Gate Repair in Lake Los Angeles, CA

Shut the gate and sight down the edge where it meets the latch post. A gap that tapers, wide up high and pinched low, says the leaf has come down on tired hinges. A gap that is even but simply too broad says the post tipped away. A bottom rail scuffing at one place in the swing says the drive has a rise in it. The post is the part nobody checks.

Four tubes welded into a rectangle fold at their joints over the years unless a diagonal ties one low corner to the far high one, and plenty of gates out here never got that diagonal. Where one is fitted and the leaf still hangs low, look for a split at the corner welds. Pulling a wind out calls for clamps and a flat bench, so that leaf travels in to Division Street.

Torn hinge tabs are a post story. Every swing levers the leaf against the hinge post, so that post is sized for the lever rather than for the bolt pattern on the hardware. Fix a new hinge to a section too light and the tab tears off again. We step the post up, or weld a backing plate down the hinge line, then lay the new hinge on clean steel. A post reset in loose Lake Los Angeles ground takes 36 inches of concrete at a minimum, more under a wide leaf, which is this shop's practice and not a published figure.

Where the gate is a pair, the trouble collects at the middle. A drop rod pins the still leaf into a sleeve set in the drive, and a leaf that has sunk pulls the rod off that hole. Once drivers shove the moving leaf across to make the latch catch, the welds at that edge split. Level both leaves, move the receiver to suit, and the rod lands again.

On a slide gate, note where the resistance comes. Stiff at one place only is the track, a bend in it or desert grit packed into the groove. Heavy the whole way is worn rollers, or a frame settled down onto them. Where a motor is fitted, ASTM F2200 caps how far a gate may drop from vertical, 45 degrees, if it parts from its supporting hardware, so stops, keepers and catch brackets go back on with the repair, and a horizontal slide gate carries a positive stop at each end of travel. Motors, boards and wiring are another trade.

This work runs out of our shop on Division Street in Lancaster. Read the full gate repair details, or call (818) 220-8704 and we will come out.