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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AfterFast, Reliable Gate Motor & Opener Across Moraga
When a gate motor quits in Moraga, it rarely happens on a mild Tuesday morning. It fails on a 100-degree August afternoon when the hydraulic fluid has cooked, or the first wet week of February when the clay finally shifts the post half an inch and the rack binds. We fix it same day, usually on the first trip. Gatewood Fence & Gate has been locally owned and owner-operated since 2001, and Hal Gatewood answers his own phone any hour you call: (877) 610-2993. No voicemail, no call center three states away. A live person, every time.
Why Gatewood Fence & Gate Is Moraga’s Preferred Gate Motor & Opener Company
Our reputation in Moraga is simple: Hal fixes what others want to replace. When a swing arm operator fails, the big outfits quote a whole new motor and a week of waiting. Hal welds on site, rebuilds what’s rebuildable, and stands behind every job with his 90-Day Done Right Promise, stamped in writing, not buried in fine print. That’s why we keep getting called out to the hillside neighborhoods around Moraga Country Club, the ranch homes off Rheem Boulevard toward St. Mary’s Road, and the long private driveways in 94556.
Moraga homeowners have told us stories about national companies that quoted one number on the phone and delivered a much bigger invoice at the door. We will not do that. The price Hal quotes before work starts is the price on the invoice. Period. He has been doing this for 29 years, his name is on the shop, and he will tell you to drive by and look him in the eye if you want to. That is the oldest accountability there is.
Our Gate Motor & Opener Services in Moraga
Motor Installation
A new gate motor in Moraga is a bigger decision than just picking a horsepower rating. The gate post in your driveway might be sitting in expansive clay that has been moving for 30 years. We check the post, the grade, the weight of the gate itself, and the path the gate travels before we ever quote a motor. On hillside lots near Bollinger Canyon Road, we often recommend a slide motor over a swing arm because the uneven grade makes swing geometry unreliable over time. Every install includes a written price up front and the 90-Day Done Right Promise in writing.
Motor Repair
Hydraulic fluid that has baked through a Moraga summer fails slowly, then suddenly. The arm moves fine one week and stalls at noon the next. We see it every year in the valley heat. We repair motors on site: we replace seals, swap cooked boards, re-bleed hydraulic circuits, and reweld broken mounting brackets while the gate stays in your driveway. We do not haul it off to a shop and leave you without a gate for a week. If it is not repairable, Hal tells you straight and shows you why before you spend a dollar on a replacement.
Linear Motor
Linear brand operators are common across Moraga because they hold up well on moderate grades, but their worm-drive gears and limit switches wear faster in the heat and dust of the valley. We service Linear motors throughout the 94556 and 94575 zip codes, and we stock the wear parts that fail most often: gears, limit switch assemblies, and control boards. When a Linear unit starts chattering or overshooting its limits, call us. We can usually get it right the same day. Certified to service Linear, so the repair keeps your warranty intact.
Slide Motor
Slide gates are the right tool for Moraga’s hillside driveways, and they fail differently than swing gates. The rack and pinion drive binds when the posts shift; the chain stretches; the support rollers flatten and the gate starts dragging. We repair slide motors across Moraga, and on the hilly parcels east of Moraga Road we frequently rebuild the entire track assembly, not just the motor. A slide gate where the motor gets blamed is usually a slide gate where the foundation moved. Fix the foundation and the motor often has years of life left.
What happens when you call
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A real person answersNo phone trees - you reach a local pro.
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You get an upfront price rangeHonest numbers before anyone is dispatched.
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A background-checked tech heads outLicensed & insured, dispatched right away.
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You approve before work beginsNothing starts until you say go.
Trusted Brands We Service in Moraga
We are certified to service nine major gate motor brands, including Linear, Viking, Ghost Controls, and DoorKing. If you have an older FAAC swing arm, a BFT slide unit, or a Mighty Mule on a back pasture gate off Canyon Road, we work on those too. We do not keep a warehouse of every board for every model, but we stock the common wear parts for the brands Moraga homeowners actually have, so a repair visit usually means the gate works again before the truck leaves your driveway. On-site welding means we can also brace, reinforce, or adapt mounting plates when the original hardware does not line up anymore.
Common Gate Motor & Opener Problems We See in Moraga Homes
- Swing gates that gape or bind after rain. Moraga’s expansive clay swells and shrinks with the wet-dry cycle, shifting post footings by inches. Your gate closes fine in August and leaves a two-inch gap in February. That’s not a motor problem, it’s a foundation problem, and fixing the motor without the post means you fix the whole thing twice.
