Crankshaft thrust bearing question

[PhilW]

Question for the knowledgeable engine people on the forum;

I'm currently stripping my engine down for a full rebuild and I'm about to remove conrods pistons and the crank.
My Haynes manual recommends that I check the crankshaft endfloat before taking out the bottom end, to see if the crankshaft thrust race needs to be replaced - I imagine that most people will be glazing over now and switching to a more interesting topic 😉.
The endfloat on the crank measured bang on mid specification using a DTI gauge on the end of the crank.
My question is why wouldnt I just replace the thrust race anyway since I am going to be replacing the main bearings and shells. Is there a downside to replacing the thrust race as I cant imagine its very expensive?

Knowledgable feedback appreciated 👍

[Crossers]

For age of the engine and the price of the thrust bearings Phil, just replace them. I think the Haynes is just telling you how to measure the end float...but I can't really think of a reason why you would be doing that anyway!

Paul

[PhilW]

Yea Paul I agree.
I wasnt looking to scrimp, I was just windering if there was some reason why changing it for new could be an issue. As you say I couldnt see any problems.
Probably looks like a silly question now, but this is my first rebuild so I'm leaving nothing to chance, cheers, Phil

[Crossers]

There's possibly some that would say that you don't need to, but if you're doing the shells then it makes no sense not to do the thrust bearings.

Make sure you put the right shells in the right place (oil holes). I got it wrong the first time and had to rebuild the bottom end again :doh:

Paul

[PhilW]

Yea, I'm just going to replace them anyway, cheers Paul.
Getting the shells mixed up eh, sounds easy putting everything back exactly as it came out, but you do need space to make sure that you can lay everything out in a logical fashion. I'm learning that now.

Rebuilding the bottom end must have been a nightmare, easpecially as you would have had to of pulled the engine out of the car again.
Was this the problem that you were posting not long ago, with the noise coming from the front of the engine by the oil pump?