Sliding Gate Mis-Aligned After Repairs

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dibbons

dibbons

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La Paz, B.C.S., Mexico
We have two very heavy steel gates at the entrance to our property in Mexico. They meet in the middle and each have a pair sturdy cast iron 4" wheels that ride along angle iron (angle iron is set in concrete along the bottom). Over the last 10-12 years the bottom portion of both gates began to rust away (the fabricator that just repaired the damage said the original construction used too thin a gauge of materials). Anyhow, Jose the fabricator who replaced about a two foot section along the bottom of both sections (the portions still in primer in the photos) I thought did a good job of repairing the rust damage and used a thicker caliber metal in the process. However (and I'm not surprised), the two sections no longer meet up perfectly in the center (more gap on the bottom-about an inch).

Examining things with a carpenters' level, I find the gates are hanging almost good and square (the bubble just off a tiny bit) so things are already pretty close to perfect (considering the size of the gates and the extent of the damage, I can't really complain). Nonetheless, we need to find a quick and easy solution to get things lined back up so the lock on the gates can be re-installed. Since Jose sent two of his workers to perform the final installation, he has personally not seen the gap yet. Before he swings by, I thought about asking for opinions from construction savvy forum members on where to go from here? Thank you.

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When he cut the bottom of gate(s) off that edge tubing could have sprung.
The way I see this setup there isn't much that can be done.
Id run a piece of flat plate on the edge to overlap the gap, round the edges of the plate and it should look ok
Thats a hard repair and it looks like the guy did a excellent job
 
Can you post pic's of the wheels ? Are there four on each gate ? Two at the top and two at the bottom right ? Does each wheel have 1,2 or 3 u bolts holding them ?
 
I've only repaired hinge mount bolts that broke out of concrete columns, and the Columns themselves, as the block and mud were blown out, for super large gates. I actually had to remount the power Ram arms. And I've built some Massive Custom wood ones. Hard to say what shifted around. If he can make it lock, and it swings, and looks good, it's good. Remember, it's a repair. Hope they make it right fer Y'all!
 
If the track is angle iron, would it be possible to drill a few holes, maybe one each, run a tap, install bolts, raise as nec, ( think jacking bolt ) cut-off wheel excess above, and fill with loose cement, or not, - or just use bolts to remove angle iron, and re-bed . .
If you do 2 each side, once plumb, remove one bolt, install cement thru hole, re-install bolt, repeat with other bolt, viola, re-bedded
Or some variation .
Good luck .
 
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Looks to me like the left hand door is level, but the right is sagging

Can we remove the axle from the wheel, drill a new hole for it 1/2 inch lower and reinstall it?

Looks to me like that would do the trick
(In short, the wheel got welded to high after the repair)
 
First off metal thickness only changes the I. D. not the O. D.
Second how much off is just a little on the bubble.
A little is a lot over a long length.
 
Steve welder said:
When he cut the bottom of gate(s) off that edge tubing could have sprung.
The way I see this setup there isn't much that can be done.
Id run a piece of flat plate on the edge to overlap the gap, round the edges of the plate and it should look ok
Thats a hard repair and it looks like the guy did a excellent job
Click to expand...
This.
 
Old man ray said:
First off metal thickness only changes the I. D. not the O. D.
Second how much off is just a little on the bubble.
A little is a lot over a long length.
Click to expand...
Absolutely, just a lil off center could be 1/8" per foot. That's an inch in 8'. I'm really crazed w/ a bubble. I use American made levels that are guaranteed to be -/+ .0005 per foot. But I prefer a laser for alot of thing's
 
The gate has no hinges, it slides back and forth with on wheels on the ground and has wheels above (not weight bearing) that slide in a channel to keep it standing up straight.
 
The wheels at The top where they attach to the gate.
If they are like the style we use here, they should be ajustable
Do you have a close up picture of those
 
Old man ray said:
The wheels at The top where they attach to the gate.
If they are like the style we use here, they should be ajustable
Do you have a close up picture of those
Click to expand...

The wheels at the top just slide and keep the gate parallel to the ground. Trying to use them to bear the weight of the gate would make the gate very difficult to slide.

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72Duster440 said:
Is there a way to raise the wheels?
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The bottom wheels, as is, are enclosed in a metal box and use a thru-bolt as an axle. The box is welded into the structure. The wheel could be moved a little inside the box I suppose by moving the hole, but the wheel would hit the "roof" of the box if moved higher more than a little (lowering that end). And the axle hole is very near the bottom of the little box, so that prevents the wheel from being moved too far down (raising that end).

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If the gap was good before he cut out the bad part, there isnt much you can do......A inch opening is a lot, you may be able to adjust the rollers and reduce that but it will never be perfect
When a repair like this is done, the gate has to secured in such a way that when it is released (cut) it will hold square
It's the same principle as when a section of a car frame is cut out.
It doesn't take much if when the gate was cut for the thing to pull
Id run a piece of flat stock, 10 gauge, 1 1/2 or 2" wide plum top to bottom, tack it, round the edges, paint it to match, do that for both sides and call it a day
 
Or you could cut the tubing on three sides bend it to reduce/eliminate the gap and somehow fix were the panels attach
That could make it look worse and is a lot of work
 
So then if you got it repaired and it's still effed up, it didn't get repaired, right?
 
I agree with Steve's comments.
That being said steel has a memory.
When yo build something like your gates they are clamped together or built in a fixture to maintain form while welding.
If the person who cut out the rotted sections failed to temporary weld something to maintain the structural shape that's what looks like the problem.
Those gates are designed to hang and roll from the top channel.
The bottom rollers are to keep them from swinging in and out.
 
Are the bearings good in the wheels?
 
Exactly what Ray said. If the guy took the gates down, would have or should have placed them on a steel bench secured the good part to the bench with clips and tacked to the clips, ran a heavy angle or tubing, whatever is hand across the gate.
The whole idea is to prevent the gate from moving when the bottom is cut out. Welding a thicker wall steel or thicker material is great but it requires more amperage which means more heat which means distortion
MIG would have been my choice but if it was stick welded thats even more heat
If the guy left the gates up, did the job in place and didnt weld braces across the gate, there is your answer
Bottom line is if the gate functions fine, get it to look proper to the naked eye and forget it
You would not get a lot of shops in this country to fix those gates for exactly the reason they turned out the way they did
Most shops here would tell you it's not worth the labor and effort involved. In other countries there is a different mindset that you fix whats broken before scraping it
I still say as far as the pictures show me the guy did a ok job all things considered
 
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Just spit-balling here.
Anyway to just make a "slope/step" top or bottom, on the last inch as it closes, getting the latch to align, if the gates as heavy, it'll have inertia, lol
Good luck
 
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