missing gates

[poorboy]

Drove to the other end of the farm the other morning before work. I met my herd in the road. Apparently someone thought I really didn't need one of my gates any more. I wired the space up and checked some of the other gates. I had lost one two years ago and when I put in some new gates I had bradded some chains around the bottom. It appears they tried to beat those off also with no luck. All they really had to do was knock off 4 pieces of board and lift them off over the post.
I don't know the value of a hot, used 16 ft. gate, but putting one up is not my favorite thing to do. And replacing one at the sence of being violated makes me even madder. Especially after getting my cows up on the highway. Let alone the liability of livestock on the loose. It was just before the school bus ran by on the second day of school.

If I had access to a portable welder I woul weld nuts on top of the hangers. Thats about all I can think of. Any body have any other Ideas.

Patrick

 

[alco141]

take your welder and put your name on the gates, at least if someone sees them somewhere you might catch the theives.
alex

 

[Egon]

Just Thoughts:

Put some verticals on the gate that will make it very difficult to move on the highway due to its size.

After the gate is in place pour about 200 # of concrete integrated with the hinge post to make it too heavy to lift off the hinges or onto a truck.

Egon

 

[MikePA]

The gates I have use the 'L' shaped hinges. The long leg of the 'L' is threaded for screwing into a wooden post. The short leg is where the gate sits. I point the bottom hinge up, which is standard. I point the top hinge down. This prevents our horses from lifting the gate off it's hinges. The enterprising thief could unbolt the part of the hinge that attaches to the gate, but a few taps from a chisel on the U bolts would prevent that.

This is kind of hard to explain, so I will take a picture when I get home tonight. Nothing can be much cheaper than turning the upper hinge a half turn more and a coupla whacks with a chisel. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif No need for chains, locks, concrete, additional bolts, etc.

 

[wroughtn_harv]

What a crime Poorboy. You might consider getting some hardened chain and just running it around the hinge post and through the gate and then using a lock. If it's a wood post and you have wood rails you might consider screwing in a good eye bolt into the back side of the post and then running your chain through that.

Keep in mind chances are your thieves are young guys either stealing to sell or stealing to use. It's evident to them that you can afford a new gate and they can't.

So just make it difficult. The number one thing you have to remember about thieves is they are lazy. Make removing the gate work and that's the best security system you can find.

If your post is wood I think I would use the eye screw, not a machine bolt through with a nut, but a screw so the only way to remove it is by unscrewing it. Something you cannot do with a chain through it. I'd also consider putting this chain and lock up high enough so that it's obvious. No sense in wasting their time taking everything apart and then not being able to get the gate after all that effort.

I believe something like this will cure your problem.

After all it's obvious you're dealing with a simple thief./w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

 

[dourobob]

Sounds like a nice application for the Zena <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.zena.net>http://www.zena.net</A>. Hard to justify the cost for a couple of gates but ... you never know what the CFO might say /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif.

 

[dmccarty]

poorboy,

I'm assuming you have a wooden gate post.

My gate is in a PT 6x6. The L hangers for the gate are
screwed into the 6x6 something like 4 inches. I had to use
the large bit I had to drill out the hole to fit the L hangers.
I then used an 18 inch section of pipe to screw the L hangers
into the post. I was not really worried about someone
stealing the gates but I was worried about access so I use
a heavy grade 70 transport chain and a good lock to tie my
two gates togather. But they could still lift the gate off the
L hangers.... /w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif

So I got four wood bolts, big things about the size of the L
hangers and screwed them into the 6x6 just above the L
hangers. Without the pipe and a socket wrench those bad
boys ain't moving. Course someone could just chainsaw
down the post but that is to much work for a lazy thief. I
hope. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

The two screws/lags are cheap insurance and if they want
to take the gate they are going to have to work hard to
get it....

Hope this helps....
Dan McCarty

 

[Mike_Dumond]

Might be a little militant, but 12 guage with rock salt might solve the problem.

 

[MikePA]

Attached are two pictures of the upper and lower hinges of one of our gates. As you can see, the gate cannot be lifted off the hinges unless you loosen the U-bolt on one of the blue parts of the hinge. To loosen one of the U-bolts would require a socket wrench and an extension. Use a chisel to ruin the threads on the U-bolts and someone would have to be real determined to get the gate.

 

[Egon]

Hacksaws are a wonderfull invention.
Think along the lines of claymore mines!!

Egon