Toilets, Sinks, Showers, Tubs and Disposals - Old weird toilet flange

I am trying to redo my floor and put in a new toilet. The flange is wierd and I can't seem to find a way to remove it. It appears to be metal or cast iron and attached to the stack some how but there is a lead piece covering it that looks like the flared end of a pipe and it appears to be part of the stack as well. This lead collar? has a plastic insert and the wax ring was on top of the lead collar. The plastic insert may have been part of the wax ring? Anyway the lead collar is cracked in spots and seperating from the pipe so I want to replace this before I install the toilet. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

The flange is probably cast iron and is held in place with poured lead. The plastic is,as you said, probably part of the old wax seal. If you remove the flange, you are getting into a lot of work. I would suggest removing the plastic and heating the lead with a torch until it melts and the cracks fill in. The wax seals with the plastic inserts basically "funnel" the waste into the pipe. Working with lead joints from scratch can be very tricky. Hope this helps but if you have more questions, use the reply button at the bottom of this post. Good luck.

NOTE: If you use the torch on the lead, run the flame around the whole area to insure the area is dry. Water and melted lead do NOT mix. Steam can form and blow the lead out of the joint.

Thanks for your reply. The flange itself doesn't appear to be held in by anything other then this lead collar thing because I could turn it to remove the anchor bolts. The problem is that I can't remove the subfloor from under the flange in order to lay a new subfloor and tile. Isn't the flange supposed to be on top and not this collar thing because I couln't even add a flange extension to it if it was cracked?

Now you have me thinking that the lead is merely a "flared" piece that is folded over the flange. You may be able to use pliers and straighten the lead to an upright position and pull the flange off. This would allow you to remove the subfloor. Then you could re-install the flange and "peen" the lead back over the flange.

Thanks for your help. I opened the floor up and discovered it was connected to a copper waste line so I wound up cutting off the irritating lead collar and installing a short piece of ABS and a new flange.