My toilet's flush valve is broken so I'm trying to replace it. It requires taking off the tank, obviously. But the problem is, one of the hex nuts is rusted beyond repair. It seems like the hex nut and washer have merged and somehow, the width of the nut has decreased to half its original size. Not only that, the edges have been scraped clean, so it's hard to get a hold of the nut to loosen it. Now, I know I'm not the first person in the world to have this happen to me. I also know clutchfans has some knowledgable people. So advice please!!! Note: the nut is under the tank so it's hard to reach.
I've heard PB Blaster works great in situations like this, but it didn't work for me when I was trying to remove a battery a while back.
(beat me to it) Yeap. I once charred a nut... not ROASTED, not RUSTED, CHARRED. atrocious pain, that was.
Try vice grip pliers. You may even be able to rent them from your local auto parts store (maybe someone else can help out with that).
http://www.toiletology.com/howtofix.shtml If you're replacing the whole fixture, dremel may be your answer.
Upon further consideration, it seems like you will probably have to replace the nut and screw, so if the different pliers don't work, try taking the blade off of a hacksaw and just cutting it off.
Good info guys. I have used the vice grip pliers and the hammer to get rid of that annoying bolt. Actually, while using the vice grip pliers, the screw snapped in half. I took the tank off the toilet, and to my disappointment, saw there are THREE MORE RUSTED SCREWS!!! This time they have merged not only with the washer, but also with the tank itself. I'm about to go out and buy some PB blaster or whatever else that can destroy the rust on the screws. Any other ideas? Note: I don't think a hacksaw will work this time because it is merged with the tank.
I know it is too late now...but I have never had to take off the tank to replace the tank valve mechanism You need to tka the water line offm then there is one nut-type thing that screws over the end of the flush valve assembly.
Ok, so after screwing around with the nuts and bolts, I decided to just buy another tank. Only 20 dollars more and save me a lot of headache. So I went to the store, and bought a tank. An hour later, I realize the bolts don't match up. So then I note the brand of my toilet and go back to the store returning the 50 pound tank I just bought. They didn't have my brand! So I bought a tank that looked similiar to my tank and lugged the 50 pound tank back to my house. An hour later I returned back to the store to return tank #2 that didn't fit as well. I go back home searching for my tank brand, but lo and behold, it's outdated and no one carries it. So I decide to buy a dremel and bust the crappy nuts off. I go to the store and buy the damn thing and come home. Now I'm sitting here wondering how the heck do you work the dang thing. I'm having trouble putting the accessaries into the collet. The instructions say to loosen the collet nut and then insert the accessary inside. However, when I loosen the collet nut, the collet hole doesn't get bigger so I can't insert the drill bit. Help please.
Did you gt the drill bit that fits the dremel? If it is the bit that came with the dremel, it should slide in once you get the collet opened up enough. If you can access it with the cutting disk, that would probably be the easiest.
Yea, it's the bit that came with the dremel. I'm loosening the collet nut (from what I know, is different from the collet), and the collet just turns with the collet nut. I'm thinking the collet nut is suppose to turn and the collet 'hole' is suppose to get bigger? It's not happening!
