In my new home, there is a cast iron claw foot bathtub with poorly attached feet. The feet are slightly wobbly and one of them falls off any time the tub moves at all. So far it has not fallen out with anyone in the tub, but it fell off several times while I was working on the drain line. What is the best way to permanently attach these feet so that they will not unexpectedly fall off?
The weight of the tub seems to be the main thing holding them on now. The pictures below show that it has a locating and fastening feature on the bottom of the tub, but there is nothing that securely clamps to that. I can remove and reattach them without loosening the screws. When I have my wife lift up on the tub I can tug them into place and the leg pops in with a loud snap. The 3 better legs can be removed by working them back and forth enough. The worse leg can be removed just by lifting up on the tub and wiggling it a bit.
Best Answer
It looks like part of the retainer has snapped off here
It may be possibile to have a new retainer fabricated or to have these repaired.
If all the feet have broken retainers take a gel cast of the attachment and then from that make a plaster cast so that the welder has something to fabricate a part to match up with. Alternatively you take the whole tub instead.
Two-part xpoxy glue is probably an easier solution and will probably last long enough to not be a problem.