Self closing farm gates

[john in la]

Good friend called me today and ask if I will help him build a self closing farm gate that is opened by a push from a tractor or pickup and then closes by itself after you pass.

I have seen only one design in my days.

It consist off a tall metal pole.
The gate is welded to a pipe sleeve that will slide up and down on the metal pole.
It also has 2 cables that are mounted to the top of the pole; wrapped around the pole; and then hook to the top of the gate.
When you open the gate 1 of the cables is shortened because of it wrapping around the pole in the correct direction.
The other cable works in a swing to the opposite direction.
This shorting or wrapping of the cable on the pole makes the gate ride up the pole.
With gravity allowed to work the gate closes releasing the tension or wrapping of the cable.

Does this description make any sense?????????

So I have only seen a few of these and never really used one myself.

Please give me some pointers of things to look out for; different designs that work better; ect.
Or should I just tell him to get off his fat duff and close the gate himself.

Thanks

 

[RobMD]

I had a neighbor with one of those danged things... he was going through it with a tractor and a discbine.. and well, lets say the discbine took the gate along for a ride.

 

[caterpillar guy]

Just put in a cattle guard it does the same thing and don't have to mess with the gate getting caught on equipment. Or you could use a garage door opener to work the gate with and just use the remote to open the gate.

 

[thurlow]

I agree with the caterpillar guy; put in a cattle guard. My Dad bought his first cattle in '51; bought my first in '58. There's no telling how many tens of thousands of times I've opened (gates, but mostly) wire gaps. I've seen cattle guards built out of pipe, angle iron, small I beams and wood. Bought an old Case backhoe in the mid-80s; already had a sawmill and started putting cattle guards in my most-used openings. Squared up pulled/used power poles for beams/joists/stringers (could buy them cheaply from power company and TVA gave me bunches of em') and white oak for flooring. When I sold the last of my cattle in '05, I had 21 cattle guards. PUT IN A CATTLE GUARD.

 

[Allan in NE]

Yeah,

Go with the "fat duff" option. :>)

Allan

 

[James Howell]

If you don't care how it looks, you might hang it a "bubble" or two off level vertically.

My grandfather would always carry a "kid" with him that would swing on the lifetime gate to close it.

Still got the liftime gate, but the "kid" is now too heavy to swing on it.

 

[farmer boy]

There's a self closig gate on PFR. You drive into it and it goes down and it springs back up. It's about 5 ft tall and has some 1/2"? rod that you can simply pull out and walk through.
Push and drive over gate

 

[Anonymous-0]

I was thinking about those today. Don't they become worthless in the snow? Can't cattle can walk right over em when they're packed with snow. Dunno.