Too thick gasket on new Drake - wobbles

1st time Drake install.

I did all points of illustrated thread on this forum

I made sure the gasket was fully seated onto the tank fitting to the point that the black gasket is fully rubbing on bottom of tank.

Put tank onto bowl and its a good 1/4" from the three point contact that the installation manual explicitly says you should achieve.

I push on the top rim of tank to the point of what i would consider more then forceful and the 1/4" barely collapses.

Does anybody know if there is a gasket at Lowes or HD that is a replacement for the too-thick Toto gasket . I am unwilling to break a $200+ toilet on a mis-sized $5 gasket.

I'm debating if I should remove the tank and somehow put the gasket in a vise overnight and get it good and compressed and then put the tank on.

If it's tight, don't worry about it.
There may be some movement.

If I was putting rubber washers in vices overnight, I wouldn't be installing very many.
Tighten, but don't break.
I've seen a few people break the tanks trying to achieve the "three points must touch"

Try this instead.
When you have tightened the tank, and the seat has been installed, have a beer and enjoy. Life doesn't get any better than this.

Unless maybe you are fishing.

I followed up on a Drake tank installed by another plumber that was loose today, 10/22/2008
The tank nuts were "finger loose",
I took out a wrench and tightened them "wrench tight"
No more loose and wobbly tank.

Terry, thanks for the quick reply. I'll just make tight and ignore the three point.

BTW, what % of Drakes you install have this issue?

If you slowly, say 1/2-turn at a time, tighten each side evenly, it will compress (assuming you got it seated properly in the first place). If you let it sit for a week, then tighten it, it might be easier. Or, leave it as it is. As long as it doesn't leak, it's okay.

One on my (3) drakes did the same thing. Looks like one of the three contact points on the bowl was much lower than the other two and I did not want to crank it down any more. Solution for me was sliding a clear plastic toilet bowl shim on one side and adjusting it to level the tank and make the third contact point. It's rock solid and has not leaked in 4+ years.

I just trimed the shim after a test fit so nothing is sticking out and it can't be seen unless I get on the ground and look under the tank for it. YMMV.

1st time Drake install here too

I'm pretty much getting the same problem, but in my case, I'm having leaks along with it. The leaks are coming right from the flush valve. It seems like every time I flush, drops of water form around the gasket area. They get to the point of dripping down onto the bowl and into the holes where the nuts go through.

I understand now that you don't need the three points to touch, but what I don't understand is the leaking. I feel like the gasket actually "sweats" forming the leakage, but I'm not sure. I recently unscrewed the flush valve and reinstalled it, tightening it as tight as I can by hand (Too much??). I'm still getting the same amount of leakage, probably even worse. All I know is any sort of leakage is coming from the gasket area as the bolts attached to the toilet tank are pretty secure.

Any ideas?

(Oh, and where can I buy replacement parts, in the event that I would need a new flush valve and/or gasket? Lowes?)

RubixCube said:

I'm pretty much getting the same problem, but in my case, I'm having leaks along with it. The leaks are coming right from the flush valve. It seems like every time I flush, drops of water form around the gasket area. They get to the point of dripping down onto the bowl and into the holes where the nuts go through.

Click to expand...

I had a similar problem on my first Drake install. I pulled the tank and found that the flush valve to tank seal was a bit out of place causing it to leak between the flush valve and the tank. I used a strap wrench to loosen the nut for the flush valve.