This, that, and the other

[mikim]

big trucks and trailers use every inch of that when turning from the 20' wide gravel road
oh yeah ..... I get that -- and even built my entrance for the same reason and problem ...bit of a lapse there ....But I was trying to think of a way to separate the guard from the gate so they don't get in each other's way. It would make for a lot more fence - but if you put the gate 50' in from the road with a really nice big V entrance, then set the guard 50' inside the gate, then you could pull in from the road, open the gate, take your time pulling through the gate, close the gate, then cross the guard that all this time has held the cattle back away from the gate. Would keep them from scratching against it as well.....'Course you'll probably have to re-do your re-do of the drive

 

[EddieWalker]

My entrance is 60 ft off the highway and 25 feet wide. I've had severarl semi trucks with 40 foot trailers in here and they always come close to one or the other gate post. I sometimes wonder if there is such a thing as wide enough because somebody is always gonna cut it close and risk hitting it.

A little off topic, but when talking to owners of RV Parks, the biggest complain that I hear over and over again is that nobody can drive. Too many of them cut the corners too tight when turning and don't realize that thier rear ends will turn even sooner. The longer they are, the worse it is. My Dad has been RVing since the early 1970's and has an allot of miles on them. He's also guilty of cutting corners too close and has had to back out a few times and try it again. It just happens.

My thought on this is to crown the road down the middle and have my drainage ditches wide and shallow. I expect people to hit the road right with the front tires, but know that the back ones will wonder off into the ditches from time to time. Having a wide V at your entrance will solve all your problems if you can get people to aim for the middle of the drive when they make the turn. If they have a flat, smoot way in that they can cut the corner as soon as they get past the first fence post, that's just what somebody will do. It only takes one person to make the mistake and ruin your fence, his vehicle and your day.

At 60 feet off the highway, I'm just barely far enough. 50ft might be a little tight when I have my 16ft trailer on my truck. It's way too short for my parents RV when they are towing thier exporer. When they show up and the gate is closed, they have to park across the road and walk to the gate to open it. 50ft sounds like allot, but it's not. 80 ft is what I should have set mine at and 100 feet would be even better.

Eddie

 

[Bird]

A little off topic, but when talking to owners of RV Parks, the biggest complain that I hear over and over again is that nobody can drive.

That's a fact you can bet the farm on. I got to see lots of interesting accidents and problems in our years of RVing, but the one I got the biggest kick out of was in Virginia Beach when a guy in one of those half million dollar rigs cut too short and ruined one of his basement storage compartment doors against a big oak tree. He got out, looked at it, and said, "Doggone it, that'll cost $5,000 but the worst part is that it'll be in the shop for a month." Someone asked him, "How do you know?" and he said, "Oh, I've done it before."

 

[txdon]

Harvey, I'm not hijacking your thread, I'm the "other".

Pat and Mike, to stimulate my mind more I took a drive in Mike's county and looked at the entrances with cattle guards and gates.

Eddie, I'll see if I can move back a bit more. Thanks!!!!

notes:
#3 is the kind of gate that a man in La Grange was impaled with through his windshield and died.
#8 has no cattle guard but it had big cedar
#11 and 12 are the same - he did the bottom with concrete
#15 cattle guard collapsed under a heavy load??????????

 

[mikim]

Course we've all seen those single pipe gates across cattle guards -- but I guess I wuz thinking you'd need more than that for Harv's "creativity" ....Figgered there'd be a need for MORE SPACE. A simple one like that would make it easier on the opener tho'.

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

TxDon, I currently don't have any cattle so I don't want a "gate" yet. My entry is "angled", not perpendicular. Maybe 75° or so, it gives an advantage of pulling in from 1 direction but a slight disadvantage from the other direction.

My question to you is, What is the biggest thing you can't think about right now that you may need to get thru the gate later on? Will you be willing to cut the fence if need arises? We were prepared to cut the fence when moving my home in here but with the angled entry, it barely squeezed in mainly limited to the big oak trees that line the entry.

One more question Don, What's going to happen to the "little wheel"???

 

[txdon]

My question to you is, What is the biggest thing you can't think about right now that you may need to get thru the gate later on? Will you be willing to cut the fence if need arises? We were prepared to cut the fence when moving my home in here but with the angled entry, it barely squeezed in mainly limited to the big oak trees that line the entry.

One more question Don, What's going to happen to the "little wheel"???

The biggest thing will probably be a cattle trailer, a tractor trailer, a dozer on a trailer, Lincoln fire truck, furniture moving truck, Ron, Harvey, etc..... wait is this a trick question? "...you can't think about right now..." (your working too hard today)

The little wheel is very popular and may end up on e-bay to pay for this new entrance.

Mike, it will be MORE than a single pipe.

 

[wroughtn_harv]

Glenda sat with me and laughed almost as much as I was, almost. Ya'll are something else.

My rule of thumb is enough of an approach to get your expected combination out of the way of traffic when entering the property.

My truck, Lucy, and the fifth wheel, thirty six foot toy hauler, comes out to be fifty four feet long. That's about two feet longer than the truck with the tractor trailer in tow.

Non permit loads I believe have a length limit of sixty five feet.

The jeep rack I built for the old boy with the Peterbuilt wester hauler was an RV train. When we measured out the combination of the truck, fifth wheel, and jeep he was seventy five feet long. When I questioned him he let me know the cops didn't bother RV'rs.

 

[wroughtn_harv]

Today we rough cut the logs for the entryways.

One of the entryways will have three posts on either side. The other one will have two but it will have branches cradling the overhead.

These are rough cut and you will have to use your imagination a little.

First thing to keep in mind is none of the cedar logs will be touching dirt. The three log variation will have it's uprights on mounded concrete. We'll have a rock dressing around the base to disquise it. The branch logs are shorter and we're going to have their bottoms four feet off the ground.

It might help if you're having difficulty getting the inclination of my angle of the dangle to take 4618 and 4621 and look at them sideways. Keep in mind these are rough cut.

Tomorrow we load them up and take them to their new homes. There the fun will start.

One of the funner things I do in life is play it as it's dealt. If I was a pilot I'd wear a patch that says, "we don't need no stinking gauges!" I fly by the seat of my pants. Posting pictures as we go on a project like this where we're going where few have gone before the way were doing it I hope shares some of the funner fun I enjoy so much.

 

[txdon]

First thing to keep in mind is none of the cedar logs will be touching dirt. The three log variation will have it's uprights on mounded concrete. We'll have a rock dressing around the base to disquise it. The branch logs are shorter and we're going to have their bottoms four feet off the ground.

It might help if you're having difficulty getting the inclination of my angle of the dangle to take 4618 and 4621 and look at them sideways. Keep in mind these are rough cut.

I know it's English, however I think it will make perfect sense by the end of the week.