MTFCA Forum

Looking at carriers I have. Most have grooves where the thrust plates have dropped down and worn a place. What does that hurt in the long run? I know why it happened, only one pin holding the plate. See red circle in picture.
What if you added a second pin across from it to hold th plate from more rubbing? See yellow circle in same picture.
Any comments? Dan

I see nothing wrong in adding a second pin.
That will keep the thrust washer from pivoting on the single pin, wearing into the carrier.
I dont see there being any more than minor wear in a well lubricated rear end. Where I have seen the most wear here is in a dry rear end from a trailer/hay wagon.
The dropping of the thrust washer is typically caused from a Babbitt thrust washer failure.
In a properly clearanced carrier that drop cant happen as the clearance is .005 & the pins are .062"+ proud of the surface.

Only thing that can concern is if the collar is grooved too deep or oblong from a loose thrust steel plate, might let a plate wiggle more if only the one factory pin.

Dan Hatch wrote: ↑

Sat Nov 22, 2025 4:18 pm

Looking at carriers I have. Most have grooves where the thrust plates have dropped down and worn a place. What does that hurt in the long run? I know why it happened, only one pin holding the plate. See red circle in picture.
What if you added a second pin across from it to hold th plate from more rubbing? See yellow circle in same picture.
Any comments? Dan
IMG_4820.jpeg

Dan, I did that exact thing last winter when I rebuilt my rear axle on my Tudor. So far I have had no problems/issues with it. I also added a 1/8" pipe plug in the bottom to make it easier to drain lube when changing. I did drain and refill a couple of weeks ago, when I put it to bed for winter. I also took a look with my borescope going through the fill plug hole, and everything looked great. Not even any shavings in the bottom.

When returning Henrietta to the road after her 62 year slumber, I checked the oil level in the diff. There was none! But there was a deal of grease, so I could not drain it. I put the plug back in, and eight years later she still goes down the road as well as any T I have ever owned. If ever i need to pull it down, perhaps to replace original thrust washers, I will report my findings. It may mean it just might get a new charge of grease rather than oil that leaks. It ain"t broke yet, so I am not about to fix it!

Allan from down under.

Early on in my T experience, I replaced the oil in my rear end with grease reading that was used originally. I noticed a decrease in power so switched back to oil. Maybe the grease I used was too stiff, but I always ran either 90 or 180 w oil since. I also worried that after the ring gear cut a path in the grease, the parts would not get lubricated. I suspect the reason grease was used was to cut down on leakage at the wheels.

The reason for my question is it is getting harder to find carriers with out the usual wear groove. I have looked an about a dozen, all with different degrees of wear. Some are junk but others? As long as the wear is stopped from getting worse, you should be able to use the carrier.

On the other side of carrier could be harder to save. No where for a second pin. Unless it is a long pin? ???
Dan