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 Cleburne
A gate motor or opener repair in Cleburne typically runs between $240 and $680, with full motor replacement on a heavy pipe swing gate landing between $1,200 and $2,900 depending on brand and gate size. We dispatch crews to Cleburne six days a week and can usually have a technician at your driveway within 24 to 48 hours for non-emergency calls. If your gate is stuck open or stuck shut and you need it moving tonight, call (817) 961-9404 and a live person answers, right then, no phone tree.
We know Cleburne’s gates the way a local knows Nolan River Road: those heavy schedule-40 pipe swing gates on five-acre spreads, the slide gates on narrow shared driveways where a swing would hit a fence post, the old creosote wooden posts that have held a gate since the 1980s and are quietly rotting at the soil line. Our Gate Motor & Opener technicians work Cleburne every week. We understand how Johnson County ground moves, how summer heat kills solar operators, and why a gate that ran fine in April starts binding in August. That local knowledge changes how we diagnose, how we repair, and how long the fix lasts.
Why Ironworks Gate Co. Is Cleburne’s Preferred Gate Motor & Opener Company
Victor Salinas leads our service team, and the standard he sets is simple: the 400th gate job gets the same care as the first. We have been building and repairing driveway gates since 1984, and we back every job in Cleburne with a written 90-Day Done Right Promise. If something is not right, we return and make it right. No paperwork, no arguing. That guarantee applies equally to a motor swap on a swing gate in Bellevue and a slide-gate opener repair out past the Chisholm Trail Parkway.
When a Cleburne homeowner calls us, they are not getting a handyman who “also does gates.” They get a uniformed, background-checked technician trained and certified on nine major gate-automation brands: LiftMaster, FAAC, BFT, Linear, Viking, Ghost Controls, DoorKing, Elite, and Mighty Mule. That matters because a Viking slide operator and a BFT swing operator fail differently, and the correct diagnosis on the first visit saves you a second service call and a second day off work.
Our dispatch is coordinated from our Dallas-Fort Worth office, and Cleburne sits well inside our weekly service rotation. For a broken gate motor in Cleburne proper, near the high school or out toward Lake Pat Cleburne, most calls get a technician scheduled within one to two business days. We tell you the price before we touch a bolt, and you approve it in writing before any work begins. No surprise invoice at the end.
Our Gate Motor & Opener Services in Cleburne
Motor Installation
A new gate motor installation in Cleburne runs $1,200 to $2,900 on a typical pipe swing gate and $1,800 to $3,400 for a slide gate, including the operator, mounting hardware, safety photocells, and full setup and travel programming. If you are adding automation to a gate that has been manually opened for twenty years, we check the hinge posts first. On Cleburne acreage, that often means resetting a post or two before the motor ever gets mounted. We quote the whole job before work starts, and we install motors from brands we would put on our own gates.
Motor Repair
Most motor repairs in Cleburne run $240 to $680, and we complete the majority in a single visit. Common repairs here include stripped drive gears, failed limit switches, burned control boards, and capacitors that have given up after repeated high-torque starts on a binding gate. In Cleburne specifically, we see a lot of clay-soil heave pushing hinge posts out of plumb, which makes the motor work harder every cycle until something gives. We fix the motor and the underlying post problem, because fixing only the motor on a binding gate means you will call us again in six months.
Linear Motor Service
Linear is one of the most common brands on Cleburne’s older acreage gates, and our technicians carry Linear boards, gears, and limit switches on the truck. A Linear motor repair in Cleburne typically runs $260 to $620. These operators are dependable, but the plastic drive gears inside are the weak point, and when a post heaves and the gate drags, those gears are the first thing to strip. We also handle full Linear motor replacement when the operator has reached the end of its service life, usually $1,100 to $2,200 installed.
Slide Motor Service
Slide gates are common in Cleburne where driveways are tight or a shared right of way has no room for a swing arc. A slide motor repair runs $280 to $700 depending on the failure, and a full slide operator replacement runs $1,800 to $3,400. The recurring issue in Johnson County is gumbo mud: after a hard rain, clay soil washes onto the track, the wheels clog, and the torque limiter trips repeatedly until the control board burns out. We clean and re-grade the track as part of the repair, because a new motor on a fouled track is a short-term fix.
What happens when you call
- 1
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 Cleburne
We service BFT, Linear, Viking, and Ghost Controls operators regularly in Cleburne, plus five other major brands. Each brand has its own failure fingerprints: Viking slide operators are generally strong but sensitive to low voltage on long wire runs; Linear swing arms chew drive gears when the gate binds; BFT hydraulic operators leak seals after freeze-thaw cycles; Ghost Controls solar units die quietly in August when the battery cooks. We stock common boards, gears, and photocells for all of them, which lets us complete most Cleburne repairs in one visit rather than ordering a part and driving back out a week later.
Common Gate Motor & Opener Problems We See in Cleburne Homes
- Clay-soil post heave throwing the gate out of plumb. Johnson County’s expansive clay swells in spring and shrinks in late summer, which tilts hinge posts, binds the gate mid-travel, and overloads the motor. In Cleburne, this is the single most common cause of stripped gears, burned boards, and repeated limit-loss on swing gates.
