Gate Locking Ideas

[HawkinsHollow]

I am looking for a better solution for locking my gate than the old chain and padlock. My buddy has a cylinder welded to the gate for the padlock to go in. Keeps the crooks from using bolt cutters or angle grinder.
Something like this:
I was just wondering if anyone has easier/more innovative ideas. I come from the school of thought that the harder you make it for a thief the less likely you are to have them around. I KNOW I KNOW if a determined crook wants to get in they will. But I am not going to make it easy for them.

 

[snymat68]

 

[4570Man]

I’ve been wanting to design a better gate lock but I never have. A regular padlock is nearly useless and most of the other protected solutions are a wasp habitat. The best off the shelf solution I’ve seen is a hockey puck lock with the provided holders. My criteria for a good gate lock is a protected lock that can’t be accessed by a grinder or bolt cutters and no blind holes to stick your hands.

 

[oosik]

Yes. The gates going into various areas of the National Wildlife preserve, just across the county road, have similar locking situations. A foot long chunk of heavy wall metal pipe( 4" dia ) is welded to the vertical gate post. A heavy tongue, welded to the movable gate, slides into a slot cut in the pipe. You have to reach up inside the pipe to put a padlock on the tongue. A metal top is welded on the pipe. Inside the pipe is, more or less, weather proof.

Prevents - rifle shots or bolt cutters or hack saws. BUT watch out. The hornets, wasps & yellow jackets really like making big 'ol nests up inside those pipes also.

A cutting torch could do the job. But - there is NOTHING on the other side worth stealing. It's just a lot more open range land.

 

[oosik]

An interesting side note. All that effort to make a vandal proof gate. The fence going both ways from this gate is five strands of barbed wire. Easy to cut and on dead level ground. If you really want/need access - just cut the five strands of barbed wire. 38 years out here - never heard or seen anybody cut the fence to get into Turnbull NWR.

 

[drssg]

If you mean “better” as in more difficult to break through, then I don’t have any input.

I use a Mighty Mule opener on my gate, and I find it much more convenient than a padlock.

Anyone with a pair of pliers could remove the gate from the hinges, so it’s not that secure. I count on criminals being lazy. I want enough security to make them move on to the next place.

 

[MossRoad]

I am looking for a better solution for locking my gate than the old chain and padlock. My buddy has a cylinder welded to the gate for the padlock to go in. Keeps the crooks from using bolt cutters or angle grinder.
Something like this:View attachment 605069
I was just wondering if anyone has easier/more innovative ideas. I come from the school of thought that the harder you make it for a thief the less likely you are to have them around. I KNOW I KNOW if a determined crook wants to get in they will. But I am not going to make it easy for them.

I'd just grind off the tab. It's probably softer steel than the lock anyway. You're better off with obvious cameras and signage for deterrents. Now if you want something that looks more aesthetically pleasing than a chain and padlock, that's different.

 

[MossRoad]

For that matter, it's just fence pipe. A pipe cutter would make quick work of it, or a grinder on the tubing.

 

[4570Man]

For that matter, it's just fence pipe. A pipe cutter would make quick work of it, or a grinder on the tubing.

Or a sawzall. It’s obviously not a high security gate. But in my experience most thief’s don’t think outside the box and usually enter through entryways.

 

[chesternator]

+1 on the puck. In your implementation keep asking yourself what you would do if you lost the key and had to get in right away. This will point you to what a thief/determined individual would do so make it harder

 

[HawkinsHollow]

I’ve been wanting to design a better gate lock but I never have. A regular padlock is nearly useless and most of the other protected solutions are a wasp habitat. The best off the shelf solution I’ve seen is a hockey puck lock with the provided holders. My criteria for a good gate lock is a protected lock that can’t be accessed by a grinder or bolt cutters and no blind holes to stick your hands.

Yes I agree about those criteria.

