" when it comes to final tub install. hopefully the 6 inchesof flex from the rubber boot to the ABS Y of the drain kit will let me pull it over the missing inch I need to line up.

but maybe I am looking at this wrong.

not to mention flying by the seat of my pants.

thanks for any input.

D

the street end goes in the rubber boot.