To Tom:
Our Delta tub spout leaks when using the shower. We do not have a three knob shower valve. When the spout is removed from the copper pipe stub a large threaded copper sleeve (about 2 inches in length) partially covers the middle portion of the pipe stub. It is not a male adaptor attached to the end of the stub. I'd like to purchase a universal tub spout but first I'll need to remove the threaded copper sleeve which I believe is soldered to the stub. If this needs to be removed, how is that done? Let me know your thoughts as to what I should do.

I am not tom but, you have to heat it up until the solder melts and pull it off with a plier or wrench. You could try some plumbers tape around the threads (wrap at least six times) to see if this fixes the leak issue. Good luck.