Combines rotor surgery

There is solid discs spaced long the rotor for support. No matter what you do to remove trash from inside rotor you will have to have it rebalance.

Take a look at this link.

As the others have said,there are baffles inside the rotor and that is what gives the rotor strength. I suggest using a hole-saw to make an opening as close as possible to the rock hole.You can sometimes tell where the baffles are by looking for plug-weld spots on the outer skin,but they are small. I assume the debris inside is small stuff that could be sucked out with a shop vac.I would attach another smaller hose to the end of the vac hose[tape it on if necessary],and then use as small of a hole saw as possible .Maybe 1" or something like that. You won't be able to weld the piece removed back on,but you could make another patch that would work.As far as balancing,that is always best,but by using a patch that is not too big and adding only the weight of the weld used,you should still be within the tolerances allowed.Consider the size of the weights used at the factory for balancing,and those things only weigh ounces.Hope this helps.

Kinda looks like the inside of a popcan! Pretty light material, I'd say. JMHO E.

Biggin, You can tap on the rotor to find the disc. I patched a 1480 rotor with a auger finger hole around a raspbar mount. Welded up the hole, used a jigsaw to cut 3 sides of square 3"X3" hole bent it up with a screwdriver dumped out the dust and welded it back. No problems. Cut your hole at the bottom of the section your puncture is in. Ground your welder on a raspbar not on the chassie to keep from welding through a bearing.

CIH will rebalance your rotor for nothing after you get is fixed up. Problem is that you have to take it to East Moline Il to get the balancing done.

Thank you for the replies. Cutting with a jigsaw instead of a torch is a very good idea. The pictures were excellant.

Had another thought about keeping things balanced.Don't make the patch too big,and keep track of how many rods you use welding it if you use rods.Then rotate the rotor half way around and run some short beads on the rotor skin to use up the same amount of rod.If you use wire,I would suggest welding a circle on the other side the same size as your patch.The IH combine plant at East Moline now charges $100 to rebalance a rotor,and your dealer must make the arrangements.Not a bad deal,but I think you should be so close to being balanced within tolerance,that you should be ok.Good luck.