Chipper drum failure

southsoundtree · 2026-01-18T01:02:53+0000

I'm curious how close a real world balance gets to truly balanced, and at what amount out of balance it will start to matter.

flushcut · 2026-01-18T01:36:23+0000

Bigdog12 said:
Idk if I said this already but a new drum from Vermeer is $11,500ish, that doesn’t include the shaft. A different company has drum and shaft available for $9,500ish..this weld cost me a couple hundred bucks.. that being said I don’t want to have to take this machine apart again if the weld fails.. I’ll get a second opinion on the welds. My understanding is the drum is held to the shaft via wedges with large bolts.. my current drum has 5,9000 hours and has never been off the shaft in 20+ years.so I’m not gonna try. Lots of wear on the drum, I don’t think welding this crack closed will have any significant bearing on the drum’s “balance”.

It certainly looks like a “couple hundred bucks” fix not repair. It looks like there is undercut, porosity, inconsistent bead profile, and poor blending, all the ear marks of future failure. Just saying but I wouldn’t be happy with that, at all.

Matias · 2026-01-18T01:40:37+0000

Reach said:
What’s with the big crack on the side of the pocket visible in the photo?

Also, I don’t like that inside taper design of the drum, seems that would allow a certain amount of flex in the skin that might cause it to be more prone to delamination.

Hopefully that repair holds up well for you, and is balanced well enough to work properly!

That big unwelded section on the edge is definitely what worries me the most. If the unit is run and fails and someone gets hurt, does the welders insurance cover it? does it even matter if it continues to cost you down time?

Bigdog12 · 2026-01-18T12:43:37+0000

flushcut said:
It certainly looks like a “couple hundred bucks” fix not repair. It looks like there is undercut, porosity, inconsistent bead profile, and poor blending, all the ear marks of future failure. Just saying but I wouldn’t be happy with that, at all.

Fair enough, welding isn’t my forte but I will definitely have another set of experienced eyes look at it before I go through the trouble of putting it back into the machine.. making me think harder about biting the bullet for a new drum…

Bigdog12 · 2026-01-18T12:47:56+0000

Matias said:
That big unwelded section on the edge is definitely what worries me the most. If the unit is run and fails and someone gets hurt, does the welders insurance cover it? does it even matter if it continues to cost you down time?

I’ll take it to another shop for a second opinion.. I doubt their insurance would cover anything.. I run one crew and this is my 3rd, oldest, and smallest chipper, so it’s costing me more in shop space than downtime.. it needs to be useable for pruning/ under CDL driver, or sellable.. either case drum needs to be functional.

Bigdog12 · 2026-01-18T12:49:56+0000

southsoundtree said:
I'm curious how close a real world balance gets to truly balanced, and at what amount out of balance it will start to matter.

Me too, this thing had heavy wear spots, didn’t seem perfectly cylindrical at all.. never bounced, or “felt out of balance” and the bearings were fine, so idk

flushcut · 2026-01-18T13:18:16+0000

Bigdog12 said:
Fair enough, welding isn’t my forte but I will definitely have another set of experienced eyes look at it before I go through the trouble of putting it back into the machine.. making me think harder about biting the bullet for a new drum…

I would. That other shop did you dirty.