I'd cut that one to the ground Ray. It looks pretty bad.

Dax

Trees can survive long term with quite a bit of bark damage. If there is nothing else that indicates your maple is ailing, I doubt I would contemplate anything as radical as removing it. Previous damage (sunscald?) looks to have scarred over nicely. Squirrels can do a lot of damage to young JM's - they tend to like the rather tender bark for nesting material - but this looks like a very established tree with pretty mature bark. I'm surprised they'd bother with it but maybe other nesting material is in short supply :-)

Generally the recommendation is to remove loose or damaged portions cleanly and let the tree go about its business of compartmentalizing and scarring over the damaged areas.

Thanks for the input here.

The tree is at least fifteen or twenty years old, and it shows no visible signs of distress beyond the damaged bark, so I'll clean up the damaged portions and hope for the best.

Thanks.

The wood underneath the peeling bark is dead. Extensive problems there.

What does the top look like? If not so hot, perhaps it's time to pull the plug & replace it.

It's gonna fall over the way its leaning. Sure the first injury scarred over but there's a serious split from the fork toward the ground that has underneath (a lot of dead tissue). And I saw what jean did, the bark under the fresh area peeled back is completely dead. That tree is going to succomb. The only thing I did not mention was that if it was tall, they could shorten it to provide less stress. My opinion is that tree looks like a rotten tooth.

Dax

Many Japanese maples lean. Often that is one of the features of their very sculptural growth habit. It doesn't imply the tree will fall over. In fact, in all my years in this business, I've yet to see a JM that fell over naturally or without help.

That the tree has been damaged by whatever means is obvious. However I would not necessarily elect to remove it now just based on that issue - many quite severely damaged trees will live on for many years without any additional problems. If the tree appears otherwise healthy (leafs out well, good, full canopy, etc.), which the OP has indicated is the case, then I would be inclined to leave it alone until or if/when it shows obvious signs of distress. Given their modest size, JM's are not difficult to remove/replace when their time comes. But appearance and aesthetic preferences of the homeowner should be the determining factor.

I appreciate everyone weighing in on the matter. Besides the bark issue, the tree appears to be in fine shape with a glorious canopy. It does lean, but that's because the original homeowner planted it beneath the eaves of our home, and it's leaning out beyond the house to touch the sky. It certainly doesn't seem unstable or about to fall over, by any means. Aesthetically, it's gorgeous, with these bark issues facing toward the back, facing the wall of the house, so I don't even see the damaged bark. Until it up and dies on me, I can't see removing it. I'd just like to identify what could be causing the problem and if there's anything I can do to prevent further damage.

Nothing is currently damaging the tree.

The wounds occurred long ago. The tree is still working on covering it up. The best course of action is to leave it be.