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 Repair Across Citrus
Gate repair in Citrus usually comes down to two things: a gate that has sagged on a sloped driveway, or hardware that has been working against Santa Ana winds for fifty years without a proper reset. Call (877) 610-2993 and you will get Hal or his crew on the line immediately, not a voicemail. We have been repairing gates in the eastern San Gabriel Valley since 2001, and we approach every job in the 91702 ZIP code the same way we would if the gate were at our own shop: fix what is failing, leave what is still doing its job, and stand behind the work in writing.
Why Gatewood Fence & Gate Is Citrus’s Preferred Gate Repair Company
Hal Gatewood started this company in 2001, and his name has been on the front of the shop ever since. That matters in Citrus, where the ranch-style homes on Almond Avenue, Barranca Avenue, and the streets running north toward the foothills are exactly the kind of properties we see several times a week. We know these lots. We know the long driveway runs, the block perimeter walls, and the original wrought iron swing gates that were installed when these neighborhoods were first carved out of the old grove land. Hal still answers his own phone at 3 a.m. if there is a gate down and a car stuck in the driveway. The person who shows up to your house is the same person whose name is on the invoice.
We do not have a call center and we do not route calls through a phone tree three states away. A live person answers around the clock. Our crew has fixed enough mid-century gates in Citrus to know what we are going to find before we take the first hinge pin out: thin original concrete pads, grade changes in the driveway arc, and hardware that has never been upgraded since the day it was poured.
Every job carries the 90-Day Done Right Promise in writing. If something is not right, one call brings Hal back. No runaround, no fine print. That promise is stamped on the paperwork, and we have been honoring it for over 29 years of local service.
Our Gate Repair Services in Citrus
Electric Gate Repair
Electric gate repair in Citrus usually means tracking down an operator that has been fighting the same sloped arc for a decade and finally burned out a capacitor or stripped a gear. We service and repair operators from LiftMaster, FAAC, BFT, Linear, Viking, Ghost Controls, DoorKing, Elite, and Mighty Mule. If your gate opener hums but does not move, or trips its breaker every time the Santa Ana winds kick up, call us before you replace anything. Our repair-first approach means we open the box, test the motor, and show you exactly what failed and why.
Automatic Gate Repair
Automatic gate systems in Citrus fail most often because the gate itself has drifted out of alignment, and the operator is now working twice as hard to move it. That is the real story behind most intermittent failures. A gate that opens sometimes and ignores the remote other times is telling you something. We can diagnose it same day, whether it is a limit switch, a photo eye, a receiver, or a hinge problem downstream that is stalling the whole system.
Hinge & Post Repair
The sloped driveways on the north side of Citrus are the single biggest cause of hinge and post failure we see in the eastern San Gabriel Valley. A swing gate installed on a grade does not swing in a level plane: the bottom rail drags on the uphill side, and every cycle levers against the hinge post like a pry bar. Over time, that post pulls off plumb, and the gate gets heavier and heavier on the motor. We set new post footings with deeper embedment, install heavier hinge hardware, and sometimes convert the layout so the gate swings in a direction that clears the grade. This is not a patch job: we find the lean, fix the post, and reset the gate so it travels true.
Gate Realignment
Realignment in Citrus is a skill that half the companies in the area do not actually perform; they just tell you the gate needs replacing. We do not buy that, because most of the gates we realign are original 1960s and 1970s wrought iron and tubular steel that still have decades of life in the steel itself. The problem is almost always the hinge geometry and the post plumbness, not the gate. We bring the gate back square, burn in new welds where needed, and reset the operator so it is no longer fighting the load. Fix the panel without the post and you will fix it twice. We fix both.
Weld & Rust Repair
We weld on site, in your driveway, so your gate never has to leave the property. Citrus gates that have spent decades facing foothill heat and canyon wind develop rust at the hinge welds and stress cracks along the bottom rail. We grind out the corrosion, weld the cracks with proper joint prep, and treat the steel so the repair does not fail in the same spot a year later. If the gate is wrought iron, we match the existing sections and repair the original bars rather than swapping in modern replacements that look wrong against a mid-century house.
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 Citrus
We are certified to service nine major gate operator brands, and Citrus customers most often ask us about FAAC, BFT, and Linear operators on older automatic swing gates. Our shop stocks common boards, limit switches, photo eyes, and receiver components for these brands locally, which means we rarely have to order and wait for a part when your gate is down. We can also service LiftMaster and Viking units, including the underground operators that many sloped Citrus driveways require. If we do not have the part on the truck, we can usually have it in hand within a day and back on your gate fast.
Common Gate Repair Problems We See in Citrus Homes
- Wind-bent gate frames from Santa Ana events. Citrus sits at the base of the San Gabriel foothills, and when the Santa Anas funnel through the canyon mouths, they hit gates on the north end of town head-on. We routinely see bent top rails, sheared hinge bolts, and slide gates knocked clean off their tracks after a strong wind event.
- Bottom rails dragging on sloped driveways. A gate arc that intersects the grade gouges concrete on every cycle and destroys hinge posts. It is the signature Citrus gate problem, and it rarely happens on the flat lots just a few miles south in Azusa.
