Customer Reviews

TOTO THU004-01 Trip Lvr For St701Cst854884, Cotton White

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This was exactly the part I needed. We bought an apartment in NYC and it had a TOTO toilet in the bathroom. The handle is built, because of the fairly unusual geometry of the tank, so that the internal metal bar comes into the handle and rests in a small notch. As you flush down on the handle, the internal lever hits one edge of the small notch or trough. As you push further on the handle, the internal lever begins to pivot up inside. Because the notch is a loose fit, allowing for the metal lever to pivot freely as you flush, it causes the metal lever to wiggle around a bit. Apparently, after about a year of us living there (about 5 years old for the toilet I believe), the lever had managed to slowly wear away enough of the metal at the end of the notch of the handle so that you couldn't flush ... it would move the internal metal lever, but not enough to lift the flushing mechanism and flush. I can only assume that the metal the handle was made out of was fairly soft and because of the lever arm, the force needed to flush was fairly high.

Anyhow, I figured out a short term fix was that you could disassemble some of the handle bits enough that you could actually mount the handle backwards (rotated 180 degrees from how you normally flushed it). That allowed us to keep flushing with the same hardware (now hitting the opposite edge of the same notch which had failed initially). That lasted for over a year before I finally found this replacement and I'm sure it would only be a matter of time before it had failed again the other way.

This part was precisely what we needed, although it's hard to tell if it's identical metal and everything else. I'm hoping to get at least 5 years out of this one too. :-)

Citing & agreeing with other reviewers, the ToTo toilet lever handle is really a piece of junk. It is made of poor quality pot metal that will wear out within a few years. The lever unit is also very poorly designed, especially its inability to withstand the long term friction of flushing the toilet. As noted by one reviewer, when pressed the internal lever wears against one edge of the lever trough. Eventually the rod edge wears through one side of the lever trough, resulting in a condition such that when pressing the flush lever the unit does not reset properly to the origin position but continues to allow water flow to the tank. Thus, the real problem with the ToTo lever unit is poor quality materials + bad design. There are several workarounds. First, one reviewer pointed out that you can remount a worn handle backwards (rotating the lever rod by 180 degrees from the normal fit). This works & the adjustment will give you at least one-two years of additional use. Second, since part of the fundamental problem is the excessive play within the lever trough, you can cover the lever rod end with "something" that will take up some slack within the lever trough. This can be easily done with a thin strip of Gorilla Tape wrapped around the end of the lever or better yet cutting a ½ inch piece of ¼ inch vinyl tubing & working this piece onto the end the lever rod. My experience is that adding a bit of vinyl tubing to the end of the lever rod connection will add at least another five years to lever functionality. The basic problem, however, is that the ToTo standard design is fundamentally flawed . . . the standard trip lever is not built to sustain the tension & friction of flushing the toilet over time. Hope this is helpful. Cheers mates.

I always wondered if I'd someday run into trouble with parts on my Toto toilets. Well, this is it. The handle is made out of pot metal and will wear out every few years. So, when you order one of these, you should order two as you'll need another before you know it.

This trip lever was installed in 2 minutes and I know nothing about installing anything! It only took a wrench and all was back to normal. One of the easiest things I've ever done . . . have no fear, you can save money repairing your Toto! The price was great and the product arrived quickly.

Toto parts are hard to find. I was not able to find them at Home Depot or Lowes. Thank goodness for Amazon! The old lever broke after 5 years. If Toto use harder metal, it would have lasted longer.

I had to replace the handle on my Toto Umax toilet. This is the replacement and it works like a charm again. I bought two as we have two Umaxs and another handle may give out again. Three young boys in the house.

Like the other reviewer I think this will NOT be a permanent fix. It will fail again, so be prepared to buy again. It's an easy fix though, just an unnecessary bug in a good (otherwise) product.

this handle is a piece of junk. it wears out quickly and is made of low quality materials. but the turn it over trick does work and you can save some money.

I renovated my bathrooms about 5 years ago, and installed brand new toilets from TOTO as per recommendation from my contractor. Within the first year after renovation, the trip lever broke in each of the 4 toilets in my house. I had to call them to complain, and after fighting with them on the phone they sent me replacements parts. Since then, all four replacement trip levers have broken again. The design is flawed. The trip lever isn't build to sustain the tension of flushing your toilet. We don't over-flush; we're not rough with our toilets. We just use them normally and regularly, and they break. Don't buy this unless you're planning on buying replacement parts every year or two. I DO NOT RECOMMEND this product.

My five star review is pending, as I do not yet have the part, and is based on reviewer Christian's fabulous short term advice (see below).

Like the other reviewers I found out the hard way what a cheesy little handle Toto installs on its toilets. I took the advice to order 2 kits figuring a maximum five year life of the part (remember when toilets worked, or they didn't? Now it is a matter of degrees.) I hope in five years I remember where I put the extra part. Anyway, Christian's advice about installing the old handle backwards as a quick fix was BRILLIANT! Thank you Christian! I ordered the part(s) and, while I am waiting for my super saver delivery, installed the handle backwards so that I have a functioning toilet. Not a bad day's plumbing work for a CPA with 2 left hands!