How much trouble is changing the toilet?

[DQDick]

Had the flush arm fall off the toilet and in trying to get it back on discovered the valve leaking a water when it flushes so I'm going to replace the whole thing. Can't get the rig out of where we are due to construction of a new parking lot so dealing with it myself is the only option. My assumption (without having any idea if I know what I'm talking about) is that there is some kind of seal (like the wax seal on S&B's) and that there is probably a washer that needs to be changed where the input line hooks to the toilet. What else am I missing besides the fact that I'm too big and fat to fit in the space I need to work in? Thanks for the help!

[steelpony5555]

Never had to change the whole toilet but you definitly need to hire a skinney midget to do the job. I dread the thought of having to do that.

[brenkco]

Dick,
With help from a buddy, I just changed mine out. There are just 2 bolts that were attached to the closet ring plus the water line. We removed the 2 bolts and the water line. The toilet lifted out. There is no wax ring like a regular toilet.

The unit we replaced it with did use the same bolts, the attached directly to the floor. We found that it was easier to cut the supply line on the vertical rise so we could reattach the fittings while the toilet was out. I used a shark-bite fitting (just snaps on) to re-attach the supply line.

The only other issue was the new toilet required 7/16 rise from the floor to the top of the closet ring. They supplied the spacers. There is a donut style ring on the new toilet that forms the seal between the toilet and the closet ring base that needs to be at that exact height.

Dave, my buddy & I are big guys....it wasn't bad!!

Ken

[bncinwv]

There have been posts regarding this and if my foggy memory is anywhere near reliable?? it seems the entire change out process is a relatively simple job. I am thinking that it was only about an hour for a complete change-out and the hardest part was dealing with the water line and the seal. Oh, and try not to drop any parts into black tank, that will delay the project in a not very nice way!! Here is an example that the search yielded:
Replace Toilet Search
Have at it!!
Bingo

[8.1al]

Dick,
If you replace with the same toilet it should be simple. Turn water off,bleed pressure off,you'll need a towel handy to sop up water when you disconnect the line. Remove the nuts off the 2 bolts and the toilet will come up. As stated above there is a rubber seal on the bottom, it works best if you place it on the toilet. When we upgraded our old plastic toilet for ceramic it was a headache as the water inlet on the toilet came straight out rather than down where the line was and I had to find a special elbow fitting for it.

[DQDick]

Thanks guys! That's what I was hoping for. Good point Bingo, if I wasn't thinking of that issue something would have gone down there.

[kdeiss]

As mentioned replacing with the same toilet in and out in 20 Mins
take the door off will give you additional room to work

I would recommend a high rise toilet

[remhob]

If you haven't already done so, now would be a good time to put a shutoff valve in the water feed line. Makes life a whole lot easier if there is ever a problem.

[CamillaMichael]

Had to lift ours out to replace the ball gasket...as others have said, it is not a difficult task. Good luck!

[Gkerlin]

Good luck with that Dick. Not a pleasant job I'm sure.

[bigskyjimmy]

Walk in the park! my flush lever just busted off, so Keystone just sent me a whole new toilet 20 min later....Done

[DQDick]

That was my experience also. About 20minutes and not hard to do. Thanks for all the help, and Bingo, I was careful and nothing went down the black hole. One of the bolt covers almost did, but it was a save.

[Sierra 117]

Dick,

Our toilet was leaking at the flush valve. We called a traveling RV repair guy who replaced the valve in 20 minutes. The valve can be purchased for about $40.00. It doesn't look like a big job, at least on our rig.

[sreigle]

The biggest problem I had was I had to drive 65 miles one way to buy the toilet, then 65 miles home, just to discover that the new toilet has four mounting holes but the old toilet (and the floor mount) have only two. So back that same 130 miles round trip to buy an adapter. Moral, check that mount before you buy the toilet so you know if you need an adapter.

[DQDick]

Excellent point. I went for an exact replacement and so I didn't have to worry about those issues.

[wersqu]

I had to repair my toilet last spring. It was not hard but the thing that would have helped me the most is if I was left handed, which I am not. It seemed like every time I had to put a nut on I was laying on my right arm.