Free on-site gate assessment - hinges, posts, and your LiftMaster or Nice gate operator checked before anything is quoted
The assessment is free and the quote is the invoice.
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AfterGate Repair in Dearborn, MI
If your gate won’t open on Michigan Avenue at 7 a.m., you don’t have time to leave a voicemail. You need somebody who answers, knows where you are, and can be there before the coffee goes cold. Gatewood Fence & Gate does exactly that in Dearborn, and we’re usually at your driveway within the hour for most gate failures. Call (877) 610-2993 and you’ll get a live person on the line, 24 hours a day, every day of the week.
Dearborn gates get worked harder than almost anywhere in Wayne County. The ornate iron and steel installations across the 48126 corridor weigh two, sometimes three times what a standard subdivider gate weighs. When one of those drops a hinge or seizes an operator, it’s not a quick fix with a wrench from the garage. Hal Gatewood and his crew carry welding gear, concrete supplies, and the control boards that actually fit your operator, because leaving and coming back tomorrow is not how this business was built.
Why Dearborn Homes Are Different
Southeast Michigan puts a gate post through 40-plus freeze-thaw cycles a year. Water works into the concrete footing around the hinge post, freezes, expands, and slowly heaves the whole assembly out of plumb. A gate that hung fine in October pulls its latch by February. That’s the single most common pattern we see in Dearborn, and it’s worse on the east side where ornate iron gates weigh far more than the 1960s footings beneath them were ever poured to carry.
Add in the road salt spraying off Michigan Avenue and Schaefer Road all winter, and you get surface corrosion on every exposed piece of steel. Dearborn gates don’t fail randomly. They fail from frost heave and salt. Once you know that, the repair actually fixes the cause.
The housing stock matters too. Much of Dearborn’s residential inventory was built in the 1940s through 1960s for assembly plant workers: compact brick bungalows and ranch homes on modest lots. Those original concrete post footings were sized for chain-link or light wood gates, not the heavy custom iron that went up in later decades. In East Dearborn, the largest Arab-American population in the United States has created extraordinary demand for decorative wrought-iron and steel gates with scrollwork, arch-top panels, and crescent patterns. The footings underneath never got the memo.
Gate Repair in Dearborn
Gate repair in Dearborn usually runs $180 to $750 depending on whether we’re resetting a hinge post, welding a cracked scroll, or replacing a dead operator board. Most jobs we handle in one visit because the truck carries what Dearborn gates actually need, including welding gear. If your gate sags, drags, or won’t open at all, call us at (877) 610-2993 and a live person answers. No phone tree. We show up when we say we will, and the price we quote is the price you pay.
The repair-first way Hal built this business on means we fix what’s actually broken instead of swapping parts that don’t need swapping. A gate sags in the hinge post, not in the middle, and that’s where we start. Learn more about our gate repair approach on the main service page.
Hinge & Post Repair
This is the repair Dearborn needs more than any other. The concrete footings poured for 1940s and 1950s brick bungalows were never meant to carry the weight of today’s custom steel gates. Forty-plus freeze-thaw cycles a year crack those footings at the base. The post tilts, the gate sags at the latch side, and no amount of hinge tightening fixes it. We dig the footing, reset the post plumb, weld any stress cracks at the hinge, and repour. A typical hinge and post repair in Dearborn runs $350 to $750, and we tell you before we dig whether the post itself can be saved.
Electric Gate Repair
Electric gate repair in Dearborn often means diagnosing a control board that died after one too many Michigan winters. Moisture, cold snaps, and power surges off DTE lines knock out older LiftMaster and DoorKing boards regularly. We test the board, the transformer, the safety photocells, and the wiring before we replace anything, because swapping a board without finding the short that killed it means you’ll call us again in a month. Most board replacements run $260 to $420 for the parts and labor, and we quote that number before the toolbox opens.
Automatic Gate Repair
Automatic gate repair in Dearborn usually comes down to operators that were spec’d wrong for the gate’s weight. A heavy custom iron gate hung on a motor built for a light chain-link panel will burn out gears and limit switches early. We service Viking, Ghost Controls, and Elite operators among others, and we’ll tell you plainly if the repair is worth doing or if the motor is undersized for the job. On older gates, that conversation saves you more money than any discount we could offer.
