Entry Gate advice appreciated.

[Redlands Okie]

20 ft cantilevered gate only need to be 31 feet long. Not 40 or more It can be "free standing" or have roller wheel on the end if desired. Nylon wheels handle ice better for those times you get ice issues. Track on the ground one way for a slider but not needed for a true cantilever gate. Mighty mule gates brand makes more than a home owners quality product. light commercial openers in swing and slider are available, just often times not seen on web sites or local stores. Calling them direct or accessing their web site will help on this issue. Linear brand I think or a similer spelling is their commercial line. Several price ranges. All avaiable on their web site. Push button on a post, Key pad with multiple codes, and remote openers, magnetic sensors for opening or closing available for all of their products. Solar power get a bit bigger panel than you think you need. Most openers from these brands have room for two batteries if desired.

 

[JRobyn]

How do you handle visitors(friends) that do not know your phone # to call you and get the gate code and/or do not know the gate code and will show up unannounced.

I figure that anyone that doesn't know our phone number has no business coming down here!

We handle visitors in a variety of ways:
- most everybody we know who has a reason for gate access has the last 4 digits of their phone# programmed into the keypad
- we have 0911, 9110 and 3473 (FIRE spelled out on a phone keyboard) programmed in, and have notified the local FD/PD of this
- we often program in a short-term code of MMYY (month, year) and then cancel this out after the month
- we (rarely) program in a "one-time-use" code
- we'll meet service providers at the gate and open it
- we'll use the keyswitch on the control box to lock the gate open for a period.

For emergency access, the pin on the operator ram can also be easily pulled. A padlock can be used instead of a pin. Bolt/lock cutters are standard equipment on all emergency response vehicles. Granted, the simple pin (and the easily-guessed 0911 code) reduce security to some extent. It's a trade off. It has taken a while, but we have finally got FedEx/UPS trained to leave packages at the gate. Also not the most secure, but works ok so far.

 

[flyerdan]

Eddie, if the opening is 20 feet, you'd only need that, plus 1/3 for a cantilever. That's about 27 feet overall, of course if you could go a bit more on the tail it would be better, 28.5 to 29 would be great. Then no track would be required, and you could have a cattle guard (either the rolling steel or concrete) with the bottom rail of the gate only a couple inches above.
As for the emergency override, I'd check with your local FD, they might have a master-keyed switch that they could give (more likely sell) you to put in the keypad box. If I recall, all the various override devices go to the same spots on the barrier strip, the opener doesn't care what it gets the signal from.
28 feet is fairly small for a cantilever (from my standpoint anyway, mine averaged 43) so it should be fairly easy to build, and not be too heavy. What type of fabric is it going to be filled with? I'm assuming that you're going to have some kind of deer fencing around the rest of the property that you will want to match with all the gates.

 

[breadtrk]

Just make sure it is far enough with easement enough from the main road to get a long nose stretch tractor and 53 ft trailer in from the road without tearing up the gate, ditch, shoulder or anything else. You may think you will never need that..... until you do.

 

[aczlan]

Just make sure it is far enough with easement enough from the main road to get a long nose stretch tractor and 53 ft trailer in from the road without tearing up the gate, ditch, shoulder or anything else. You may think you will never need that..... until you do.

So you're saying about 90 feet? There is a truck that parks at work that has a huge sleeper, a long gap between the sleeper and the trailer and looks like it takes half of Texas to turn around in. I think he's gotta be at least 35 feet from the Kingpin to the front bumper.

Aaron Z

 

[breadtrk]

Yeah, pretty much, but only a 1/4 of Texas. I don't think Eddie needs to worry about it but a ladder truck can save a home, IF it can turn into it. There is also the implement that a guy orders and some independent gets the load on his lowboy but can't get to the house because of the drive entrance.

I had to decline a free truck load of PT 2x material the receiver refused because the driver didn't tarp it simply because he couldn't turn in my drive. He tried my neighbor since he could turn in there but neither of our tractors had enough umph to get the stacks off. While we were screwing around his broker called with a buyer that was able to unload and pay, so that was the end of that.

You don't know you need that much room..... until an unusual circumstance says you do.

 

[EddieWalker]

I've decided to go with a sliding gate. I've never done one before, so I'm hoping that the number of mistakes I make will be minimal. I'm looking into the wheels and track to use and saw some pictures online of the angle iron being welded onto what look like a 2x2 square tubing. The tubing is then set in concrete at the driveway, and kind of bridges out over the ditch on the side.

Is there any reason to buy or use the angle iron for the track? Why couldn't I just turn the 2x2 square tubing diagonally and use that edge for the wheels to travel on?

I'm going to order these wheels Steel V-Groove Power Wheel and see how well they fit on the angle edge of square tubing.

 

[flyerdan]

The reason not to use square tubing on edge is that it usually has a more rounded edge while the angle is square cornered. This allows more contact with the V-groove wheel. I'm afraid that the tubing would start to wear due to the limited contact area, much like a v belt will wear out if used in the wrong pulleys.

 

[crackerjack222]

I think the angle iron would be cheap enough and much easier to replace than 2x2 half buried in concrete.

 

[Got2BTru]

Good thread! We're FINALLY building our house now and I'd like to add pillars at the entrance and a gate. I'll go with sliding though as we get snow and the swing seems like it will be a mess when we get even a foot of snow!