 

[HawkinsHollow]

+1 on the puck. In your implementation keep asking yourself what you would do if you lost the key and had to get in right away. This will point you to what a thief/determined individual would do so make it harder

Well I would like to think that I would have more tools and time at my disposal than someone trying to break in. My gate is only 200 feet from my neighbors house with a nasty ol' barking pit bull, so a generator powered angle grinder or cutting torch at 2 am might sound the alarm. Thus my desire to implement something more secure than a lock and chain that is easily compromised by a bolt cutter.

 

[Industrial Toys]

I like that big black gate, but it looks like the skinny kids could still get underneith.

Yeah, basically just a box with the HD padlock inside with access to the bottom only. My Gravel Pit customers use them.

 

[oosik]

There is one other point to consider. How will emergency service people/vehicles access your property if called in an emergency. Not all jurisdictions have the "smash & crash" procedure if they arrive at a locked gate.

Likewise - many will not accept a key to your lock. Too many locks, too many keys.

I've read at least one post here on TBN where the fire insurance company would not pay because the fire dept could not access the property.

A serious consideration in my case. My outer gate is over a mile, down my driveway, from my house and out buildings.

 

[TractorGuy]

Cordless grinders and reciprocal saws make it impossible to secure a gate so someone can't get in.

My wife wanted double gates. We have to go and come through the gates often so we have automated openers. I put little padlocks on the pins for the operators so they can't be easily pulled. I also braded all the threaded ends so they will have to be cut off. That and a sign that designates 24 hour video surveillance has worked so far. Prior to adding gates we only had people that were lost entering our property unannounced.

When determined crooks and tresspassers come calling you aren't going to stop them.

 

[EddieWalker]

When I was an Embassy Marine, we had a variety of locks and barriers in the Embassies. Every one of them had a number rating, and that was based on the number of seconds it was expected to keep somebody out who knew what they where doing. There was no such thing as a lock that would keep somebody out for a full minute. 30 to 45 seconds was pretty common.

If the lock becomes too much for a criminal, they will just destroy the gate or the hinges, or the fence. Make it obvious that they are not wanted and that will deter 99 percent of the problem. For me, a chain with a lock on it works great. I also have "no trespassing" signs and lights at the gate, along my driveway, and around my house and outbuilding. Soon, I will have cameras that are both hidden, and obvious to see along with signs letting those know who trespass that they are being recorded.

 

[dmccarty]

We would like to put up a nice gate operator but getting power to the gate would cost a monthly fee which is not worth paying. Putting in solar and a battery just invites a theft problem so we are still using the old transport chain and pad lock system. We have been doing this for decades.

We would like a better looking gate, something nicer than what we have but then that would tell people there is something nicer, ie, worth something on the other side of the gate. Our house is not near the gate and the house can't be seen from the gate so one does not know the house is past the gate. The gate looks like many others blocking a farm road. It is plain and simple and does not show it is protecting anything of value.

An expensive gate usually means there is something expensive behind the gate....

Later,
Dan

 

[Jstpssng]

Mossroad is right. (yet again. ) In another thread I just posted about cutting a lock on a gate very similar to the OP's picture; what I didn't say is that the first time I was there I had to get in, and it took me longer to dig out my hacksaw than to get it opened.
if you do build one though, make a square end as in the picture. I can't find it now of course but there was a photo circulating a few years ago of an F150 with a pipe through the grill, engine compartment and firewall all the way into the passenger compartment.

 

[bcp]

if you do build one though, make a square end as in the picture. I can't find it now of course but there was a photo circulating a few years ago of an F150 with a pipe through the grill, engine compartment and firewall all the way into the passenger compartment.

and

School Bus Impaled On Gate Injury Accident Emerald Ridge High School Puyallup WA - YouTube


Make a way to keep your gate open while you drive through.

Bruce

 

[Jstpssng]

View attachment 605294

and

School Bus Impaled On Gate Injury Accident Emerald Ridge High School Puyallup WA - YouTube


Make a way to keep your gate open while you drive through.

Bruce

That's the one. One set of gates that I was working around had a pawl system so that it would lock into place when opened. I took a picture but had a new phone and somehow it didn't get saved.