We have a traditional tripod feeder with a 55 gallon drum that started acting up. The lid JUST WON'T go back on. When I took the ring off, the lid popped off like it was under tension. Put one bag of corn in and tested the lid. No joy. Last year did the same thing, we had to empty it out, tilt it over and take the legs off. That seemed to 'reset' the shape of the barrel.

It seems like the rim of the barrel is warped or not round anymore. It has angle iron welded on that the slide down into the legs, maybe they are warping the shape of the top? Anybody had the same experience? We ended up putting the lid on as best we could, and setting some cinder blocks on top. Set the feeder times real high to empty it out fast.

Those stand and fill bucces feeders are looking pretty good, am tired of wasting my time. We have one now and are pretty happy with it.

Anybody have a similar experience?

Is the feeder standing level and straight? If not then the weight of the corn and if you have had a wet summer then the feeder may have sunk on one side. It may be that it is in a bind from sinking to one side. I would just get a new feeder if the feeder is old.

If your talking about the original barrel lid and clamp, yea. Back when I used those I often kept an old hammer on top of some feeders for hammering the lid around the edges forcing on shaping the barrel back so I could clamp the ring back on. I since replaced all of the lids with galvanized steel slip on lids like what Boss Buck makes. They fit just loose enough that the barrel rim slightly out of round has not been a problem.

This is not unusual and is easily fixed with a slip on lid. To use what you have use a pipe clamp and a measuring tape to take the oval out of the barrel.

sounds like the legs are sinking in the ground or for some other reason are putting unequal tension on the legs which is distorting the shape of the barrel a little bit. A slip on lid would be the easiest way to do away with the problem. I run them on all feeders. I got tired of dealing with the banded lids a long time ago. The banded lids also hold water and will rot out faster than a slip on lid that doesn't hold water.

We got tired of the lids being a problem and it is also very humid where we hunt so we needed ventilation. We went with a heavy plastic lid that snaps on like the one in the picture below. Just be sure you get the one for an OPEN TOP drum, not the one for the closed top that has a bung in it. Using these stopped our corn from molding and we have never had one come off in over 10 years of using them. We ordered ours from Granger, but Amazon has them also.