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Winged_One's avatar
Winged_One
Explorer
Jun 01, 2014

Removing underbelly material, what might I be getting into?

I have 3 cable pulls for my holding tanks. The toilet tank pull is harder to pull, sometimes very hard the first time used for quite a while.

Unfortunately, the valves are hidden behind the underbelly material. I want to get to them to lube them. It's the standard big black sheets that appear to be screwed in place.

Underbelly material

What kind of hell am I going to have if I try to remove and then reinstall these sheets? Will the screws hold again? Should I get new larger washers?

It looks like there is some kind of sealant along the edges. What should I use to reseal?

OR Will a commercial liquid lube you put down the toilet work just as well?

Example of lube
  • You can't hurt anything with that commercial lube but it's actually just a non-ionic surfactant (soap) and water. I would try mineral oil or a vegetable oil.

    If you do have to get into the underbelly area, don't sweat it. Remove the screws and cut the sealant with a utility knife. The under belly sheet should fall off, easily. You can seal the material and the mating edge back up with caulk when reinstalling. Put the screws back into the same holes.

    Good luck with your sticky valves.
  • Definitely try the lube first. Likely they say drain the tank well and rinse, then add the lube to a small amount of fresh water and work the cables.

    Run the cables as much as you can, and collect in a bucket, then put it down the drains and run it a few more times. A few times through will likely fix your problems right up.

    There was a thing on here a few days ago.. I think someone tried olive oil or something like that and reported remarkable success.
    here you go

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