Building a New Temporary Gate From Old Pipes

This summer I spent a few weekends fabricating and installing a new temporary gate for the main entrance to my property. Before this, I had used a 5-panel livestock gate but had taken it down during the pad grading last year. With the driveway nearly 32′ across now, the old gate sections were far too short. I needed a new solution.

While I was pondering the options, about a year ago, the local well pump serviceman mentioned to my dad that he had hundreds of feet of used 1-1/4″ and 1-1/2″ piping that he had pulled from a well in the back country. It might work for a gate. I decided to give it a try. We loaded my truck and hauled a couple hundred feet of pipe a few miles away to my property. Although it was rusted out in some places, much of it was still strong and seemed reasonably functional.

After I marked the pipe lengths, my dad pre-cut the pieces with a diamond cut-off wheel. I then welded both gates and the post hinges in one afternoon with my MIG welder. For the hinges, I settled on using short sections from an old axle for pins and rings from 1-1/4″ pipe to slip over the pins. They ended up working very well. All-in-all, making the gates myself saved a lot of money. Between gas for the generator and welding wire, each gate cost me only $20-40 – a savings of hundreds of dollars over a comparable 5-panel gate.

Installing the gates took a little bit of time. I carefully marked the hole locations and one of my neighbors kindly drilled the holes for me with their skidsteer auger attachment. Dad helped me level the holes with a rotating laser level and we installed both posts in about 3′ of concrete. I loaded each gate onto the tractor and used it to drop the gates into position on the post pins. I am pleasantly surprised with how easily the gates swing on their primitive hinges and how strong they are! The previous 5-panel gates had a tendency to sag over time, but thankfully I don’t think that will be a problem with these.

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