Best way to repair badly designed gate

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Reply to
J. Clarke
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WARNING, THIS IS AN ON TOPIC POST!!

I only saw one regular size post at abpw. What I saw among other things were a bungee cord, obviously a subsitute for the broken latch. And brick surface.

I am going to suggest something that worked for me. It may or may not work for you.

My gate was dragging on the ground. The gate was quite heavy. The post and hinges were very strong, albeit at a slight angle. And like you, I hade a gate latch that barely worked.

Being a farmboy, who used to make BIG gates as a kid, I used a little farmboy logic. I went to Ace Hardware and ordered a "Gate Caster (or Castor)". This is a hard rubber wheel that bolts to the gate. It lifts and supports the gate. It has a spring to adjust the tension. If you make the spring tight, the gate closes at about a tenth of the speed of it swinging freely. This was an unintended effect in my case. But still far superior to what existed before. And the reduced speed, slight extra effort to close the gate, may be just what you need.

I also bought the biggest, baddest gate latch they had. MUCH bigger and stronger than that little peice of junk hardware that you have on your gate. Back in the day, they did not make junk like that. Now you have to look for a beefy alternative or special order them. Again, I found both items ate Ace hardware.

Take some good measurements. You will need some big bolts to to fasten the gate caster. (And maybe a helping hand to mount it.) I used small latg screws to mount the heavy duty gate latch. It sloved my problem. I an foggy on the price, but is seemed to me that I paid about $40 - $50 for the everything. Make sure you have a drill bit long enough to drill the necessary holes. I used both locking washers and some kind of locking nut on the bolts. Be sure to drill pilot holes for your gate latch. And get extra long and BIGGER screws for the gate latch.

Remember, this ain't art. Just get the biggest, baddest stuff you can buy and mount it with beefy fasteners. You are big. You are bad. You are macho. Now go kick some ass!

After that, I feel tired. I think I will go take a nap.

Reply to
Lee Michaels

Reply to
Steve Turner

R
Reply to
RicodJour

Thanks! :-)

Reply to
Steve Turner

sites do. However, it does work properly without them.

That site is something I could mention if I'm asked to recommend something.

Reply to
Mark Lloyd

Seconded.

Jon

Reply to
Jon Danniken

WTF? Advertisements, and a huge file I have to download? Buy a vowel. Get a clue. Put it on Flickr, or photobucket, or any commonly used format on the Internet, and I'll give you some advice.

Steve (former steel erection contractor, welder, construction magnet)

Reply to
SteveB

Flickr

Reply to
SteveB

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current Flickr postings to go along with current Usenet newsgroup discussions. Free, easy, and people don't have the aversion to using it as when they have to watch ads or download files that come from a place that leads off with advertising.

Steve

Reply to
SteveB

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