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.
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AfterFast, Reliable Gate Motor & Opener Across Arlington
If your automatic gate in Arlington has stopped opening, is grinding, or only works when you get out and wrestle it by hand, here’s the straight answer: a gate opener motor replacement here typically runs $425-$1,150 installed, and we can usually get to you same-day when it’s urgent. Hal Gatewood has been fixing gate motors and openers since 2001, and we work all over Arlington - from the older ranch neighborhoods near UTA to the acreage properties south of I-20. Call (817) 241-4067 and a live person answers. Not a voicemail. Not a menu tree.
Why Gatewood Fence & Gate Is Arlington’s Preferred Gate Motor & Opener Company
We’re not a franchise rolling through town with a rotating crew. Hal Gatewood’s name is on the shop, and the person who shows up for your gate is someone we’d hand our own gate to. Arlington customers keep calling us back because we weld on site, we fix what’s actually broken, and we don’t sell you a new motor when the real problem is a heaving post or a loose rack.
Our crew knows Arlington’s neighborhoods. We’re in north Arlington off Green Oaks one morning and down near Kennedale the next. We know the clay soil here pulls gate posts out of plumb every dry summer, and we know what that does to a perfectly good opener motor. That’s local knowledge you can’t fake from a call center three states away. We answer our own phone, and when you call (817) 241-4067, you’re talking to someone who has actually stood in an Arlington driveway and diagnosed a gate that won’t close.
Every job we do carries our 90-Day Done Right Promise, in writing. If it’s not right, one call brings us back. No fine print, no “within reason” language. We’ve been at this since 2001, owner-operated the whole time, and our address is published for anyone who wants to look us up or drive by the shop.
Our Gate Motor & Opener Services in Arlington
Here’s what we do for Arlington gates, and how the local conditions shape the work:
Motor Installation
New gate opener motor installation in Arlington runs $750-$1,450 for a standard swing or slide gate, depending on weight, gate length, and whether you need battery backup added. We install LiftMaster, Linear, Viking, Ghost Controls, and DoorKing. Before we mount anything, we check the gate leaves move freely by hand. If they don’t, a new motor is just going to fight the same binding and burn out. In Arlington’s clay, that means checking the posts for movement first - especially on the older ranch tracts built in the ’70s and ’80s.
Motor Repair
Motor repair in Arlington is our bread and butter. A stripped actuator, a burned control board, a limit switch that’s out of adjustment - most repairs run $180-$520. We solder, rebuild, and replace components on site rather than just swapping in a whole new motor assembly. Hal will tell you: show me the gate closing on its own and I’ll show you where it’s failing. We don’t shotgun parts. We find the actual failure and fix that.
Linear Motor
Linear actuators are the workhorse of Arlington’s residential swing gates - thousands of them across mid-city subdivisions. When a Linear actuator strips out or the motor burns, it’s almost always because the gate has gone out of plumb and the opener is fighting dead weight. A new Linear actuator installed typically runs $425-$780 in Arlington. We keep common Linear parts stocked locally so we’re not waiting three days on a truck from Houston.
Slide Motor
Slide gate motors are more common on Arlington’s acreage properties and the newer gated communities south of I-20, where driveway gates span 14 to 24 feet. Slide motor replacement runs $850-$1,350 depending on gate weight and whether it’s chain-driven or rack-and-pinion. We weld broken racks back into place on site. Most companies will tell you to replace the whole rack. We’ll grind it, true it, and weld it - done in an afternoon, not a two-week special order.
What happens when you call
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A real person answersNo phone trees - you reach a local pro.
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You get an upfront price rangeHonest numbers before anyone is dispatched.
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A background-checked tech heads outLicensed & insured, dispatched right away.
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You approve before work beginsNothing starts until you say go.
Trusted Brands We Service in Arlington
We’re certified to service nine major gate brands, and in Arlington we see a lot of Linear swing openers on older ranch-style properties, Ghost Controls and DoorKing on newer automated driveway gates south of I-20, and Viking on the heavier slide gates out on acreage. Because we stock common repair parts locally, turnaround on most Arlington jobs is same-day or next-day - you’re not waiting on a parts drop from another state. We’ll also be honest about which brands hold up in North Texas heat and which ones we’ve had to fix repeatedly.
Common Gate Motor & Opener Problems We See in Arlington Homes
- Burnt-out swing gate motors from clay-shifted posts. Arlington’s expansive clay heaves posts out of plumb every wet-dry cycle. A gate that swings freely in April is binding by August, and the motor burns out trying to muscle it. The fix isn’t another new motor - it’s digging out the post and setting a deeper, belled footing.
- Solar gate openers dying after overcast snaps. On acreage entrances with no mains power, solar openers are standard. A week of heavy North Texas overcast drains the battery and leaves a livestock gate half-open. We install proper battery backup and size the panel to the actual gate load, not just the neighborhood average.
