[FS Lawn]

I am considering getting a "Gate Assist " .
I have looked at the " Back Saver & the Easy Gate " what is the preferred brand. Are their any other brands out there. Also do you have the one sided or two sided . I will most likely get the two sided because my rear gate is so heavy. Thank you for the information....

 

[JSMLAWNCARE]

I made my own for $37. fense post, pulleys, garage door spring. Do a Search and you will find some pics of some nice ones. I love mine. I thought I was going to need two... but with one the gate is lifted about 1" off the ground on one side. If I had both sides the entire gate would most likely be 3" off and a P.I.T.A.

good luck

 

[above all]

I have one. A fellow LCO gave it to me when he got a new trailor. Works great. no noise from dropping the gate. I dont have to worry about pulling my back out on a cold morning.
Worth the money! o yea.

 

[walker-talker]

I use the gate assist made by Mattman. Only $60 for the pair.....and work great.

 

[FS Lawn]

Thats the problem for me , I am having back pain and thought this would help. A friend of mine has one and it looks ok , It is a Back Saver but I dont like how it is in two pieces.
How are you mounting it on the trailer? I have a pole saw on one side and don't think it will fit. This is the reason I am asking about the one sided gate assist. Pleas give any further advice it will all help.....

 

[cclllc]

I made my own also.less than 50 bucks in parts for the pair.No more bending over.Just kick it with your toe and it comes up.

 

[Runner]

Exactly. That's the thing with the homemade ones. They work so much better than all those that you buy.

 

[FS Lawn]

Walker- Talker
What do mean "Mattman" is this a company?

 

[FrankenScagMachines]

I made one for less than $20.

Piece of 1/8” 1 ½” angle iron 24” long, couple dollars at my source, maybe $6 or 7 at Lowe’s.
140# pull garage door spring, $12.xx at Lowe’s.
Two U-bolts to attach spring to trailer rail and angle iron, few bucks.
Welded the angle iron to the gate (be sure of the strength of your welds and weld it on every possible joint, make a good weld or have it done at a shop).
Then ran the cable that came with the spring through the spring on the inside, tied one end, dropped gate gave it a few more inches slack and tied other end for a safety feature if spring bursts the cable will slow it down/stop it from injuring someone.

It is just on one side of the gate and it does lift it a couple inches on that side, but all you do is flip it up with your toe and it comes up, you catch it or let it shut itself and latch it your done. It’s great… no injured back here.. and I have a weak back too for a 16 y.o. guy.

Here’s how you do it: with your gate shut and latched, clamp the angle iron to the gate side so it lays flat on the top rail of the trailer side where you want it, but then raise it a inch and a half or so, clamp it good. Then weld it strongly at all joints. Drill holes in the end of it for the U-bolt and attach the spring with the U-bolt to the angle iron. Then with the spring relaxed still, lay it out on the rail, mark the holes for the U-bolt and drill two holes for U-bolt on the trailer rail, then bolt that end of the spring down with the U-bolt. Then run your safety cable through the spring and tie to the U-bolt on one end, lower gate while letting cable stretch along with spring, then give it a couple inches of slack and tie the other end to the U-bolt on the gate end of the spring. Cut off leftover cable and you’re done. My gate is a 4’ angle iron one, not square tube. If yours is square tube you may need to change your holes on the trailer rail so the spring is stretched a couple inches with the gate shut. It works really well, nothing to break on it and it was cheap, didn’t take very long either. Don’t attach the safety cable until you have the tension adjusted like you want. When you life the gate the cable will bunch up inside and part of it will poke through the spring because it has nowhere to go, don’t worry about this. You can also put a PVC pipe over it for looks, but it won’t help you safety wise it will just shatter. Could use steel pipe though.
The gate will even suspend itself at a certain point.
This one uses no pulleys, doesn’t take very long, is very simple and you don’t have to be an engineer to do it either.
Here’s a pic before i put on the cable.

