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.
Before
After
Before
After
Before
AfterFast, Reliable Gate Parts & Welding Across Lents
A dragging gate in Lents is almost never just a hinge problem. It’s usually a post problem. The clay-heavy soil along Johnson Creek expands and shifts every wet season, heaving posts out of square and pulling gates out of alignment. You can replace the hinges, but if the post underneath has moved, you’ll be back in the same spot by spring. Gatewood Fence & Gate has been fixing gates since 2001, and Hal Gatewood will tell you the same thing: fix the post first, or fix it twice. Call (877) 610-2993 and a live person answers, day or night.
Why Gatewood Fence & Gate Is Lents’s Preferred Gate Parts & Welding Company
People in Lents call us because we work on gates the way this neighborhood works: tight lots, shared driveways, older homes, and no room for guesswork. We’re not a national outfit that swaps parts to make a ticket. Hal Gatewood is the owner and his name is on the shop, the invoice, and the 90-Day Done Right Promise. If it’s not right, one call brings him back. That promise is stamped in writing on every job.
Our Gate Parts & Welding team welds on site, in your driveway, so the gate never leaves your property. We don’t haul it off to some shop across town. We cut out rotted steel, weld new hinge plates, reset posts, and sleeve cracked rails right where the gate hangs. Lents homeowners tell us the same thing: the last company quoted one price and charged another at the door. We quote a price before we start, and that’s the price. No trip charge inside the county. $40 off any repair over $200. Free second opinion on any written estimate. And a permanent 10% discount for seniors and veterans.
When you call (877) 610-2993, a live person picks up. Not a voicemail. Not a call center. Someone who knows which questions to ask about your gate and can tell you honestly whether it’s a quick fix or a bigger job.
Our Gate Parts & Welding Services in Lents
Most Lents homes were built between the 1910s and 1940s. Craftsman bungalows, working-class cottages, narrow lots. The driveway gates on these properties have been through decades of wet winters, shifting clay, and deferred maintenance. Here’s what we handle most often in the 97266 ZIP.
Hinge Replacement
Hinges fail two ways in Lents. The metal fatigues and cracks, or the wood behind the hinge rots out and the screws pull loose. In this neighborhood, we see both. Wet winters near Johnson Creek keep post bases damp for months at a time, and that moisture works its way up into the hinge mounting points. We cut out the damaged section, weld a new hinge plate or bolt in a reinforced mount, and the gate swings true again. If the post itself has heaved, we address that first with a post replacement, not just a band-aid hinge swap.
Post Replacement
This is the job that separates a real gate repair from a quick parts swap. Lents sits on floodplain clay that absorbs water, expands, and shifts. A post that was plumb two winters ago can be several inches out of square by spring. That movement is what makes your gate drag on the ground, bind at the latch, or fail to close at all. We dig out the old footing, pour a new one below the frost-and-flood-affected zone, and set a new post in concrete that won’t move with the next wet season. In Lents, this is the core of most gate work we do.
Rail Repair
Wooden gate frames in Lents are old. Many still carry their original rails from decades ago, and rot at the joints is common. We see this most on properties near Johnson Creek, where saturated soil keeps the bottom rail damp for weeks after a flood event. We cut out the rotted section, splice in new lumber or steel, and re-fasten the pickets. The gate stays in your yard the whole time. If the rail is too far gone, we’ll tell you that honestly before we start, not after we’ve opened it up.
Custom Welding
Ready-made parts don’t always fit a 1940s gate frame. When a hinge plate doesn’t line up, a latch won’t reach, or a steel frame has a crack in an awkward spot, we weld a custom fix on site. Hal has been doing this since 2001 and his crew welds in driveways all over Southeast Portland. Custom welding means the gate keeps its original character and hardware, but gets a repair that actually fits. In Lents, where gates are often original to the house, that matters more than a shiny new replacement panel.
Other services we handle in Lents include gate rollers for sliding gates, latch and lock repair, and post-to-frame reinforcement. If your gate is metal, wood, or a mix of both, we can fix it.
What happens when you call
- 1
A real person answersNo phone trees - you reach a local pro.
- 2
You get an upfront price rangeHonest numbers before anyone is dispatched.
- 3
A background-checked tech heads outLicensed & insured, dispatched right away.
- 4
You approve before work beginsNothing starts until you say go.
Trusted Brands We Service in Lents
We’re certified to work on nine major gate brands: LiftMaster, FAAC, BFT, Linear, Viking, Ghost Controls, DoorKing, Elite, and Mighty Mule. Lents homeowners with automatic openers most often have Linear, Viking, and Ghost Controls units on their gates, and we keep common replacement parts for these brands in stock. That means faster turnaround when your opener’s arm bracket or hinge post fails. We also work on older mechanical gates and manual swing gates that predate automation. If it’s a gate and it’s broken, we can weld it, reset it, or re-hang it.