- Frozen or snapped hardware after ice events. The February 2021 freeze snapped gate hardware and locked up opener motors all over Arlington. When ice builds on the rack or the gate leaf, the motor stalls and strips the gears. We replace those gears and often add a battery backup so the opener still works when the grid flickers.
- Safety sensor and loop detector misalignment. Freeze-thaw cycles move the gate leaf and throw the photo eye out of alignment, so the gate reverses unpredictably - or worse, doesn’t reverse at all. We realign the sensors and check the loop detector on every slide gate job in Arlington.
Pricing for Gate Motor & Opener in Arlington, TX
Here are honest numbers for what gate opener work costs in this market. Motor repair: $180-$520. Linear actuator replacement: $425-$780. Swing gate motor installation: $750-$1,200. Slide gate motor installation: $850-$1,450. Battery backup added to an existing opener: $350-$650. Solar panel and charge controller for an acreage opener: $600-$1,100.
What moves the price is gate weight and length, whether the posts are still plumb, and whether we’re doing electrical work or just mechanical. You’ll get an upfront written price before any work starts. No trip charge inside the county. And we stand by our 90-Day Done Right Promise - if it fails within 90 days because of something we did or should have caught, it’s on us to make it right. Call (817) 241-4067 for a free estimate.
We Also Serve Cities Near Arlington
Our Gate Motor & Opener crew covers Arlington and the surrounding communities. If you’re in Kennedale, Fort Worth, Hurst, or North Richland Hills, we can usually get to you the same day or next. We coordinate scheduling from our Dallas-Fort Worth office, and the person who answers the phone is the same person who’ll confirm your appointment and show up in the window we give you. For gate opener help anywhere around Arlington, call (817) 241-4067.
Serving Arlington, TX - Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the Arlington area and know this community well. Use the map below to see our service coverage - if you’re nearby, we can almost certainly help.
FAQs - Gate Motor & Opener in Arlington
In Arlington, the usual cause is clay soil heaving the gate posts out of plumb. The new motor lasts a few months, then starts grinding against the binding and burns out. The real fix is digging out the shallow 1970s-80s concrete collars found across central and east Arlington and resetting the post with a deeper, belled footing. Until the post is solid, you’re just feeding motors to the same problem. Call (817) 241-4067 and we’ll diagnose it properly - free estimate, no trip charge inside the county.
Yes, but it has to be sized right and paired with real battery backup. A 20-foot gate needs a larger panel than a standard residential swing gate, and Arlington’s overcast stretches in fall and winter will drain an undersized battery fast. We install solar openers on south Arlington acreage and horse properties regularly, with the panel and charge controller matched to the actual gate weight and daily cycles. That keeps the gate moving even after a week of gray skies.
Most likely ice stalled the gate and stripped the drive gear, or the cold snap killed the capacitor. When a slide gate motor clicks but won’t turn, the gear train usually took the damage. We replace stripped gears, check the rack alignment, and often install a battery backup so the next freeze doesn’t leave the gate dead half-open. That’s a common repair in Arlington after the February 2021 ice storm, and it’s usually done same-day.
That’s almost always a limit switch or control board that’s lost its settings after a power surge - common in Arlington during storm season. Sometimes the gate leaf has shifted slightly from clay movement and the limits need to be reprogrammed to match the new geometry. We reprogram the controller, adjust the limits, and test the safety sensors in one visit. It’s usually a quick diagnostic rather than a full replacement.
On an Arlington horse property with clay soil, we recommend service every 6 months. The wet-dry cycle here moves gate posts inches out of plumb between spring and late summer, and a 20-foot horse gate with a heavy operator takes the worst of it. We check the posts, hinge wear, operator gears, battery health, and sensor alignment - and reset anything that’s drifted before it becomes a burnout. Call (817) 241-4067 to schedule; we work around your gate access needs.
One Thing Every Arlington Homeowner Should Know
Here’s the thing no generic gate opener guide will tell you: in Arlington, the ground underneath your gate is the problem far more often than the motor on top of it. The expansive clay that runs through central and east Arlington shrinks in drought and swells when it rains, and every cycle walks your gate posts a little farther out of plumb. The 1975-1985 subdivisions are the worst for it - posts set in shallow concrete collars that were fine in 1980 now lean enough to bind a gate by late summer. You can keep replacing motors, or you can fix the footing once. We replaced a stripped Linear actuator on a 20-foot ornamental slide gate off Green Oaks Boulevard not long ago. The previous motor had burned out twice. Our tech dug out the walked hinge post, poured a belled footing, and reinstalled the rack and pinion. That gate glides now, through the August clay shift and all. That’s the difference between swapping parts and fixing the gate.
Written by Hal Gatewood, Owner at Gatewood Fence & Gate, serving Arlington since 2001.