 

[FrankenScagMachines]

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[Runner]

Man, I've always admired the handy work and things that you do, but I must say....that thing looks like a terrible accident waiting to happen. I would be afraid to walk around that thing when the gate is down, muchless be the one lowering it. I hope you look the other way whenever you put that gate down.

 

[Tbarchaser]

Eric,
I am scared just looking at that photo!

Your design proves you do not respect (or are not aware) of the power of a spring.

Eric....take that thing off your trailer, if it lets go you could die!!!!!!

I enclosed mine in a fence post and put bolts thru the post,rail and spring and I still stand on the opposite side when I lower it.

I guess my fear of springs stem from my childhood when a spring broke in my garage in the middle of the night and the whole family ran to the garage to see what happened and half of the spring was hanging out of the hole in the concrete block wall. We left it there to remind us how dangerous they are. We changed the springs out to the new torsion style after that.

 

[Runner]

The fencepost is a pretty good idea. We've built a few and used large exhaust pipe tube (3 or 4", I believe). There is a wholesale exhaust place about 5 minutes from a friends shop. On mine, I have a piece of heavy PVC wrapping the spring. Also, there are eyebolts at each end so the spring can't travel. The thing that concerns ME the most is the cable connections. I check them all the time. Also, just a note, when lowerind or raising the gate, I (and everyone should too) stand on the opposite side as what the mechanism is on.

 

[Team Gopher]

Here are a few quotes about spring safety. These are from garage door springs but the basic principle still applies.

"When it breaks, the flying piece(s) can damage the inside of your garage or you car. Or worse, you could be seriously injured or even killed if your in the wrong place when the spring lets go.

To prevent this danger, install a new set of springs with safety cables"

Two things to consider doing are placing the springs in a metal tube. As well as using a spring restraint cable running through the spring.

http://www.garagedoorsafety.com/safetytest.asp

 

[Rustic Goat]

FrankenEric
You can do better than that, enclose that spring before it hurts someone. At the least, it's going to pinch the heck outta some one, at the worst, . . . . . . . . .

 

[mpflood]

I would definately cover that spring with 4 or 5" corrigated plastic pipe. Do something for safety's sake and repost

 

[Tbarchaser]

I would not use plastic of any kind! With the amount of energy in a G/D spring it would shatter Pvc pipe.

Pvc cannot absorb the impact steel can.

 

[proenterprises]

eric......good god please fix that thing. Do you have any idea what could happen if some little kid came along and wanted to play with it and snapped his fingers in it

Ive said it a millions times but here it is again....

JOB#1-BE SAFE!!!

:dizzy: :dizzy:

 

[FrankenScagMachines]

Guys, LOL I put a safety restraint cable on it, did you not read my post? I said that the pic was taken right after I adjusted the spring tension how i wanted, but before I put on the cable. READ BEFORE YOU COMMENT!!! I also do stand on the opposite side as the spring is when raising/lowering. Its on the drivers side, so i get out and unlatch that side of the gate, then walk to the other side, unlatch it and drop gate while climbing into trailer (by stepping on the taillight bracket) and starting the mower right as the gate drops. I've been wanting to put a telescoping steel pipe on it but have never found or taken time to get the pipe and do it. I'd just have two or three peices as needed that overlap and have the ends attached to the end of the spring so they would automatically telescope and retract. Also when at a jobsite I usually will shut the gate while I'm off working, just in case a kid came along. At some places the neighborhood kids are tempted to ride their bikes up onto the trailer via that nice little ramp if it's not shut! :dizzy:

 

[Runner]

A cable still isn't really suitable. That is why I commented on the steel pipe idea. I only have PVC, and THAT isn't really safe enough. I know I will be changing it. The problem is, with this type of design on yours, a steel protection tube isn't realyy feasible, because the trajectory of the spring doesn't travel i a straight line. It pivots as it stretches. As serious as you are about this business, you REALLY should re-do this set-up.