Newer Spreader drum loose on axle

I am trying to repair a small pin hitch, ground-driven Newer Spreader. The flat-free tires are in decent shape, and both sets of bearings are tight and work fine. Normally, when the brackets on each rim are flipped, it locks the wheels to the axle and starts turning the drum. On this one, the drum is not locked to the axle. Seems like a shear pin or something has broken, but I cannot get inside the drum to find/fix the problem. The wheels are completely frozen to the axle. A new drum assembly and two tires is $500. Rather than spend the money, I'm wondering if cutting an access hole in the drum might allow me to tack-weld or find some other way to lock the drum to the shaft. Anybody ever tackled this problem?

Follow Ups:

• Re: Newer Spreader drum loose on axle - K.LaRue-VA 08:17:27 08/06/18 (0)

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