Cannot get this TOTO toilet seat off!

[j2thb]

Hi everyone! My Toto (I think it's an Aquia) is a little over a decade old and I'm just now getting around to replacing the toilet seat for the first time. I'm having a problem getting the seat bolts off - they just spin and spin and I'm afraid they'll get stripped soon. I did the seat lifting technique from this old post, but it doesn't seem to be helping. Also I was able to get my arm behind the skirt with a vise. Someone else tried to unscrew the bolt while I held the bushing, but that didn't seem to work either.

I've attached a photo of the toilet and the bolt bushing from underneath. Honestly, I'm not super handy, so short of taking a mini hacksaw to the bolts themselves, if anyone has advice of what else to try, that'd be great! Thank you!

 

[Jadnashua]

I had to replace my seat awhile ago. One bolt came right out without issue, the other one had corroded in place, and I could not unscrew it. I ended up using a knife to cut away some of the rubber and then it was able to be pushed in. You may need to try to drill it out if you can hold the bottom from spinning. When I put the new fasteners in, I coated the shaft of the bolt with some silicon plumbers grease. (Hopefully) it will be years before I find out if that worked, and they come out when needed the next time.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[j2thb]

Hi Jim,

I tried cutting the bushing with a box cutter, but the angle was so awkward, I don't think it did anything. And I tried WD-40 on the top of the bolts just because...I'll try cutting them again - maybe a little more persistence will be the trick! Thanks!

 

[Reach4]

I've attached a photo of the toilet and the bolt bushing from underneath. Honestly, I'm not super handy, so short of taking a mini hacksaw to the bolts themselves, if anyone has advice of what else to try

Cutoff wheel on a Dremel tool sounds better than a hacksaw. Those break pretty easily, however.

If you grab the rubber below with a locking pliers, maybe turning the screw above could do the trick. What keeps the pliers below from turning, you would have to figure something out there. I am suspecting if you could get the pliers horizontal, that would work. You would want the pliers tight enough to grip, but not so tight that you keep the screw from turning.

People have reported success drilling out the screw from the top. If you try that, you start small, being careful to center the bit. Then keep increasing the bit size.

 

[Terry]

Pliers will normally hold the bottom of that. The threaded nut is at the bottom, and the rest is designed to collapse.

THU651N

 

[Jadnashua]

IT was a tight fit trying to get the thing out. One just unscrewed. The other one was corroded solid, and would not unscrew even after I got the whole thing out. You may need to try to either drill it out, or if you have a Dremel tool, you could use one of the cutoff disks to cut the head off the bolt, then you can attack the rubber to get it out. The size of the hole in the porcelain can vary slightly, so yours may not go through the hole if you deal with the rubber.

If you're lucky, you may be able to hold the body underneath, and then unscrew the bolt. Worst case, remove the toilet so you can lay it on the side so someone can help hold things. Toto isn't the only one that uses similar fasteners on some of the toilets.

 

[j2thb]

Thanks for the responses everyone! I tried cutting the rubber from underneath the toilet again today but to no avail, thinking I could just cut and peel it off. I cut through the bulbous portion but didn't realize there's a metal bit, so there goes that idea. I'll try for the third time with pliers (non-long nose ones next time) holding the bottom while trying to unscrew it before drilling or removing toilet. Thanks!

 

[John Potsiadlo]

This forum was helpful.

I too have a Toto toilet and I was having trouble accessing the bottom of 1 side and the other side was impossible to access.

I was able to loosen the screws enough and use a bolt cutter to pop off the heads of the screws. The rubber then was easy to push through.

I reinstalled with the new TOTO rubber Mollys and it was an easy fix.

Thanks for the help on the forum.

 

[WJcandee]

John, thanks for letting us know!