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.
FAAC Welding & Fabrication: The Arcadia Owner’s Guide
We weld and fabricate FAAC gate components in Arcadia, typically for $185 to $620 installed, and we can usually be at your property the same day you call. Most Arcadia owners discover a weld failure when the gate starts sagging, the operator strains, or a hinge mount tears loose from the post. Tell me what it is doing and I will tell you what it needs - no runaround.
What surprises owners is how often a good FAAC operator outlives the metal around it. The board and motor hum along fine, then a bracket lets go, a weld cracks at the hinge point, or some previous installer’s thin-gauge patch job finally gives out after a few San Gabriel Valley summers. We fix that in your driveway.
Which FAAC Models This Applies To
We’re an independent service provider in Arcadia, not affiliated with FAAC, but we work on their full swing and slide lineup every week: the 400 series, 770, 412, 390, S450H, and the newer FAAC slab-mounted operators. The welding and fabrication work breaks into a few dependable categories:
- Gate hinge and post plates - the most common fix. FAAC swing arms bolt to welded or fabricated plates, and when those plates were never properly reinforced, the weld tears or the plate bends.
- Operator mounting brackets - FAAC 400 and 770 series bolts to a steel bracket that sees repeated torque. We fabricate replacements that spread the load instead of concentrating it at two small bolt holes.
- Gate frame and picket repairs - cracked welds along the top rail, sagging middle rails, broken picket-to-rail connections.
- Post reinforcement and receiver fabrication - if the post itself has wallowed out around the FAAC receiver or hinge point, we weld a steel sleeve or cap that gives the mounting hardware something solid to hold.
Here’s what matters for matching a part to your specific gate: measure your existing bracket’s mounting-bolt spacing, the gate leaf weight if you know it, and take a photo of the FAAC model plate on the operator. FAAC changed bracket dimensions between generations more than once, so a 412 bracket will not always fall onto a 400. We keep both OEM brackets and our own heavy-gauge fabricated equivalents on the truck, so we match what is actually there rather than making the closest catalog number fit.
Signs Your FAAC Welding & Fabrication Is Failing
Owners in Arcadia usually notice one of these before the gate actually stops:
- The gate sags toward the latch side, but the hinges feel tight. The post is flexing or a weld has cracked inside the hinge weldment, and the lever arm of a sagging leaf transfers all of that stress into the FAAC operator bracket.
- The FAAC operator bangs, strains, or sounds like it is fighting the gate. A bent or cracked mounting bracket puts the arm at the wrong angle, so the 24V operator labors against geometry instead of just gate weight.
- You can see daylight through a weld joint that used to be solid. This is the one to act on. A broken weld at a hinge point left alone turns into a bent gate and a burned-out FAAC motor, which is a much bigger invoice.
- The gate bounces or wobbles when it opens and closes. Somewhere in the chain - post, hinge, bracket, or gate frame - a fabricated connection has loosened or cracked, and the FAAC unit’s soft-start and soft-stop features can only hide so much of that.
- A previous weld has been re-cracked or a patch plate is bolted over a break. We see this often enough that it has its own pattern. Somebody bolted a piece of flat stock over a cracked rail instead of grinding out the crack and welding it properly. In Arcadia’s heat and dry air, the crack keeps traveling under the patch.
Replacement Cost & What’s Included
Most FAAC welding and fabrication work in Arcadia falls between $185 and $620 installed, and every price is quoted and agreed before we touch anything. A simple cracked picket weld runs at the low end. Fabricating a new operator bracket from heavy gauge plate steel, removing a failed bracket, and welding the new one square is toward the middle. Post reinforcement sleeves and full gate frame straightening sit higher.
Here’s the spread in plain numbers:
| Work Scope | Typical Arcadia Installed Range |
|---|---|
| Cracked weld repair (single point) | $185 - $320 |
| FAAC operator bracket fabrication & install | $285 - $475 |
| Hinge plate / hinge weldment repair | $240 - $415 |
| Post reinforcement sleeve or receiver plate | $320 - $620 |
Every price includes the part, the welding or fabrication labor, grinding and prep, and our 90-Day Done Right Promise in writing. If the weld fails inside 90 days, Hal comes back and makes it right, no runaround. We also apply the standing offers: $40 off any repair over $200, no trip charge inside the county, and 10% off for seniors and veterans.
DIY or Call Us?
What you can safely do yourself: take photos of the FAAC model plate and the failed weld, pull the manual release and swing the gate by hand to feel where the slop is, and check whether the post itself moves when a second person leans on the gate. That tells us more by phone than most owners expect.
What you should not do: fire up a MIG welder and start filling in a cracked gate hinge. Welding an automatic gate involves high heat near sensitive FAAC electronics, and a hot ground path can toast a control board unless the operator leads are disconnected first. More than that, a weld is only as good as the fit-up underneath, and we have had to cut out plenty of globbed-on repairs that made the original break worse and the operator arm geometry wrong. If the gate has sagged, the repair has to start at the post and hinge line - fix the panel without the post and you’ll fix it twice.
Call (626) 628-9548 and describe what the gate is doing. We’ll give you an honest range before we leave the shop.
FAQs
An original factory weld on a properly installed gate typically lasts 15 to 25 years in our climate; a bad field weld or an under-reinforced bracket can fail inside five, especially on the south-facing side of Arcadia where heat cycling is brutal. We fabricate our brackets from the same gauge steel the gate frame carries, and that is usually the fix that outlasts the rest of the gate. Call (626) 628-9548 if you are not sure which category yours falls into.
Yes, and repair-first is exactly how we work - we grind out the failed weld, check the metal on either side for fatigue cracking, and re-weld it properly rather than bolting a patch over it. On FAAC operator brackets specifically, if the metal has thinned or torn, we fabricate a new bracket instead of chasing a part that is already compromised. Call (626) 628-9548 with a photo and we’ll tell you which one you need.
Most single-weld repairs and bracket fabrications in Arcadia are done the same day we arrive, usually within two to four hours including letting the weld cool before we run the operator through its cycle. Full gate frame straightening or post sleeve work may take us into the next morning. We will tell you the honest timeline before we start, and the price is locked before the first cut.
We keep common FAAC operator brackets, hinge plates, and hardware on the truck, and we fabricate our own heavy-gauge replacements when a stock bracket is not the right answer. We also stock parts for LiftMaster, Mighty Mule, and Ghost Controls. If your Arcadia gate needs anything from us, call (626) 628-9548 and a live person answers, day or night.
Written by Hal Gatewood, Owner, Gatewood Fence & Gate at Gatewood Fence & Gate, serving Arcadia and nearby areas.





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