FAAC Welding & Fabrication Nationwide

FAAC Welding & Fabrication: The Burleson Owner’s Guide

FAAC welding and fabrication work in Burleson typically runs $180 to $520 installed, depending on whether we’re repairing a cracked gate frame, remounting a hinge plate, or building a custom bracket for your opener. Most FAAC weld repairs are completed the same day we arrive, and we keep common FAAC-compatible brackets, hinge mounts, and gate frame stock on the truck. You’ll usually know something’s wrong the first time the gate shudders mid-swing or you spot a crack running through a weld joint that’s been holding fine for fifteen years.

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The part itself is rarely the expensive part of this job. What you’re paying for is someone who can weld it straight, match the metal correctly, and keep your FAAC operator from fighting a gate that’s now a quarter-inch out of alignment. Victor Salinas has been doing exactly that for Burleson homeowners for over two decades, and we’ve seen just about every way a Texas gate frame can fatigue, crack, or pull loose from its post.

Which FAAC Models This Applies To

Welding and fabrication isn’t tied to one FAAC model line the way a control board or a limit switch is. If your gate has a FAAC operator mounted to it – whether it’s a 400 series swing arm, a 415, an S800, or one of the older 750/760 hydraulic units we still see around Burleson’s established neighborhoods – the structural metal underneath that operator is what we’re talking about here. The welds, hinge plates, post brackets, and gate frame joints are all part of the same load path, and when one fails, the FAAC motor feels it.

That said, FAAC’s swing-arm systems do put a particular kind of stress on the gate leaf and the hinge side of the frame. Because the arm pushes and pulls through a fixed pivot point rather than a chain or a sliding track, any flex in the gate frame translates directly into arm bind and premature wear on the operator itself. A gate with even a slight weld crack at the top hinge will make a FAAC arm grumble, and if you ignore it long enough, the arm’s internal components start taking that vibration. Ironworks Gate Co. is an independent service provider, not affiliated with FAAC, but this is the interaction between metal and motor we deal with every week.

When we match a fabricated bracket or remount a hinge, we measure the existing part first – hinge post diameter, gate frame wall thickness, pivot spacing – rather than guessing from a catalog. FAAC didn’t build your gate; a local welder or a fence company did, and there’s real variation in how Burleson gates are framed depending on the era and the contractor. OEM FAAC mounting brackets are available for many operators, and we’ll use them when the measurements call for it. But for the gate-side fabrication work, a properly measured and TIG or MIG-welded replacement often fits better than a universal bracket that almost fits.

Signs Your FAAC Welding & Fabrication Is Failing

• The gate dips or drags at the latch side. This usually means a gate frame weld has cracked and the leaf has settled out of square. The top hinge pulls away from the post, and suddenly the operator is working twice as hard to move a gate that’s grinding against the ground. We see this a lot on the heavier ornamental steel gates around Burleson’s Chisholm Trail Crossing area.
• The FAAC arm jerks or stutters mid-cycle. A loose hinge bracket or a cracked mount plate lets the arm’s pivot point move slightly as the gate swings, so the operator’s force goes into wobbling the mount instead of moving the gate. Left alone, it takes out the arm’s internal gear set.
• You can see daylight through a weld joint that used to be solid. This is the most obvious one, and it’s usually on the hinge side or at the bottom corner of the gate leaf where rainwater pools. Burleson gets enough freeze-thaw cycles in winter that a hairline crack becomes a visible gap within a season or two.
• The gate scrapes against the post or the column. Post brackets loosen, welds fatigue, and the gate slowly works its way toward the post over thousands of open-close cycles. If you’re seeing fresh rub marks on the post paint, the structure is moving.
• The gate bounces or shudders when it stops. That’s the frame flexing because a structural joint has separated internally. The FAAC operator’s soft-stop feature flatters a lot of frame problems, but once the bounce is visible, the metal has already let go somewhere.

Replacement Cost & What’s Included

Here’s how FAAC welding and fabrication work typically prices out in Burleson:

• On-site crack repair (gate frame or hinge weld): $180 to $320
• Hinge bracket remount or replacement, welded: $220 to $380
• Custom bracket fabrication for FAAC arm mount: $280 to $460
• Gate frame reinforcement (sleeve or gusset work, per corner): $190 to $340
• Post repair or replacement, including concrete work when needed: $380 to $520

Every price is quoted and agreed before we strike an arc. That’s non-negotiable for us. The range depends mostly on how much grinding and prep the existing steel needs, whether the gate has to come off its hinges for the repair, and what condition the post is in once we start looking behind the old welds. You’ll know the number before we start, and there’s no line item that shows up afterward without being discussed first. If the repair is part of a larger service, remember we offer $50 off any repair over $250, and there’s a standing 5% discount for seniors and veterans in Burleson.

DIY or Call Us?

You can absolutely check the visual basics yourself: look for cracked paint at the hinge welds, see if the gate has dropped at the latch side, and listen for any grinding when the FAAC arm cycles. Those observations help you describe the problem accurately when you call. What you shouldn’t do is take an angle grinder and a welder to a gate that’s carrying a live FAAC operator, unless you’re genuinely set up for structural welding. A gate leaf under tension can shift when you cut a cracked weld loose, and a hot weld landed on a mounted operator arm or its wiring can turn a $300 fabrication job into a $900 motor replacement. This is one place where doing it wrong costs more than hiring it done. We also always disconnect power to the FAAC unit before we touch the metal around it, and we set up the gate so it can’t move mid-weld. Safety edges and photocells don’t care about your intentions.

If the crack is short, the gate still closes square, and you’re mainly concerned about it getting worse, call us anyway. Victor’s take is simple: tell me what it is doing, and I will tell you what it needs – no guesswork, no runaround. We’ll look at it, give you a straight answer, and if it doesn’t need welding yet, we’ll tell you that too.

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