Replacing lead-packed shower drain with rubber gasket - questions

[mmcnama4]

Long story short, I determined my shower pan/drain was leaking. I have an old Mustee shower pan with a built-in pan to drain piece, specifically 34.302, and it was lead-packed:


I have since removed the lead packing:


I reached out to Mustee and they pointed me to a 32.401 replacement drain seal and I have a few questions before I begin:

1. How clean do the lead and oakum need to be?
2. Can I push the seal in or do I need to go up from the bottom? If the bottom, why? I already have access below but I feel like I'd have to do some PVC work for anything that involved going up through the bottom.
3. I did just read somewhere else that the pipe should be secured from below. What's the best way to do that?
4. If I'm just pushing it in from the top, is there anything else I need to do, know, etc? It feels like this could be oddly difficult so I'm looking for some solid tips from those who have done it before.

Thanks!

 

[Geofd]

Unless there are threads on the inside to compress the rubber gasket it won't tighten, you can re pack new oakum ,the use lead wool it sounds hard but it's not use brown oakum and pack it in nice and tight about 1/2" below the PVC then pack the wool on after it just takes time you can do it

 

[mmcnama4]

Unless there are threads on the inside to compress the rubber gasket it won't tighten, you can re pack new oakum ,the use lead wool it sounds hard but it's not use brown oakum and pack it in nice and tight about 1/2" below the PVC then pack the wool on after it just takes time you can do it

Thanks. This gasket has what I'd call ribs on both the inner and outer sides but I think we're talking about the same thing based on what I've seen in videos/elsewhere. Seems like I could be good to go with it... plus I don't have the equipment for a lead pour. Feel free to tell me I'm missing something.

Actually, here's a pic of the seal:

 

[Geofd]

That gasket is one you would push into a cast iron hub. The lead wool does not have to be heated or poured,, yes you need packing tools but in a a pinch you could use a big screw driver(flat head) to pack the lead and oakum what your thinking of is much smaller and the strainer itself has threads inside so a bit is threaded over the rubber, compressing it

 

[TomFOhio]

Its probably leaking around the chrome drain. I doubt the lead seal was leaking. Can you get to the bottom of the drain from the basement

 

[mmcnama4]

Its probably leaking around the chrome drain. I doubt the lead seal was leaking. Can you get to the bottom of the drain from the basement

The base of the chrome drain had a hole in it and the oakum was damp:


A new seal has been applied where the lead/oakum was and it is holding water. I have some plugs coming to run an extended water hold test.

 

[TomFOhio]

Sounds good. I thought maybe you did that when digging the lead out