On Aug 17, 6:16 am, wrote:
Greetings all

The house I am currently renovating has a plumbing problem that I need
to correct. Someone in the past hacked a cast iron pipe off within
about 1/2 inch of the hub. The hub is part of a Y-fitting. This is
all 3 inch dia. cast iron. I intend to remove the remaining stub of
pipe and slip a rubber hub coupling into the hub and use 3 in PVC from
the Y-fitting out.

How do I go about removing the short stub of pipe sticking out of the
hub? Under no circumstance do I want to break the hub on the Y-
fitting (this Y-fitting is in the main plumbing stack, in the middle
of a series of fittings assembled end to end).

I have considered using a shortended saws-all blade and making
multiple cuts radially from the inside of the stub outward to the hub,
trying to take the stub out in slivers. I expect that I would have to
tap/beat on 1/2 inch of the stub sticking out of the hub to break the
slivers of the stub pipe free. I also have die grinders at my
disposal but I would be limited to using an electric one since I do
not have a good air source there - and the cut off wheel would be
radial to the hub and not axial. How well will the old lead be bonded
to the cast iron? Will I have to grind it out to remove it. I have a
MAP gas torch used for plumbing but I would think that the cast iron
would be too much of a heat sink to melt the lead. I'm not
considering dragging my oxi-acetaline into the crawl space.

Other suggestions, using tools that a HSM/fabricator might have?

TIA

The lead is soft, all you have to do is cut it in a couple of spots
and it isn't thick, it's cast over the top of oakum. My granddad had
an old Craftsman screwdriver he used for driving through the lead, cut
it in a couple of spots and it should peel right out. It's a
mechanical joint, after the lead was cast, the plumber used specially
shaped caulking chisels to tighten things up by tapping on the top of
the cast lead. I've still got all the stuff for doing that. Took the
screwdriver back to Sears, though, he'd about pounded the shank
through the handle. They gave me a new one.

Stan