Had a talk with my neighbor about gate sag and it changed how I look at hinges

My neighbor Joe who's been fencing for like 40 years told me last weekend that I'm overthinking gate sag. He said just use a heavier hinge instead of adding all those diagonal braces I keep doing. At first I thought he was crazy but then he showed me his gate from 15 years ago that's still level. He just used a welded hinge with a bigger pin. Made me realize I been wasting time on extra bracing when the hinge itself is the weak point. Has anyone else tried just beefing up the hinge instead of doing all the extra work?

3 comments

3 Comments

joseph_torres3d ago

Hold on though, I gotta push back on this a little. I tried the heavier hinge route on a big double gate a few years back and the extra weight just ripped the screws right out of the post over time (like stripped the holes clean). Ended up having to redrill and use those big lag bolts with a brace anyway. Plus, if your post isn't set deep enough or concrete is weak, a beefier hinge just transfers all that load to the post and you get sag from the post leaning instead of the hinge. Hinges are important sure, but a good diagonal brace spreads the weight out way better over the whole frame.

bettywood3d ago

My buddy Dave tried the exact same thing on his pasture gate last summer. He bought these massive heavy duty hinges from Tractor Supply, thought he was being smart. Within two months the top hinge bolts had wallowed out the holes in his wooden post something awful. He ended up having to drill all new holes and thread in some 6 inch carriage bolts with big washers on the back side to stop it from pulling through. On top of that, the post started leaning about 3 inches over the winter because the ground froze and thawed around the concrete. You ever run into that issue with the post itself moving instead of the hinge giving out?

brian_rivera593d ago

That reminds me of when I helped my neighbor hang a heavy wooden gate on his barn. He was dead set on using these fancy strap hinges he found online, swearing they'd hold forever. But @joseph_torres, what you said about the post leaning is spot on. His fence post wasn't set deep enough and after one big storm the whole thing tilted forward like a drunk sailor. We had to dig it out, pour new concrete, and even then I think a good brace would've saved us the headache. Sometimes the ground just wins no matter what hardware you throw at it.