- Post anchors pulling loose from thin original concrete pads. The 1960s and 1970s pads these homes were built on were never poured thick enough for a heavy automated gate. Thermal expansion through Citrus’s hot summers slowly breaks the bond, and one day the post leans and the operator fails.
- Operators failing because the gate got heavy. Before you replace a motor, we check what it is actually pulling. Many Citrus operators die young because a sagging gate has been dragging for years and nobody corrected the alignment. The motor was never the problem.
Pricing for Gate Repair in Citrus, CA
Here is what gate repair actually costs in Citrus, based on the work we do here every week.
- Hinge replacement and gate realignment: $280-$650, depending on gate weight and how far the post has pulled off plumb. Most Citrus jobs land in the $350-$450 range.
- Post reset with new footing: $700-$1,300. Sloped driveway work runs toward the upper end when deeper embedment and bracing are needed.
- Operator repair (board, limit switch, receiver): $220-$540. Full operator replacement on a heavy custom swing gate runs $1,200-$2,800, depending on brand and capacity.
- Weld and rust repair: $150-$500 for most on-site repairs, more for extensive cracked sections or custom ornamental matching.
The price we quote is the price you pay. We agree on the number before any work starts, and we do not show up with a different invoice. We also offer $40 off any repair over $200, no trip charge inside Los Angeles County, and a free second opinion on any written estimate from another company. Seniors and veterans get a permanent 10% discount. Call (877) 610-2993 and we will give you numbers over the phone, free.
We Also Serve Cities Near Citrus
If you are outside the 91702 area, we regularly handle calls in Citrus and the surrounding communities of Azusa, Vincent, Covina, and Glendora. The same crew, the same truck, and the same owner-signed paperwork. If you live just over the line and your gate is down, call us. If you are not sure whether we cover your street, ask when you call. The answer is almost always yes.
Serving Citrus, CA - Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the Citrus 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 Repair in Citrus
Because the gate arc intersects the grade. Your gate was likely installed on a driveway that climbs, and as the hinges wear, the gate drops slight enough that the bottom rail catches concrete on the uphill half of its swing. Every cycle levers the hinge post, and you get a compounding failure: drag creates wear, wear creates sag, sag destroys hinges. The fix is to reset the post plumb, replace the worn hinges, and often adjust the gate geometry or install a rising hinge so the gate lifts as it opens. Call (877) 610-2993 and we will come look at your driveway in person. Estimates are free.
Yes, in most cases. We have automated dozens of original 1960s-1980s wrought iron gates on Citrus ranch-style properties. The gate itself is usually still structurally sound; what it needs is the right operator, properly anchored posts, and hinge hardware that can carry the load. On sloped driveways we commonly spec an underground operator from FAAC or LiftMaster with a custom rack and pinion conversion so the gate clears the grade. Replacing a solid wrought iron gate because the operator failed would be like replacing the front door because the knob wore out. We will show you what your existing gate can do before we ever talk about pulling it out.
It is the heat acting on metal that was never installed with enough thermal allowance. Citrus summers drive strong expansion in steel gates, and on a gate where the hinge pins are dry, the post is slightly off plumb, or the pad has settled, that expansion turns into a bind you can hear from the street. It is not “just the heat.” It is the heat exposing a mechanical problem that will only get worse. Grease will quiet it for a day and then the bind returns. Let us find the underlying source: usually a hinge out of line or a post that has drifted. Call (877) 610-2993 and we will diagnose it for free.
A compliant automatic gate should have functioning photo eyes or contact edges that stop and reverse the gate if a person, child, or pet is in the path. If your gate reverses without anything there, or if it keeps pushing against an obstruction, the entrapment protection is not set correctly and it is a genuine safety issue. We test every safety device on every automatic gate service call, and if your gate does not meet current safety standards we will tell you plainly and quote the correction. Do not disable or bypass a photo eye to keep a misbehaving gate running; that is how people get hurt. Strong winds through the foothills can knock photo eyes out of alignment, and that is one of the most common safety failures we correct in Citrus.
Yes. Intermittent operation during high wind is usually one of three things: wind-load is pushing the gate off its limit switch, a photo eye is being blown out of alignment, or a loose connection at the hinge or operator is making and breaking contact as the wind buffets the gate. We will set the wind-load limits on your operator, re-aim the photo eyes, and check every junction for looseness. If the gate is light enough that wind keeps triggering false reversals, we may recommend a faster operator or a stiffer gate frame. Call (877) 610-2993 and we will work through it with you on the phone before we even roll out.
Gate Repair is what we do every day, and Citrus is where we do some of our most demanding work. The sloped driveways, the old ranch gates, the wind off the foothills: it all adds up to repair work that demands more than a parts changer. Hal Gatewood will show up himself or send his crew, and the name on the invoice is the name you can track down at the published shop address anytime you want to look us in the eye. Call (877) 610-2993 for a free estimate. We answer live, day or night.
Written by Hal Gatewood, Owner at Gatewood Fence & Gate, serving Citrus since 2001.