Is this a thrust button and can it be removed?

I pulled my axles and went green bearings. A year later my rearend was making some grinding and other noise. Well this is what happened.
Quoted from another article.
Upon axle removal the button will get stuck on the axle shaft end with a little film of gear oil and when you pull the axle out it will surely fall off and land into the bottom of the rear end housing as the axle end clears the spline.

Rear gears were all chipped up. Found the 3 button pieces in the housing. Changed my gears and luckily no other damage.
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Interesting to here and sorry it happened. I cannot draw mine out even with a very strong magnet. Was yours a cone sure grip, disk or open style?