FAAC Welding & Fabrication Nationwide

FAAC Welding & Fabrication: The Kennedale Owner’s Guide

FAAC welding and fabrication in Kennedale typically runs $380 to $950 installed, depending on whether we’re repairing a cracked hinge bracket, rebuilding a slide gate truck assembly, or fabricating a custom mounting plate for a 24-volt FAAC operator. We stock the common steel brackets, hinge receivers, and mounting plates on our trucks, and we can usually complete a weld repair or bracket replacement the same day we arrive. Most homeowners discover the problem the hard way: the gate starts dragging, binds at one end of its travel, or a hinge tears loose from the post after years of Texas heat and soil movement.

Call (817) 286-7391

What you’re dealing with is rarely the FAAC motor itself. It’s the steel around it. The operator pushes thousands of pounds through hinges, brackets, and track hardware every day, and when the metal fatigues, the automation pays the price. We’ve rebuilt enough FAAC-equipped gates across Kennedale to know exactly where they fail and how to fix them so they stay fixed.

Which FAAC Models This Applies To

We weld and fabricate for the full range of FAAC residential and light-commercial operators you’ll find in Kennedale: the 400 Series swing operators (402, 412, 415), the 390 and 391 24-volt rams, the 750 and 770 slide operators, and the older 740 and 844 lines that are still running strong on properties off Dick Price Road and along Sublett Road. The compatibility issue to watch is mounting-foot geometry. FAAC changed the bolt pattern and foot dimensions between the older 24-volt rams and the newer encapsulated 412 Compact series, so a bracket that fit a 2006-era 400 operator won’t sit square on a 2020 412. If you’re replacing just the operator and keeping existing weldments, we measure the foot spacing before anything gets cut.

For the steel itself, the OEM-versus-aftermarket decision matters less than most owners assume. FAAC brackets are well-made, but they’re still mild steel with a powder coat, and after 10 to 15 years in North Texas, powder coat loses the fight against sun, rain, and the occasional hail season. We often fabricate from heavier-gauge steel than the factory part and then prime and paint with a two-part epoxy that holds up better in our climate than the original finish. When an OEM bracket is the right answer, we’ll say so. When a 3/16-inch plate we bend and weld in our shop will outlast the factory piece, we’ll say that instead.

One more thing worth knowing: we stock FAAC-specific hardware including the M8 and M10 mounting bolts with the right thread pitch, regardless of whether we’re installing aftermarket or factory components. We also service the other brands Kennedale homeowners have on their driveways, and we keep common parts for LiftMaster, Mighty Mule, and Ghost Controls on the trucks alongside FAAC.

Signs Your FAAC Welding & Fabrication Is Failing

• The gate sags at the latch end. This almost always traces back to a hinge weld beginning to crack or a hinge post shifting in the soil. The FAAC operator keeps pushing harder to compensate, which accelerates the fatigue. Left alone, the weld fails completely and the gate drops.
• You hear a creak or pop at one specific point in the travel. That’s metal flexing at a fractured weld or a bracket that’s begun to tear away from the post. It’s not a lubricant problem, and grease won’t fix it.
• The operator trips or reverses mid-cycle. FAAC control boards read amperage to detect obstructions, and a binding hinge or dragging slide truck makes the motor work harder. The board shuts down to protect itself. People replace the board, then the motor, and the real problem was a $90 bracket all along.
• The gate moves a half-inch before the operator engages. Loose mounting bolts at the operator foot, or wallowed-out holes in a welded bracket, create slop that wrecks the geometry and eventually shears the bolts or cracks the plate.
• Rust staining runs down from a weld or bracket edge. By the time you see rust weep from a cracked powder coat, the steel underneath has been oxidizing for years. Surface rust is cosmetic; rust staining from a joint is structural.

Replacement Cost & What’s Included

In Kennedale, a hinge bracket repair or single welded bracket replacement typically runs $380 to $550 installed. A full hinge set in heavier steel, or rebuilding a slide gate truck and guide assembly, lands between $650 and $950 depending on gate weight and how much fabrication is involved. Custom mounting plates for repowering an older gate with a newer FAAC operator fall in the $400 to $700 range including the weld work, finish, and hardware.

Every price is quoted and agreed before we strike an arc or turn a bolt. You’ll know the number before the work starts, and that number will not change unless you ask us to do additional work while we’re there. Every weld job includes primer and paint on the new steel, new hardware where the old has been removed, and the 90-Day Done Right Promise: if it’s not right, we come back and make it right. In writing, no arguing.

DIY or Call Us?

You can safely check a few things yourself: look for visible cracks at hinge welds, shine a light on the operator’s mounting feet to see if bolts have backed out, and watch the gate travel to spot sag or drag. What you should not do is touch a hot welder while a thousand-pound gate is suspended off its hinges, or trust a farm-jack and ratchet strap to hold a swing gate while you work underneath it. We’ve seen what happens when a wind gust catches a gate that wasn’t properly supported. It’s not worth the hospital bill or the bent steel.

Welding on site is also messy in the ways that matter: you need the right amperage for the steel thickness, the right rod or wire, and enough practice to lay a bead that doesn’t just look good but penetrates. A pretty weld with no root penetration snaps just like a broken one. If you want it fixed once and done right, call (817) 286-7391 and we’ll come look at it.

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