Gate Latch

The problem with dual swinging gates is that they have a hard time staying parallel. I knew of this before we hung our new corral entrance gates, but the Wyoming wind said that it needed to be addressed sooner rather than later. 

Dad said that the one good thing about the swaying gates is that they tell you which way the wind is blowing. Unacceptable. 

To remedy this problem, we got ahold of some 3 1/2" tubing, which slips nicely over 2 7/8".

The plan was to cut it in half lengthways. A little trick to drawing a straight line down the middle of pipe is resting a piece of angle iron on it. 

Just follow your line with a cutting torch. 

Good deal. 

For heavy grinding like this I bring out ole Bertha.

That'll work. 

The idea was that the half pipe would cradle over the two top rails and keep the gates parallel while at rest.  Then when in need, simply lift the one end up and open the gates. 

So on one side we put a simple three piece hinge. 

For the other, we needed a handle. So we dug around in the barn and found some of Grandpa's old Percheron horse shoes. 

To work with these guys we brought out ole Betsy. 

We first cradled the shoes around the pipe and welded them on. Then we heated them up to bend them level. The iron alone on these shoes takes quite a bit to heat up. And keeping both sides hot enough to bend upright is a pretty tall order. 

Got it. 

We put a shoe on each side. To get in, first unlock the chain that does the heavy hold of the gates. Then, simply lift up the end of the bar with the shoes and move the gates freely. 

Muy bien. 

Mom was not liking the look of uneven gates from our house on the hill. Problem solved. I don't see any drawbacks from this gate latch. When it's open, the end of the bar is vulnerable, but is so far off of the ground that I don't think anything will bother it. Time will tell. But a straight gate makes for a jolly rancher. Bring it.