Gate spring installation

I've only ever seen them installed diagonally....might be worth a try!

Me too, and you may need to put an extra twist in the spring, ie rotate one of the ends 360 degrees before fixing, so that the unwinding of that extra turn closes the gate.

Ideally they're vertical (spring axis parallel to hinge axis), with a "wing" to the ends to allow them to be installed on each part. Diagonal installation should be as close to on-axis as you can fit.

Fit loosely first, then undo one end, tension and re-fit. You might well need an assistant for that bit.

Looks like that's my problem. I'll refix on as near a vertical diagonal as I can.

Thinking about it now, I imagine that the spring closes the gate as it tries to unwind itself rather than straighten itself.

Tensioning isn't too much of a problem as there are holes for a rod to be inserted to rotate it (and then drop in a couple of inserts) once it's fixed to the gate and post.

Not sure what you mean by "got it horizontal"?

It's a *torsion* spring which exerts torque around the hinge axis in order to shut the gate.

It needs to be mounted almost vertically - with one end on the post and the other on the gate - just either side of the dividing line. You then have to

F has brought this to us :

It should have been put in vertical, or rather almost vertical. One end (top I think) on the gate, bottom on the post with just a little compression of the spring - then crank the tension onto the spring, enough to make it close.

Last one that I fitted was OK up to using after putting in the inserts - a few tries and they pinged out into the grass. The spring now boasts ch. hd.

Why all this talk about *tension*? It's a *torsion* spring for God's sake! You apply torsion by twisting (and effectively unwinding) the spring - *not* by stretching or compressing it.

to make it close.

Virtually all the common springs in use use torsion but it is common to say they are tensioned.

But you're talking about the *internal* stresses rather than the overall

When you stretch or compress a 'normal' spring, the material of which it is made twists - so the predominant *internal* stresses are those of torsion - but you still correctly talk about tensioning it.