Does this flange need to be replaced?

[SoCal.OG]

Hi folks,

I'm working on an upstairs toilet that was leaking in a downstairs closet. Pretty sure this is an iron pipe and flange...which I find weird as the other toilets in the house are plastic?? Anyway, the pipe is pretty rusted out, but the flange looks like its in decent shape other than the toggle bolts which both snapped off. I have a few questions. 1) I think the ring itself seems to be in good shape? See pics, what do you think? 2) the flange is below the level of the tile. Shouldn't it at least be level? Can I put a spacer on top to bring it level with the tile? 3) On the last image there is that plastic funnel thing. I'm pretty sure that was part of the wax ring. Ive heard different opinions on wax rings with the plastic funnel. Should I stick with that or get one without? Thanks in advance for the help and opinions!

 

[Twowaxhack]

I believe the 3 bolts heads you see are the bolts that draw the lower half of the flange tight and seal against the pipe.

One of these.
https://www.supplyhouse.com/Sioux-Chief-890-I42-Cast-Iron-Closet-Flange-4-Compression
Personally I set my flanges sitting on top of the finished floor. That means the bottom of the actual flange portion sits on top of the tile. The thickness of the flange itself is sitting proud above the tile. No spacers needed. No stupid waxseal with the horn.

Now to do it like I would, you’d need a deeper quick set flange like you have to get you above the tile and you’d also need to fill in under the flange with support and secure it with wood screws.

OR

A deep caulk in flange that you use lead and oakum. Old school way.

OR

You could go down in the closet below and cut the cast iron and replace all that with PVC.

 

[Twowaxhack]

See how deep this one is ? I like it.

I’d remove the old one and use this one after I built up the floor under it so it’ll sit at the right height.

https://www.zoro.com/zurn-closet-fl...ZhbCh1TNQFrEAQYBSABEgJPsvD_BwE#specifications
Building up the floor must be done so the flange is fully supported and anchored to the blocking below.

 

[SoCal.OG]

Thanks for the help and suggestions! So here's what I ended up doing. You guys will probably hate this solution. The original flange proved really tough to get out and and aside from surface rust seemed to be structurally strong. I replaced all of the hardware with new bolts/screws. I used an Oately twist n set iron flange which I was able to buy locally. I placed the new flange on top of the existing one and twisted it tight into place. I used the original closet bolt holes in the 'old' flange and placed the bolts through the old and new flange. This gave me the bonus of adding a little height that I needed. Now with the flange just a hair above the tile line I used an extra high wax ring. Bolted the toilet up and so far so good.

How terrible of a solution is this??