Gate Realignment
Gate realignment in Dearborn is usually a half-day job when the post is still sound and the hinges are just worn. We cut out the old hinge barrels, weld in new ones, and set the gate so it closes onto the latch cleanly. If the sag came from a tilting post, realigning without fixing the post means you’ll fix it again. We tell you which one you’re looking at before we bid it. Straight answer, written price. A realignment after post movement typically runs $200 to $400.
Can my 1960s Dearborn bungalow’s heavy custom iron gate be saved if the footing is cracked?
Yes, in most cases. The original footings on Dearborn’s 1940s to 1960s ranch homes are often cracked at the base but still structurally usable. We excavate, clean out the fractured concrete, reset the post plumb, and repour with new concrete keyed into the old mass. The gate stays. The footing gets stronger. This runs $350 to $750 per post.
Why does my swing gate in 48126 sag even after I tightened the hinges?
Because the post is moving, not the hinge. On Dearborn’s East Side, the dense clay soil expands and contracts through 40-plus freeze-thaw cycles a year, and that heave tilts posts that were poured decades ago for lighter gates. Tightening hinge bolts on a leaning post does nothing. You need the post reset and the gate realigned. That’s the repair that actually lasts.
Gate Installation in Dearborn
Gate installation in Dearborn runs $1,800 to $9,600 for most residential jobs, with a custom ornamental iron driveway gate typically landing between $3,200 and $6,800 installed. We’re talking real numbers because you should know before the first post hole gets dug. Dearborn isn’t a generic suburb. The east side’s preference for ornate wrought-iron means every installation starts with a conversation about whether the existing footing can handle what’s going up, not just what looks good in the catalog.
Hal Gatewood still answers the phone himself, and he’s the one who measures your opening, pours your footing, and hangs your gate. See more about our installation process on the main service page.
Driveway Gate Installation
We install automatic driveway gates for Dearborn homes, from modest single-car openings to wide double driveways with ornamental iron. In East Dearborn, we regularly see driveway gates that weigh three or four times what the original footings were designed to hold, which means our first job is often pouring a new reinforced concrete footing before the gate ever gets hung. A typical custom driveway gate installation in Dearborn runs $3,200 to $6,800, including the operator, safety edges, and remote controls.
Pedestrian Gate Installation
A new pedestrian gate in Dearborn should match the style of the home and the main driveway gate, especially in the 48126 neighborhoods where decorative scrollwork and arch-top panels are the norm. We source from local Michigan Avenue fabrication shops when matching ornamental patterns, because the generic panels from national distributors don’t have the right crescent scrolls or the correct radius on the arch. Expect to spend $900 to $2,800 on a custom welded steel pedestrian gate installed.
Sliding Gate Installation
Sliding gates make sense on Dearborn lots where the driveway slopes back toward the house or where a swing gate would block the sidewalk on a short setback. We install cantilever and V-track sliding gates rated for Michigan winters, with the track set high enough to shed snow and ice. A sliding gate installation in Dearborn typically runs $3,800 to $8,500 depending on the span and the operator.
Why do new gate installations in Dearborn need deeper concrete footings than standard?
Dearborn’s 40-plus freeze-thaw cycles each year heave any footing poured above the frost line, and most original post footings from the 1940s-1960s are only 24 to 30 inches deep, so the post tilts and the gate sags. We pour new footings 42 inches deep with a rebar cage, which puts them below the frost line and gives the post enough mass to hold a heavy ornamental gate. Call (877) 610-2993 for a free measure and written quote.
Can you match the ornamental wrought-iron style of my existing East Dearborn gate when installing a new pedestrian gate?
Yes. We source from local Michigan Avenue fabrication shops that carry the arch-top panels and crescent scroll patterns common to East Dearborn, so a new pedestrian gate or matching driveway gate doesn’t look like it came from a different supplier. Hal welds on site, which means custom brackets, hinge plates, and decorative details get fabricated to fit the existing style rather than adapted from a generic kit.
Gate Motor & Opener in Dearborn
If your gate motor is dead, grinding, or only works when it feels like it, you need a straight answer about what’s wrong and what it costs to fix. Gate motor and opener repair in Dearborn runs $185 to $475 for most common failures, and a full operator replacement typically lands between $1,100 and $2,800 depending on gate weight, brand, and whether we’re retrofitting safety equipment. Hal Gatewood has been fixing gates since 2001, and he answers the phone himself.
