Toilet tank leans in....

Hi all-
I'll try to make this brief. I have installed a Kohler Memoirs toilet. The floor is dead-on level. Yet, when i put my level across the top of the bowl, from front to back, it's out of level by about 3/4" over the ~24" length. So when I subsequently put the tank on, the tank leans toward the front noticeably. It's a three-bolt attach mechanism, but there's no way to tighten the rear bolt enough to make up for the amount it leans in and still have a seal (i didn't want to break anything). And shimming the front up 3/4" at the floor is not going to be too pretty.

Is there a plumber's fix for this, or would you consider it a defective bowl that I should call the mfgr about? It was custom ordered about 9 mos ago, so taking it back to HD is probably not an option.

Thanks for any feedback -
Ed

tank

From you description the back of the tank should not have to be tightened much more to make up the 3/16" inch and would increase the seal, rather than dimish it.

Thanks for your reply, hj. I re-read my post and see the confusion. Hopefully this will clarify. In order to get the tank barely close to plumb, I have to loosen the front two bolts completely, and really tighten down the back bolt with a wrench, at which point there is no seal at the front of the tank/bowl rubber gasket and water spews everywhere. (tried it)

-ed

Same problem

I have the same problem with the same brand and style of toilet (see thread https://terrylove.com/forums/showthread.php?t=7386)

Does anyone know how to resolve the problem?

If it was special ordered and is defective I would bring it back. Are you just now installing it?

it was installed last night

I'm not sure if it's defective or not. I was hoping to find someone who had experienced this issue and found a solution - even if that was swapping the tank for another. The fact that there's another post about the exact same issue implies that it's not unique and may not, in fact, be a defect. It may be an installation error.

If you put a level on the rim of the bowl, are you saying that it slopes 3/4" from front to back and the floor is level?

Here's a do-it-yourselfer's observation made while installing a Kohler Wellworth awhile back. I had to put considerably more torque on the bolt in the back than on the two in the front to get the tank level.

It is clear than Kohler uses a three-bolt system so that the tank can be leveled (as if to compensate for not making a tank and bowl that align properly to begin with). And the pressure points are protected somewhat by the rubber sleeves through which the bolts go.

As I recall, not much tension was required to prevent leaking. But if more torque is applied, or more to one bolt than another, it first squeezes the rubber sleeve harder before causing uneven stresses in the tank. The critical question is how tight is too tight? If the bottom of the tank or the tank support area of the bowl is not true, can you apply enough torque to level the tank without breaking something?

In your case, maybe there is some warpage that is beyond compensating for with adjustments. Maybe you should contact Kohler or the place where you bought the toilet and see about exchanging that bowl for another one.

Thanks for the reply

I called Kohler on Friday and asked the rep if he had any ideas - of course he said he'd never heard of this problem before

I looked at the bolts a bit more closely and it seemed that the back bolt had a thread or two less showing than the front, so I armed myself with a 1/2 inch wrench and loosened the front two bolts a turn or so and continued tightening the back one until the tank was parallel with the wall. The seal seems fine and the wife's happy, so I'm happy. Problem solved

Since purchasing the toilet, I have read a few posts here complaining about the quality of the flush on the Memoirs two-piece. I've only used mine a few times, but I'm impressed with it so far. It flushes far more quietly and rinses better than than the Eljer it replaced (not to mention it's way more stylish). We did get a round bowl instead of the elongated that seem to be in vogue right now because it's a very tight space and we couldn't spare the extra 2 inches for the longer bowl. Only time will tell if we have issues with clogging, etc. *fingers crossed*

I'm glad it all worked out easier than expected.