Bathtub drain stopper advice needed

[kristen]

Hello, when I bought my current home the upstairs bathtub drain had no attached stopper, just the crossbars and a center screw with nothing on it. It appears they had started using a rubber stopper in the drain in place of a metal stopper.

I am curious if there is something I can buy and simply attach to the existing center screw, or if I can remove the center screw and put something else? Or if I have to replace the entire drain.

I tried unscrewing the center screw with my hand, but it just spins and spins. Thanks in advance for your time and consideration!!

 

[Mr_David]

grab ahold of the lower part with some pliers and try unscrewing it.
stopper stem are often 2 parts for a lift and turn action to keep open.
sometimes when you lift the screw from the lower part it will spin freely but if you leave it down in the lower position it will lock into the lower part and then turn with the upper part as you unscrew it.

It will unscrew.

 

[kristen]

Hi, thank you so much for responding! So I did lock the screw into the bottom and tried turning both the upper and lower part, but now both pieces just spin and spin-- any ideas of what's going on?