I have removed stuck buckes with a carfully bent clothes hanger. I hook
it around the bar in the center of the bucket (this can be hard) and
pull. I will use a vise grip on the wire, grip the wire inside the
overflow and use the side of the tub or overflow as a leverage point
against the vise grips.

Good luck
On Nov 13, 5:23 pm, wrote:
Hi, I have a problem with my tub. We have not used this tub in about 6
months and I just found out the lever on the drain is stuck in the
up/closed position, meaning that water will not drain out of the tub. I
can't push the lever down to make it drain. I looked at lowes.com and
it looks like I have a plunger-type drain. I tried removing the
faceplate and spraying a bunch of WD-40 down the rod, but it still
doesn't move and I can't seem to remove the assembly from the tub; the
linkage and plunger will not budge. Is there anything else I can try
before I have to call a plumber?