How to Install a Swing Driveway Gate: Posts, Hinges and Opener

Build your own automatic driveway gate, and make every arrival feel like coming home.

You can save thousands installing your own American-made steel gate, custom-sized to fit.

Mark your posts with a tape, level, and white paint.

Dig with a shovel or digger, then set your posts in concrete.

Grab a wrench, grease, gloves, and a helper to hang your gate.

Measure the opening, leaving four inches between each post and the wall or fence.

Mark the post locations with white paint, then call 811 to locate buried lines before you dig.

Hole sizes vary with your gate, soil, and local requirements.

For drainage and a firm base, a compacted layer of crushed base rock is recommended.

To set the posts at the correct height, first find the highest ground along the full swing opening.

Then make sure the top outside corners of your custom-sized gate will sit level with the tops of the posts.

Aim for a two-inch clearance under the gate, and a one-inch gap between the gates.

Can't dig?

Our plate-mount posts bolt onto a suitable concrete slab.

Call us to confirm your slab and anchors.

Pour QUIKRETE Fast-Setting into a suitable post hole in layers, adding hose water as you go, following the bag’s directions.

It sets in twenty to forty minutes; allow four hours before heavy loads in normal conditions.

A same-day install is possible.

Once the concrete meets its loading instructions, thread the single-nut bottom hinge into the post.

Slide the top hinge through the post, then tighten the outside nut with an adjustable wrench.

Each bolt center sits two and five eighths inches from the post.

Pump about two shots of car grease into each hinge barrel.

Push the ball bearing up the barrel, until it stays put at the top.

With a helper, lift each leaf over its hinge bolts and lower it, so the barrels slide on.

Swing each leaf until it seats, leaving the normal small gap above the washer.

If the leaves don't meet level, loosen the top bolt and lift the center on a two inch wedge.

Drop the cane bolt to hold the fixed leaf.

Its key-lockable LokkLatch catches the swinging leaf as it closes.

From the street, press the button in and push the gate open; it latches again as it closes.

With an opener, skip the cane bolt and latch.

Bolt the brackets to the gate frames, then pin and clip the arms—no welding required.

Mount the post brackets and control box per the manual.

Run any cable that crosses the driveway through conduit, or an approved driveway cut sealed with caulk.

Plug the supplied transformer into a garage outlet, then run its low-voltage cable to the gate's battery charger.

Follow the manual for connections and safety checks, or call us for help.

Open with remotes, keypads, phone apps, compatible car controls, and more.

GateFrames has it all.

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