Rebar cattleguard

[slowa]

Looking for a cattle guard that can be made from available supplies at local home depot. Needs to be able to support 32,000 lbs to meet HS-20 aka cement truck.

Schedule 40 re-bar has a tensile strength 60,000 pounds.

Anybody got any bright ideas as to how to improve this plan? Or does it look like it will hold up?

 

[RickB]

No way that design will support 32,000 lbs. No way a qualified truck driver is going to cross that. Prefabbed cattle guards are readily available. Buy one if you think that posted design is a good idea. It is not.

 

[rsallen]

24 inches is the depth?
What are the actual dimensions of the pit?
How or what do you expect to bolt to? There's nothing showing on the grate that can be bolted.

Why does it need to come from Home Depot?

 

[slowa]

Thank you for taking a look. The prefab guards are thousands of dollars. Thus the search for a better DIY plan.

 

[RickB]

Thank you for taking a look. The prefab guards are thousands of dollars. Thus the search for a better DIY plan.

A proper guard has several hundred dollars of materials, qualified engineers behind the design, and product liability coverage. If you think you can't afford one, at least copy a good one.

 

[slowa]

Not necessarily home depot. A local building supply store, menards, what-have-you.

I am thinking the border of the pit would be level cement block filled with concrete. Ends of the rebar bolted to that. Something I can undo, to clean out the pit if needed.

I have been reading that around 24" deep is ideal. Too deep and you get animals stuck in there if you they do cross. Too shallow and it's not a deterrent.

 

[Rock knocker]

What is schedule 40 rebar?

 

[rsallen]

I wasn't questioning the depth, only what the actual outer dimensions were.

How often does a cement truck need to drive over that bridge? And what would be 'normal' traffic?
If that cement truck only needs a few passes for one project then open a separate roadway around it.

 

[slowa]

A proper guard has several hundred dollars of materials, qualified engineers behind the design, and product liability coverage. If you think you can't afford one, at least copy a good one.

The rebar plan above is based on this plan
http://www.utlands.utsystem.edu/images/BestPractices/CattleGuardDetail_8X16.pdf

Which I simplified to
http://spofu.com/yay/cattle-guard-plans-pipe.jpg

I priced the steel pipe at my local plumbing supply place and online at metal suppliers and I could hire a part time security guard to stand watch for the same price.

 

[LiveRoll]

Most of the ones I have seen are manufactured from heavy wall tubing and engineered, not saying they have to have bridge specs, but you must remember that as that loaded cement truck breaks through your texas gate ( cattleguard) it now becomes your responsibility.....

Cheers

Roger