I need to replace some guts inside my toilet tank but the bolts that hold the tank to the bowl are frozen. One end has the normal hex nut, the other has a huge stupid slothead that has had its slot stripped away. What to do??
Is there room to take a hacksaw and cut a new slot? Otherwise, clamp a vicegrip to it.
No room for a new slot (its inside the bowl at the bottom). I tried the vice grip thing. The slothead in the bowl has a round top and the vice slips off easily.
I was wondering if there was a way to break the bolt.
Buy yourself an “Easy-Out” at your local hardware store. Drill through the bolt with a matching bit, then back it out with the Easy Out.
Do soak the bolt in some WD-40. Spray it from both sides. Let it sit. It may remove enough crumb on the top side that you will be able to use the screw driver or vice grip.
Chef guy is right about the easy off, but I would consider just drilling the head of the ‘bolt’ off. Start small. And then use progressively bigger drill bits until there is no longer a head (the slot side) of the bolt. You will need up to a 1/2 inch bit to do this.
What do you need to replace that requires pulling the tank? The gaskets are the only thing that I can think of.
The bolt heads are usually pretty thin, and the gaskets hold the heads off of the tank bottom. Personally, I think that I would use a pair of wire cutters to holdthe bolt still and give the nuts one last try. If that didn’t work, I’d probably use a Dremel or disc grinder to grind off the heads of the bolts, then pull them out from the bottom.
Agree with Cornflakes, the only part you have to remove the tank bolts to replace is the spud gasket, and the tank bolts themselves, of course.
But since you’re already into it, the tank bolts are typically a 1/4-20 (1/4" diameter, 20 tpi pitch) bolt with an ~1" diameter head. They are prone to seizing, especially if some numbnuts used a steel nut on the brass bolt. If this is the issue, drilling the head off, as suggested by enipla is your best option, but you’ll be okay with a 5/16" or 3/8" drill bit. Be very careful to avoid cracking the tank - you don’t have to remove every bit of material , usually you can break the head off when the material remaining is very thin.
When replacing the tank bolts, be very certain you are using brass or stainless steel bolts and nuts. Anything ferrous will rust away fairly soon. Mixing brass and ferrous parts will rot away remarkably quickly from galvanic corrosion.
Good luck with your repairs, replacing the spud gasket is a royal PITA.
I’d go about this a different way.
Use a Dremel with a cutoff wheel, and cut the nut in two places.
I’ve had to do this many times.
Generally there is room between the tank and the toilet itself to get a hacksaw blade in and cut the bolt. You probably won’t be able to fit a hacksaw in, just the blade. Take it loose from the hacksaw frame and wrap an old sock around it so you don’t cut your hands up. The bolts will cut pretty quickly.
If you’ve gone this far into the toilet you may as well replace the spud gasket.
The big black rubber thing that plugs the drain so the tank can fill does not sit in its seat very well. The one I have is actually a replacement and it still leaks. I’ve tried repositioning it but it just is not a good fit. Rather than fuss with it I decided to buy the entire white pipe with big black thing attached. It has a large threaded bit at the end that obviously screws on the opposite side of the tank.
Do I have this wrong? I hope so because I am not looking forward to taking this beast apart.
Rich Trethewey attacked this on Ask This Old House. He sawed the old bolt off below the nut using a hacksaw blade attached in a specialized handle like this.
And WD40 is not my rust remover of choice (WD standing for Water Displacement) - look for PB B’laster instead. That stuff works great on frozen bolts, if you choose to try to remove them nondestructively.