- Midday failures in summer heat. Moraga is one of the hottest spots in the Bay Area. 100-degree days are routine in the valley. Hydraulic fluid thins, seals harden, and boards overheat. Older swing operators die at noon and work again after sunset, which is why a gate owner calls us a week before the operator fully gives out.
- Acorn season taking out slide gates. Every October and November, the valley oaks off Camino Pablo and Rheem Boulevard drop acorns by the thousands. Slide gate tracks fill with them, the gate hits a false obstruction, and the motor stops or reverses. The owner thinks the motor failed. It did not. The track just needs clearing and a gap guard installed.
- Aging intercom wiring paired with new motors. Many Moraga gates were installed in the 1980s and 1990s, and the intercom or keypad wiring has been underground for 30 years. When we install a new motor, we routinely test the loop detector and keypad lines at the same time. A new motor wired to a failing keypad is only half a job.
Pricing for Gate Motor & Opener in Moraga, CA
A typical gate motor repair in Moraga runs $180-$340 for limit switches, gears, or board replacements. A full slide motor replacement with rack and pinion drive usually lands between $1,400 and $2,600, depending on gate length and whether we are reusing existing track. Swing arm operator replacement is typically $900-$1,800. Battery backup adds $250-$450 on most systems. These are the ranges we quote in Moraga, and the price Hal quotes is the price on the invoice, agreed in writing before work starts. We do not charge a trip fee inside the county, and we offer a free second opinion on any written estimate you have from another company. Seniors and veterans get 10% off, permanently.
We Also Serve Cities Near Moraga
If you are outside Moraga proper, we also cover Alamo, Danville, San Ramon, and Blackhawk. The valleys and hills never stop at a city line, and neither do we. Whether you live in Moraga or just over the hill, the work is the same: done right, done once, and backed by our 90-Day Done Right Promise. See more about our Gate Motor & Opener service or our Gate Motor & Opener in Moraga coverage.
Serving Moraga, CA - Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the Moraga area and know this community well. Use the map below to see our service coverage - if you’re nearby, we can almost certainly help.
FAQs - Gate Motor & Opener in Moraga
Your operator is fighting the ground, and the ground in Moraga moves more than most places. The expansive clay under the post footings swells when it rains, pushing the post out of square by up to two inches. The operator’s limit switch and torque settings are now wrong, so the gate either stalls, reverses, or stops short. We correct the post, re-set the operator geometry, and replace the torque limiter if the swelling damaged it. Call (877) 610-2993 and we will give you an exact price for your gate, free.
Yes, and it is the most common conversion we do in Moraga. On sloped parcels, a swing gate has to fight gravity and grade every time it opens, which accelerates hinge wear and operator failure. We convert swing gates to slide gates using a rack and pinion drive and a buried loop detector, and we install safety photocells set to the uneven grade. On one shared driveway off Camino Pablo, we replaced a 25-year-old FAAC swing operator with a LiftMaster LA400 slide unit after the original hinge post had twisted beyond sag correction. Both homeowners kept vehicle access the whole time.
Winter storms take down power in the Moraga hills more often than people expect, and a gate has to open anyway. We install battery backup systems on both slide and swing operators, sized to run the gate for at least 30-50 cycles during an outage. We also wire the gate so a manual release works from outside the property, because a gate you can not open in an emergency is worse than no gate at all. Battery backup is a modest add-on that saves you a lot of headache in PG&E outage season.
Yes, and it is one of the most common “gate won’t close” calls we get in Moraga every October and November. The valley oaks drop acorns into the slide track, the gate’s force sensor reads the obstruction, and the motor stops or reverses. It is not a motor failure, but repeated false obstructions do wear the gear train prematurely. We install track covers and gap guards that keep the acorns out, and we recommend a quick seasonal track clearance every fall.
In most cases, yes. We test existing keypad, intercom, and loop detector lines before we install a new motor, and we wire the new unit to the old station whenever the cable still passes a continuity test. On 1970s and 1980s Moraga homes where the underground wiring has failed, we can run a wireless bridge or install a new keypad to match the new motor. We will tell you what you need and what you do not, and the quote is free. Call (877) 610-2993.
If your gate motor is acting up in Moraga, call Hal at (877) 610-2993. You get a live person, a straight answer, and a price that will not change at the door. The name is on the shop, and the shop is down the road.
Written by Hal Gatewood, Owner at Gatewood Fence & Gate, serving Moraga since 2001.