Tight gates

[Dave]

I never figure a value on my time. I get a couple pretty good checks a month and they come in if I am doing ranch stuff or sitting in front of the tube. Health wise I find it better to be doing things. And it is not any quicker or easier to hang a tube gate than to build a wire gate. And if we are figuring time and total cost. It takes an hour and a half plus 60 miles of mileage to drive to the nearest place that sells tube gates. A 16 foot gate sticks out too far on the back of a pickup so I have to drag the trailer along on the trip.

 

[chevytaHOE5674]

I dont have a dog in the fight as I have both tube and wire gates. But I've hauled plenty of 16' gates in the back of a shortbox pickup without any problem. Orange flag on the back and drive on.

 

[Dave]

I dont have a dog in the fight as I have both tube and wire gates. But I've hauled plenty of 16' gates in the back of a shortbox pickup without any problem. Orange flag on the back and drive on.

I have hauled plenty of over length things in a pickup. Technically not legal so it depends on where you are at.

 

[Brute 23]

I dont have a dog in the fight as I have both tube and wire gates. But I've hauled plenty of 16' gates in the back of a shortbox pickup without any problem. Orange flag on the back and drive on.

There is no fight. They are trying to justify some thing to the boogy man or some other fictional character. We use wire gaps too. Ive just never seen one cost $1.

 

[chevytaHOE5674]

There is no fight. They are trying to justify some thing to the boogy man or some other fictional character. We use wire gaps too. Ive just never seen one cost $1.

Can't even get a candy bar for a buck anymore. Can't imagine building any sort of infrastructure for $1.

 

[Dave]

There is no fight. They are trying to justify some thing to the boogy man or some other fictional character. We use wire gaps too. Ive just never seen one cost $1.

It was a figure of speech. And generally made with old used material. I just looked up a cheap 16 foot at the local supply store. It is a lot more expensive than $100. They list it at $169.99. The point was it is much more costly to buy a tube gate than it is to build a wire gate.

 

[Dave]

And the idea behind this thread was to find out different ideas that people used to open or shut gates which are overly tight.

 

[Silver]

My wife packs a golden rod stretcher and / or a piece of rope with her at all times so she can open tightly gates.
We often use the stick on a wire or chain as a gate closure. Easy to undo and keep the gates nice and tight when set up right. We used to use old hames for this but what once seemed like an endless supply seems to have dried up.

 

[Dave]

We put these or a version of them on just about every gate here so they can be tight and relatively easy to open and close.

https://north40.com/gate-latch-fits...MwEC-tnoe9kShWwapEz4rCwgXI5vpLhRoC0ccQAvD_BwE

I checked on line they have them at D&B. I am thinking of getting one and seeing if I can make a bracket to bolt it to the post.

Interesting that the one you listed came from North 40. I often wonder if North 40, Big R, Coastal, and D&B are all part of the same bigger corporation. I have been in some of the stores of all 4. They all offer the same products. The only difference I see is the size of the individual store.

 

[Dave]

My wife packs a golden rod stretcher and / or a piece of rope with her at all times so she can open tightly gates.
We often use the stick on a wire or chain as a gate closure. Easy to undo and keep the gates nice and tight when set up right. We used to use old hames for this but what once seemed like an endless supply seems to have dried up.

I know a man who would go to farm sales and buy old used wire stretchers. He had one hanging from the fence at every gate. A lot of wheat in that country so many of the gates were 30 feet to allow for larger farm equipment to easily fit through.

 

[Brute 23]

It was a figure of speech. And generally made with old used material. I just looked up a cheap 16 foot at the local supply store. It is a lot more expensive than $100. They list it at $169.99. The point was it is much more costly to buy a tube gate than it is to build a wire gate.

Pretty sure every one reading knows the wire gaps are cheaper. I don't think that was in question.

I had never heard that as a figure of speech. A lot of stuff gets candy coated on here and I was just wanting to be sure.

 

[Brute 23]

On wire gaps I don't use a wire loop to hold them if i dont have to. If you use rope, especially tie ropes and stuff. They can be untied and snugged back up with out levers or bought tools. If you have horses or things that mess with ropes or dont undertand how to tie a rope it doesn't always work but that's my preference if I can do it.

One place we have has a big creek in it. There are two wire gaps that are probably 15-20' each that come together in the middle. When it blows out from rain, you dig out, shake it out and get a rope on one side and run it to the post on the other. You suck the two gaps together then try to get wire on them just tight enough to hold but weak enough to open up with water. Save your rope for next time and do it again.

I always have a couple ropes with loops on one end for timing things down or closed riding around on back the truck.

 

[Rmc]

Cheaper for how long ?
How many gates can you buy for the cost of a cow or calf ?
Number of ways a cow or calf can end up going through a wire gate .
And either get out or tangled in the wire . Figure somewhere between 20-50 year lifespan on a panel gate in the pasture .
The odds are pretty high that at least once in that timeframe a cow or calf is going to go through the wire gate that wouldn’t if it was a panel .
Just another consideration to add when deciding wire or panel gate .

 

[Silver]

I figure a cow is about as likely to crawl the wire fence as a wire gate. I honestly don’t know how many wire gates are on the place but can only imagine the time and expense to hang steel gates in their place. Having said that, I have been putting some steel gates at places that get used a lot. My wife doesn’t get grumpy opening swinging gates but the wire gates can be a different story.

 

[Rafter S]

I prefer to use “experienced wire” for gates. The stretch is out of it and it handles nicer. And enough used wire to build a gate probably is worth about a dollar.

I've seen gaps built with Gaucho wire. It takes a special kind of either idiot or sadist to do that. It can be stretched out for 50 years and still coil up when the tension is taken off.

If you use it for a gap it's almost impossible to keep it from getting tangled up when you open it.

 

[GoWyo]

I've seen gaps built with Gaucho wire. It takes a special kind of either idiot or sadist to do that. It can be stretched out for 50 years and still coil up when the tension is taken off.

If you use it for a gap it's almost impossible to keep it from getting tangled up when you open it.

I use the Bakaert Cattlemens Pro HT for fences, but never for a wire gate and for sure not Gaucho - that stuff is just evil.

 

[Travlr]

I don't build or abide tight Portegee gates. I've see the levers people use and they are just an extra complication or a fix for a badly strung or loose post gate. Build them right and you don't need a lever.

 

[Stonewall Joe]

I like gates. Gaps, not so much.

when I was a kid my grandad and all of the oldtimers around us used gaps like that. I did not like them, probably because I was too little to open and close them and it took me forever. I did not continue the tradition, I use gates that swing. Now I'm probably getting too old to like the gaps and gates are easier especially if it's the wife or grandkids riding along and opening and closing or if I'm horse back

 

[Dave]

So here is a gate which I built on September 18 that cost less then a dollar. Six strands of used wire, the 2 poles on the ends were an old lodge pole corral pole which I cut to use, and the 5 stays were something I inherited when I bought this place. Only purchased material used was 13 fence staples and about 20 feet of 14 gauge electric fence wire. As for my labor I know I was moving slow that day because on Sept 16 I had 4 stones removed from my bladder.

 

[Rafter S]

So here is a gate which I built on September 18 that cost less then a dollar. Six strands of used wire, the 2 poles on the ends were an old lodge pole corral pole which I cut to use, and the 5 stays were something I inherited when I bought this place. Only purchased material used was 13 fence staples and about 20 feet of 14 gauge electric fence wire. As for my labor I know I was moving slow that day because on Sept 16 I had 4 stones removed from my bladder.View attachment 62677

If it's going to be opened or closed more often than once a year I'd still rather spend $100.00 for a gate.