- Solar operators dying in the August heat. Remote driveways outside city power reach often run solar-powered operators, and North Central Texas summers push 100°F for weeks. Heat degrades rubber battery seals and cooks circuit boards, so the operator works all spring and then quits in August. We add battery-backup upgrades and shade shields on many Cleburne installations, and we steer remote properties toward operators wired for AC where the run allows it.
- Ice-storm freeze-ups on slide gate tracks. The February 2021 ice storm is still recent enough that many Cleburne slide gates now carry damage from it. Water gets into the track and freezes, the gate jams, and the torque limiter trips repeatedly until the control board fails. After freeze events, we see a cluster of burned-out boards and broken roller carriages.
- Rotted creosote posts on 1980s pipe swing gates. Many Cleburne acreage gates still hang on creosote-treated wooden posts that rot at the soil line where clay holds moisture against the wood. When the post tilts, the gate drops, the latch binds, and the motor pulls harder every day until the hinge weld snaps. We reset the post, pour new concrete footings, and re-hang the gate plumb before re-timing the operator.
Pricing for Gate Motor & Opener in Cleburne, TX
| Service | Typical Range in Cleburne |
|---|---|
| Motor repair (gear, board, limit switch) | $240 - $680 |
| Full motor replacement, swing gate | $1,200 - $2,900 |
| Full motor replacement, slide gate | $1,800 - $3,400 |
| Battery backup installation | $390 - $850 |
| Photocell / safety edge replacement | $180 - $420 |
| Post reset and motor re-alignment | $500 - $1,400 |
These are real numbers from actual Cleburne jobs, not national averages. What moves the price is the gate length and weight, whether the posts need resetting, and the brand of operator already on the gate. You get an exact written quote before any work begins, and the price you approve is the price you pay. Estimates are free. Call (817) 961-9404 and we will schedule a visit.
We Also Serve Cities Near Cleburne
Our crews work the whole Johnson County rim. If you are in Keene, Joshua, Alvarado, or Burleson, the same Cleburne service area coverage applies, and the same written 90-Day Done Right Promise protects every job. Call (817) 961-9404 and tell us where the gate is; we will tell you when we can be there.
Serving Cleburne, TX - Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the Cleburne 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 Cleburne
The most common cause in Cleburne is a hinge post that has shifted out of plumb from expansive clay soil. When the post tilts even a few degrees, the gate’s travel arc changes slightly each cycle, so the operator’s limit settings no longer match where the gate actually stops. The fixed answer is to reset the post in new concrete and re-hang the gate, then re-time the motor. A limit-switch replacement alone will not hold if the post is moving. Call (817) 961-9404 and we will check the post before we touch the electronics.
We start by cleaning and re-grading the track bed so water and clay run away from the gate path instead of pooling in it. Then we inspect the wheels and carriages for packed mud and replace anything worn. On gates that flood regularly, we set the track on a raised concrete base so it stays above the gumbo. The opener itself gets its torque limiter checked and reset, because running a motor against mud is what kills the control board. It is a repair plus drainage work, and we quote it as one job.
Yes, most likely. Sustained 100°F heat degrades the rubber seals inside sealed lead-acid and even lithium batteries, and it accelerates failure in circuit boards mounted inside solar operator enclosures. It typically shows up in August because the heat has been building since June. The durable fix on a remote Cleburne driveway is generally a higher-capacity deep-cycle battery, a shade shield over the enclosure, and if the property has AC power within a reasonable run, we will recommend converting the operator to line voltage with a battery backup. Call (817) 961-9404 and we will check what the panel is actually doing.
Yes, we integrate existing intercom and phone-entry systems with new or existing gate operators as part of our standard service. Whether the intercom is an old analog unit at the house or a newer CellGate or DoorKing system, we can wire the relay so a button press at the house opens the gate just like the clicker does. On a recent job off CR 1120, we added keypad entry to a Viking operator on a shared driveway so three neighboring homes could each open the gate without passing a single remote around. Bring us what you have; we will make it work with the gate.
Yes. UL 325 is a mandatory safety standard for automated gates, and entrapment protection, usually photo-eyes or a safety edge, is required on every automatic gate installed today, including a pipe swing gate on a Cleburne acreage driveway. The standard exists because gates have injured people and animals when a motor kept pushing against an obstruction. A properly installed set of photocells or a monitored safety edge reverses the gate when anything is in the path. We install entrapment protection on every operator we touch, and it is included in every new motor installation we quote. It is not an upsell; it is the law. Call (817) 961-9404 for a free estimate that includes the safety gear.
On a shared driveway off CR 1120, we reset two leaning hinge posts on a 1970s pipe swing gate that had thrown a Viking operator out of alignment and snapped the rack welds. After pouring new post footings and re-hanging the gate plumb, our tech re-timed the motor, replaced the safety photocells, and added a keypad entry so the three neighboring homes could keep using the gate while we worked.
If your gate motor is grinding, stalling, or dead, call (817) 961-9404. A live person answers, we schedule a technician for Cleburne, and the price is settled before any work starts. Done right, and backed in writing.
Written by Victor Salinas, Owner at Ironworks Gate Co., serving Cleburne with gate motor and opener service since 1984.