Tightening up slop in tube gate hinge???

[lostcreekranch]

(I guessing you do not have cattle in this area), but if you hang a gate in a cattle handling pen put the bottom hinge up like you have it and then point the top hinge bolt so it is pointing down and slide the hinge up on the pin, that way large animals can not rub or knock the gate off the hinges,

Or someone with bad intentions could easily just lift gate off of the pins on hinge end.

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[TomSeller]

(I guessing you do not have cattle in this area),

but if you hang a gate in a cattle handling pen put the bottom hinge up like you have it and then point the top hinge bolt so it is pointing down and slide the hinge up on the pin,

that way large animals can not rub or knock the gate off the hinges,

I saw that too, but recalled at least one of his hinges is welded rather than the clamp type. Maybe they both are?

 

[s219]

He could have flipped the top pin, since the mating socket on top is a clamp-on (typical for bottom to be pre-welded and top to be clamp-on). And then for extra insurance against theft/intruders, you can put a carriage bolt through the top clamp and gate tube, and secure the nut with red locktite. Or weld if you're real sure about things! I used a bolt/locktite on the top clamp, but in retrospect could have welded that top clamp since I haven't needed to make any changes to the gate in over 2.5 years since it was installed.

Any of these tweaks are for livestock or casual thieves/intruders. A determined intruder will be prepared to saw/grind/torch through the gate no matter what.

 

[Attono]

1, not sure what you are defining as slop, is there pin in socket slop, or is the clamp on hinge moving on the tube frame.

Are the pins in the same plane vertically?

Yes

Is there slope on the ground its arc swings on?

it's not perfectly flat, but pretty close.

If nothing else, then a gate wheel should help as long as no binding.

It probably would IF it didn't bind. But the gate opener instructions also are very explicit in saying NOT to attach a wheel. There's no room for a wheel between the gate and the post on the other side, so it would have to go either on the inside or outside. For aesthetics, it would have to go on the inside, so it would need to stand off from the gate enough to allow the wheel to pivot all the way around without contacting the gate. I'll have to go to Northern Tools to take a look. This might work.

 

[Attono]

A 16' gate has a tremendous amount of leverage on your post, even it is in concrete. Since your post is at 90 degrees from the fence line, the fence is not "pulling back" on the post. And just wait until someone decides to climb over the gate at the far end away from the hinge to get to your house (solicitor). I would put that gate wheel on no matter what and see if it can bottom out if anyone climbs on the end of the gate. If you have wetter soil like I do, just sitting there day after day will eventually lean that post, unless you put down a LOT of concrete. Nice looking gate and good job on the details.

There's a latch on the closed end to support the weight of it. I did put in 2 80lb bags of concrete. I imagine it will lean eventually, but I'll jump off that bridge when I get to it. One good thing about having a FEL, I can pull it out when I need to.

 

[mjw357]

Loosen and rotate the top clamp clockwise slightly about 1/4 turn maybe and tighten. See if that doesn't raise the end of the gate some when it's open.

 

[Attono]

I am thinking the hinge side of the gate being "plumb" in both directions is more important than being level. I guess it would be the same thing if we can trust the gate being "square" but is it really square? I think that is what the other poster is alluding to, the gate may be sagging out of square.

As an experiment, have you tried loosening the hinge clamps and twisting them on the gate? For instance, take the top hinge and loosen it, and twist it a little bit so it pulls back on the top of the gate. It will throw it off a little bit when it's closed but you no one would notice it but you. And it would pull the gate up when it opened.

Yes, I did that when I took the pictures. I loosed the top hinge bracket and put a few 2x4's under the end when it was open and then rotated the hinge bracket and tightened her down. It does run through the range of motion without touching the ground now, but it just bugs me that when it's closed, it's now canted instead of being level. It works, I guess I should just leave well enough alone.

 

[mjw357]

Yes, I did that when I took the pictures. I loosed the top hinge bracket and put a few 2x4's under the end when it was open and then rotated the hinge bracket and tightened her down. It does run through the range of motion without touching the ground now, but it just bugs me that when it's closed, it's now canted instead of being level. It works, I guess I should just leave well enough alone.

Looking through the pictures again, it's pretty obvious the ground slopes up there slightly. So other than grading your yard, there is nothing else you can do except raise the whole gate a couple inches to clear.

 

[TomSeller]

Yes, I did that when I took the pictures. I loosed the top hinge bracket and put a few 2x4's under the end when it was open and then rotated the hinge bracket and tightened her down. It does run through the range of motion without touching the ground now, but it just bugs me that when it's closed, it's now canted instead of being level. It works, I guess I should just leave well enough alone.

You likely will be the only one who will notice the cant. I think you did a great job.

 

[Scott65]

I concur with everyone saying to rotate the top hinge. It seems that the issue would be the bottom pin in the post is slightly closer to the street than the top one. I've found this to be the hardest part when building a gate setup, personally. If the gate leaning really bothers you, you could oversize one of the holes in the post and move the pin in or out. You would have to use a pin that goes all the way through the post. They usually come with large washers that would cover the oversized hole.

I don't know how common these style gates are elsewhere, but they are pretty much the norm here in Texas for pasture gates and rural entry gates. I've never seen one that came with a diagonal rod or cable. And I'm not aware of one ever sagging. I think it would have to be nearly rusted out our have broken welds. Since it's all welded tube, it can't sag unless it has structural damage