Common Gate Parts & Welding Problems We See in Lents Homes
- Hinge post heaving in clay soil. The Johnson Creek floodplain expands and contracts with every wet season, pushing posts out of alignment. This makes swing gates drag on the ground and bind at the latch, even when the hinges themselves are fine.
- Rust and wood rot at post bases near Johnson Creek. Standing water after flood events saturates the soil around gate posts for days. That moisture accelerates rust on steel posts and rot on wooden ones, weakening the entire gate frame from the bottom up.
- Slide gates jamming on rollers in narrow shared driveways. Lents has a lot of tight lots where a swing gate won’t fit, so sliding gates are common. When the posts shift, the track misaligns and the rollers grind or bind. The fix starts with the posts, not just greasing the wheels.
- Latch and lock misalignment after winter. A gate that closed fine in September often won’t latch by March. The post moved, the gate frame shifted with it, and the latch no longer lines up. Homeowners call us thinking they need a new lock; what they usually need is a post reset.
Pricing for Gate Parts & Welding in Lents, OR
Here’s what you can expect to pay for gate work in Lents. We quote everything upfront and the price doesn’t change when we show up.
A hinge replacement on a standard residential gate typically runs $180 to $320, including the new hinges and the labor to cut out the old mounts and re-hang the gate. Post replacement is the bigger job, and in Lents’s clay soil it’s usually $400 to $900 per post, depending on whether we’re digging out a rotted footing, pouring new concrete below the flood-affected zone, and setting a steel or wood post. Rail repair on a wooden gate frame runs $150 to $350 per rail, including splicing and refastening. Custom welding jobs are quoted by the hour plus materials: $95 to $150 per hour is typical for on-site work like welding a cracked hinge plate or fabricating a custom bracket. Gate rollers and latch repairs usually fall in the $120 to $250 range.
We don’t charge a trip fee inside the county, and we’ll give you a free written second opinion on any estimate you’ve already received. Call (877) 610-2993 and we’ll give you an exact quote for your gate before any work starts.
We Also Serve Cities Near Lents
While this page is focused on Gate Parts & Welding in Lents, our crews also regularly work in nearby Happy Valley, Milwaukie, Clackamas, and Jennings Lodge. If you’re just outside the neighborhood and need a gate fixed, welded, or rebuilt, give us a call. We’ll send Hal’s crew to you in the same window we’d give a customer on SE 92nd.
Serving Lents, OR - Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the Lents 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 Parts & Welding in Lents
We dig the footing below the flood-affected zone, which in Lents means going deeper than standard practice would suggest. The clay near Johnson Creek holds water and expands with each wet season, so if the concrete only goes 18 or 24 inches down, the post will move again within a couple of winters. We pour a deeper footing, set the post in it, and make sure the concrete is well above grade with proper drainage so water doesn’t pool at the base. It costs more up front, but it’s the difference between a one-time repair and an annual call. Call (877) 610-2993 and we’ll tell you exactly what your post needs.
Yes, in most cases. We weld the new hinge plate directly onto the existing iron frame, then rehang the gate with fresh heavy-duty hinges. This works when the iron is still structurally sound; we’ll tell you honestly if the metal is too rusted or cracked to hold a proper weld. In Lents, where many gates are original to the house, welding a hinge beats swapping the whole gate every time. We do it on site, in your driveway.
Usually rollers, sometimes both, but the underlying problem in Lents is often post movement. When the posts shift in the clay soil, the track twists and the rollers bind and grind. We’ll tell you whether new rollers will solve it, or whether we need to reset the posts first. If the post has moved, no amount of roller replacement will fix the grinding for long. Call (877) 610-2993 and we’ll give you a straight answer.
In most cases, we can get to Lents the same day or next morning. A misaligned latch after winter is often a heaved post, not a broken latch. We’ll reset the post or adjust the hinges to bring the gate back into alignment, then re-fit the latch. If it’s an emergency and the gate won’t secure your property, call (877) 610-2993 and we’ll prioritize the call.
No, not when it’s done properly. We disconnect the opener and isolate the control board and keypad wiring before we strike an arc. Welding sends current through the metal, and if the opener is still connected, that current can fry the control board. We’ve seen it happen with other companies. We disconnect first, weld, and reconnect. That’s standard practice on every automatic gate we work on in Lents.
Call Gatewood Fence & Gate for Gate Parts & Welding in Lents
If your gate is dragging, sagging, or won’t latch, call Hal at (877) 610-2993. We’re locally owned and owner-operated, serving Lents and the surrounding neighborhoods with on-site welding and repair since 2001. The price is quoted before we start. The promise is in writing. And the name on the shop is the guy who shows up.
Written by Hal Gatewood, Owner at Gatewood Fence & Gate, serving Lents, OR.