The motor is only as good as the post it’s mounted to and the gate it’s trying to move. In Dearborn, we fix the post first, then the motor, because doing it the other way is how you buy the same repair twice. More on motor and opener service on our main page.
Motor Repair
Most Dearborn motor repairs are electrical, not mechanical. A capacitor that gave out. A relay that welded itself closed. A control board from the 90s or early 2000s that finally quit. We test first, then replace only what failed. If the problem is a stripped gear or a seized bearing, we open the motor housing and fix it rather than quoting you a whole new operator. In dozens of Dearborn cases, replacing a $40 capacitor saved a $1,500 operator. That’s the repair-first way. Motor diagnosis and minor repair typically runs $185 to $325.
Motor Installation
A new gate motor for a Dearborn home means matching the operator to the gate’s actual weight and the post’s actual condition, not just bolting on whatever the catalog says. For the heavy ornamental iron gates common in East Dearborn, that often means a heavier-duty swing operator or a slide motor with a gear ratio that won’t strip under the load. We install LiftMaster, Linear, Viking, Ghost Controls, and DoorKing operators, and we size them correctly for Dearborn’s specific gate stock. A complete swing gate operator replacement runs $1,400 to $2,400 for a standard 12-14 ft. gate.
Slide Motor Service
Slide gates in Dearborn take abuse from road salt, snow plow spray, and the freeze-thaw cycle forcing the track out of alignment every spring. A slide motor that strains, trips its breaker, or makes a grinding noise is often fighting a track angle that changed over winter. We repair the motor and the alignment together, because fixing one without the other is buying yourself a repeat failure. Slide motor replacement including new chain or rack alignment runs $1,300 to $2,800.
Can my old gate operator be upgraded with modern entrapment protection, or do I need full replacement?
Yes, in most cases. If your operator’s motor and gearbox are sound, we can retrofit current UL 325 compliant photocells and edge sensors onto a 1990s or 2000s-era operator. The cost typically runs $250 to $450. Full replacement only makes sense when the motor is failing or the control board is obsolete and no longer manufactured. Call (877) 610-2993 and we’ll tell you which side of that line your operator falls on.
Why does my swing gate motor burn out faster on my Dearborn bungalow than at my friend’s house in Dearborn Heights?
It’s almost never the motor’s fault. Your friend’s house is probably on newer fill with deeper footings. Your bungalow’s original 1940s-1960s post footings are shallow and cracked from decades of freeze-thaw. The post tilts, the gate puts side-load on the motor, and the motor burns out trying to push against geometry. We fix the post first, then the motor, and the next motor lasts.
Gate Access Control in Dearborn
Gate access control in Dearborn usually comes down to two things: the operator that moves the gate, and the entry system that tells it to move. We install and repair both, and we’ve been doing it across Dearborn’s east side, west side, and the acreage properties north of Ford Road. Most keypad or card reader failures we see in Dearborn are fixable in one visit, often for under $300. If your gate won’t recognize remotes or the keypad is dead, call (877) 610-2993.
Dispatch and scheduling are coordinated from our Detroit office, but the crew that shows up at your Dearborn gate knows the local conditions: salt corrosion on Michigan Avenue, frost heave in the 48128 clay soil, and the ornamental iron styles that need matching, not replacing. Full details on access control systems on our main service page.
Keypad Entry
A keypad at the gate post lets family members, ranch hands, or delivery drivers enter with a code instead of a remote. In Dearborn, we install wired and wireless keypads on everything from compact bungalow drive gates to wide farm gates. The keypad pairs with the operator’s receiver; we program codes on site and show you how to add or delete them yourself. A basic keypad entry install in Dearborn typically runs $220 to $380, including the keypad, wiring, and programming.
Remote Control
Remote controls open the gate from the cab, which matters when you’re sitting 150 feet down a gravel driveway in January. We supply and program remotes for LiftMaster, Linear, Viking, and Ghost Controls operators. If your remote stopped working, we test the receiver and the remote before replacing anything, because replacing a $60 remote when the receiver is the problem just wastes your money. Remote control replacement runs $35 to $80 per remote, plus any receiver work.
