Review on 🚽 Master Plumber 479 56 Toilet Replacement: Upgrade Your Bathroom with Ease by Todd Phillips

Before I get into that, I would like to point out that this hinge replacement part will not fit properly on a Kohler toilet that uses an original Kohler toilet seat. To be honest it wasn't worth my time doing this job, I should have just bought a new seat. If you have already purchased this part and need it for your Kohler toilet, please read on. I've listed the modifications needed to at least customize it. I recently broke one of the hinges on my Kohler toilet seat. After looking around and finding a replacement seat that would cost over $30, I wondered why spend money on a new seat when only the hinge broke. Not only that, the current seat was like new. I could certainly find a much cheaper replacement hinge and came across the Master Plumber 479-56 and reviews say some have used it on a Kohler toilet. While it's true that it fits, it doesn't fit properly and doesn't hold up, especially if you want to use your toilet as a seat with the lid down. That's why. First look at my first photo, you will see that the new lid hinge has a higher tilt angle. This will raise the back of the lid higher than it should without support. The weight of the person sitting on the lid only has to be supported by the hinge itself. This will break the plastic hinge or the screws will come loose from the cover (see last picture). See Figure 2 below for fasteners, IE hinge, mounting screws and nut. The black nut holder is Kohler, the 2 white nuts are part of an exchange kit, the rightmost nut needs to be changed to fit the Kohler bowl. A genuine Kohler piece is inserted into the bottom of the bowl and centers with the loop when tightened. Incoming spare parts do not fit in the hole. Some would say turn the nut over, well you could, but then the hinge itself, along with the attached seat, moves everywhere. Also, you can't use an old Kohler nut because the threads on the replacement bolts are different. The solution is to take a spare nut (again see fig 2, middle section) and grind the chamfer on the nut. This allows the nut to center itself and creates a flat on each side of the nut that can be held with pliers to tighten. Also, use the biggest screwdriver you can find to install the screws. Otherwise you will not be able to tighten them enough. I believe this hinge works properly on other toilets and seats and probably deserves more stars for it. "Suitable for most toilets" is written on the packaging. That may be true, but I'll say it again: THIS IS NOT SUITABLE FOR KOHLER.