How to remove cap from toilet fitting to screw in seat?

[paveln]

Moved into a new place and the toilet seat was loose.

Even removing the seat from the fittings took a lot of elbow grease. The right fitting came off with the seat, and the left side is loose but still screwed in.

From all the videos I've seen, the caps are supposed to just lift off, but no amount of twisting or banging will separate them for me, even with WD40 or rubbing alcohol.

Timestamped for reference:

https://youtu.be/AFynSMQOzEY?t=52
https://youtu.be/ZGluderbMd4?t=140

[JacobZ]

Hi @paveln,

Thank you for your question and welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community, it is fantastic to have you with us.

You can see in the last photo there is a crimp in the cover plate. This crimp is biting the inner ring to hold it in place. 

Grab a small flathead screwdriver put it between the cover and the inner ring and gently lever it away to bend the cover plate slightly. Once the cover plate has been bent slightly, the grip on the inner ring should be reduced allowing you to remove the cover plate.

Using a pair of multigrips with some tape or a cloth to protect the chrome ring can also help you grip the cover plate tighter and pull it off. A combination of levering with a screwdriver and gripping and pulling with multigrips is the best method I can think of.

Allow me to tag @Noyade, @Dave-1 and @Nailbag to see what they think.

Jacob

[Dave-1]

Good Evening @paveln 

I havnt come across this type of fitting before but I really like @JacobZ 's suggestions and explanation of what to do. I bow to his greater knowledge

Dave

[Nailbag · Accepted solution]

Hi @paveln 

Removing the cover plate as per @JacobZ instruction will get you started, but your main issues is the bolt has nothing to screw into. It needs either a nylon plug in the hole or a nut/wing-nut under the bowl which often isn't accessible.

So you will need to purchase a toilet fixing kit to get another pair of nylon insets that are tapped in to the hole gently with a hammer or mallet. The bolts will then screw into these and tighten. Once the seat is realigned into position the cover plate can be refitted.

Regards, Nailbag

[paveln]

Thanks so much for your replies @Nailbag @JacobZ.

I was able to pry the cap off using a flat head screwdriver at the crimped part, and I did indeed need new nylon insets to screw into. It would have been nice to be able to just buy those separately instead of having to buy the whole repair kit!

[JacobZ]

No worries @paveln.

I'm glad to hear @Nailbag's recommendation has helped you fix the issue.

I'll pass on your feedback to the relevant teams.

Thanks for getting back to us.

Jacob