Phone Entry
Phone entry systems let a visitor call a number at the gate and you buzz them in from your cell phone. This works especially well on Dearborn acreage properties where the house sits a long way from the road. We install cellular-based systems that don’t need a landline, and we wire them into your existing operator. Phone entry system installs run $450 to $900 depending on cellular signal strength at the gate and how far the low-voltage wire needs to run.
Why does my gate keypad work sometimes and not others when the temperature drops in Dearborn?
The most common cause is moisture freezing inside the keypad or at the wire terminals, especially when road salt from Michigan Avenue has corroded the connections. Cold also reduces keypad battery output, so a weak battery reads as a dead keypad. We open the unit, test the output, clean or replace the terminals, and seal the housing against Dearborn’s freeze-thaw cycle. If the keypad itself is failed, a replacement runs $220 to $380 installed.
Can you install a solar gate opener on a wide farm gate in Dearborn where there’s no power at the entrance?
Yes. We install solar-powered operators on wide farm gates and acreage entrances throughout Dearborn’s ZIP 48128 and the surrounding rural roads off Cherry Hill Road. The system uses a solar panel, charge controller, and deep-cycle battery matched to the gate’s weight and daily cycle count. We size the panel for Michigan’s grayest winter weeks, not the July peak, so the gate keeps opening in January. Solar gate opener packages run $1,200 to $2,100 installed.
Gate Parts & Welding in Dearborn
Gate parts fail in Dearborn for reasons that don’t show up on a national parts website. Freeze-thaw cycles crack concrete footings. Road salt from Michigan Avenue eats through lower rails. Heavy ornate iron gates lean on posts that were poured for chain-link in 1955. Hal Gatewood and his crew weld, re-hang, and retrofit gates across the city, and they’ve seen every failure mode this climate can throw at a gate. If your gate drags, binds, or won’t close, call (877) 610-2993.
We carry the parts that actually fit Dearborn’s gate stock, and we weld on site so the gate stays in your driveway. More on parts and welding service on our main page.
Hinge Replacement
Dearborn’s older gates swing on hinges that have been carrying weight since the Eisenhower administration. When a hinge barrel wears out or the leaf bends, the gate sags and the latch no longer lines up. We replace the hinge and realign the gate on site. On heavy East Dearborn iron gates, we often weld reinforced hinge plates rather than bolting on a flimsy replacement that fails again in two years. Hinge replacement runs $180 to $340 per hinge.
Post Replacement
A gate sags in the hinge post, not in the middle. That’s where we start. Posts across Dearborn fail because the original 1940s and 1950s concrete footings weren’t designed to hold the heavy custom iron gates that replaced chain-link panels decades ago. Add 40-plus freeze-thaw cycles a year, and you get leaning, cracked posts. We cut the old post at the base, set a new one in properly mixed concrete, and re-hang the gate with corrected alignment. Post replacement runs $450 to $900 per post.
Custom Welding
Dearborn has the largest Arab-American population in the United States, heavily concentrated in East Dearborn’s 48126 ZIP. That means a strong cultural preference for ornate wrought-iron and decorative steel gates: scrollwork, arch-top panels, crescent patterns. Matching or patching this work requires welding and fabrication skills well beyond what standard suburban gate repair demands. We do it on site, in your driveway, and we source matching panels from the local Arab-owned metal fabrication shops on and near Michigan Avenue. Custom welding runs $150 to $400 per section.
Can you match the crescent scrollwork on my East Dearborn wrought-iron gate if a section is rusted through?
Yes. We match the panel in pattern and finish, and we source it from the local Arab-owned metal fabrication shops on and near Michigan Avenue, specifically the ones that stock the arch-top and crescent scroll patterns common to East Dearborn’s 48126 neighborhood. National distributors don’t carry these local designs. We weld the new section in, blend it to match the surrounding patina, and treat it so the repair doesn’t stand out.
My old swing gate keeps setting off the safety photocell even after I clean the lens. Is this an obsolete control board issue?
Almost always, yes. Legacy control boards from the 1990s degrade over time and start sending false signals to the safety loop, which trips the photocell and leaves the gate stuck mid-cycle. Cleaning the lens doesn’t fix it because the lens was never the problem. Your best option is a retrofit to a modern board. We can usually do it same day. Control board replacement or retrofit runs $280 to $650.
