White Mountain Ice Cream Freezer Tub Latch and Tub Ear Replacement

White Mountain tub latches and tub ears frequently rust because they are exposed to ice, water, and rock salt.

When the original hardware becomes weak, loose, bent, or broken, compatible replacement parts can often restore the freezer without replacing the entire tub.

Traditional ice cream freezers operate with a mixture of ice and rock salt around the freezer can. As the ice melts, concentrated saltwater forms around the tub hardware.

This environment can severely corrode ordinary steel latches and tub ears.

Inspect and evaluate the overall condition of the wooden tub. If it is showing signs of rot or leaks badly even after soaking, it may not be worth investing in new parts and the labor to repair. Instead, consider a new poly Immergood replacement tub. They come with the tub latch, tub ear, and the poly tub center, ready to install your motor and make ice cream.

Inspect the hardware for heavy rust, thinning metal, bent brackets, loose fasteners, broken hooks, or parts pulling away from the wooden tub.

The Immergood tub latch will look nothing like the original but mounts the same using the same hole. It is an improved cam latch style that positively locks the motor and holds it in place.

Before removing the old hardware, measure the mounting-hole spacing, overall length, width, latch reach, and position on the tub.

White Mountain riveted the tub ears and latches on freezers built in later years and will need to have the rivets drilled out using a 1/4" bit before installing the new Immergood parts. Order optional stainless bolt and nut if you have rivets or are unable to use the original bolt and nut.

If installing a new motor, some of the model tub diameter will have shrunk or the tub will be out of round and will require shimming out. We found that cutting shims from the side of a 5-gallon plastic paint bucket worked perfectly.

Photograph the existing installation before disassembly.

Modern stainless-steel replacement hardware can provide better resistance to saltwater corrosion.

Before permanently fastening new parts, verify that the motor bridge or hand-crank assembly sits level, the motor slides down between both sides and latches evenly, and the drive shaft remains aligned without binding.