Toilets, Sinks, Showers, Tubs and Disposals - Toilet Won't Flush

I was here a couple of days ago (Toilet Filler Tube Broke). Since then I have replaced all the inner workings of the old toilet and learned what the phrase 'do not over tighten' means -- I broke the tank. Well, actually I made a hairline fracture.

I picked up a whole new toilet from Home Depot (an American Standard Cadet 3), installed it, and with the help from a slightly more knowledgeable buddy with more sensitive hands, got all the bolts tightened just right.

We both noticed that the flush handle arm was placed under the filler tube and that the flapper only opened about 1/2 inch. We thought that maybe this was part of the design so we turned on the water and tried it out. Sure enough, as soon as the handle was released, the flapper closed with no flushing action.

I went back to Home Depot with this info and when a helpful guy opened another new tank box, we found that the way the chain was set up on this one, it wouldn't lift the flapper at all. He shortened the chain and managed to get the flapper to open about 1 1/2 inches but it still didn't look like this was enough to cause flushing.

The best he could suggest was for me to start bending things but I thought this was a bad idea.

Is this normal for American Standard?

Just thought I'd let you know ... I fixed it. After finding a picture of what a Cadet 3 is supposed to look like, I determined that the flush handle arm shouldn't be anywhere near the filler tube.

I shortened the flapper chain & bent the arm out of the way. Now it flushes.