Brands We Service in Dearborn
We stock parts and carry diagnostic tools for nine major brands: LiftMaster, FAAC, BFT, Linear, Viking, Ghost Controls, DoorKing, Elite, and Mighty Mule. For Dearborn’s heavy ornamental iron gates, we see a lot of Viking, Ghost Controls, and DoorKing operators, and we keep common control boards and limit switches on the truck so you’re not waiting on a UPS delivery. Most brand-specific repairs in Dearborn are done in one visit. See all brands we service.
Pricing for Gate Repair in Dearborn, MI
| Service | Typical range in Dearborn |
|---|---|
| Hinge replacement (per hinge) | $180 - $350 |
| Post reset with new concrete footing | $350 - $750 |
| Gate realignment after post movement | $200 - $400 |
| Weld and rust repair on decorative iron | $150 - $500 |
| Operator control board replacement | $260 - $420 |
| Full-frame weld repair on snapped joint | $200 - $400 |
| Single swing driveway gate with operator | $2,600 - $4,800 |
| Double swing ornamental iron gate with operator | $4,200 - $8,500 |
| Sliding driveway gate with cantilever track | $3,800 - $8,500 |
| Custom welded steel pedestrian gate | $900 - $2,800 |
| Motor diagnosis and minor repair | $185 - $325 |
| Complete swing gate operator replacement | $1,400 - $2,400 |
What pushes price up in Dearborn: heavy ornamental iron that needs deeper footings, corrosion damage requiring custom welding, and operator retrofits on gates that were never properly spec’d for their weight. Every quote is given in writing before work starts. If we find something else while we’re in there, you hear about it and approve it before we proceed.
Neighborhoods We Serve in Dearborn
You’ll find our trucks all over the city on any given week. Typical response time across Dearborn is within the hour for emergency gate failures, and the same day for most everything else.
- East Dearborn (48126) - Warren Avenue and Schaefer Road corridor
- Levagood Park area (48120)
- Springwells (48128)
- Southwestern Dearborn (48123)
- Ford Woods area (48121)
Service Area - Cities Near Dearborn
We work throughout the immediate area, and our crews are regularly in Dearborn, Melvindale, Garden City, Allen Park, River Rouge, and Lincoln Park. No trip charge inside the county, and the same live person answers the phone no matter which city you’re calling from.
Serving Dearborn, MI - Our Local Coverage Area
Gatewood Fence & Gate crews serve Dearborn and the communities around it; dispatch is coordinated from our Detroit office. The map shows the Dearborn coverage area; if your address is on it, we can help.
Also serving nearby: Dearborn, MI, Melvindale, MI, Garden City, MI, Allen Park, MI, River Rouge, MI, Lincoln Park, MI.
FAQs About Gate Repair in Dearborn
Most residential gate repairs don’t require a permit, but new installations or modifications to the driveway entrance may need approval from Dearborn’s Building Division. We handle the permit research as part of our measurement visit and will tell you upfront if your job triggers a requirement. The estimate includes any permit costs if they apply.
For a gate that won’t open or close, trapping a vehicle or leaving a driveway unsecured, we aim to be at your Dearborn address within the hour. Our scheduling runs from the Detroit office, but the crew serving Dearborn is already in the area most days. Call (877) 610-2993 any time, day or night, and a live person picks up.
Yes. We serve the full ZIP codes around Dearborn including 48120, 48121, 48123, and 48128, plus the adjacent communities listed in our service area. If you’re unsure whether your address falls in our range, call (877) 610-2993 and we’ll confirm while you’re on the line. No trip charge inside the county.
What happens when you call
- 1A real person answersNo phone trees - talk to a local gate repair pro.
- 2You get an upfront price rangeHonest numbers before anyone is dispatched. No surprises.
- 3We come out and measureLicensed & insured, at a time that suits you - the visit and the quote are both free.
- 4You get the price in writingLine-itemed, yours to keep, and nothing starts until you say go.
What Dearborn Customers Say
"Safety photo eyes on our old gate had been bypassed by whoever serviced it last, which he was genuinely annoyed about on my behalf. Fitted proper sealed ones and wired them the way they should be."
- Otis Redmond"He builds the gates himself in his own shop. You can go and look at it. That is not something you can say about the outfits that just order a panel in."
- Doreen Whitfield"Welded the hinge back onto our wrought iron gate on site rather than taking it away for a fortnight. Ground it back and painted it and you cannot see the repair."
- Winston Achterberg