So I bought this really REALLY heavy gate..

[Bullet-Proof_Biscuit]

..because it just looks great. Good news!

Bad news, it must be 200kg, at least. My friend and I are vaguely mostly athletic ish and we can merely shuffle it about, slowly. Getting it out the van was a sight to behold.

It's 9 foot wide and 6 foot high, which is nice. I think it would have been a pair because that seems a bit narrow for a vehicle gate, vehicles possibly not being invented when gate was made notwithstanding.

Anyway, onto the good stuff, I intend to rebuild the brick pillar originally holding a pedestrian timber gate, as I have converted the access to vehicular, (the lamp post move is requested from the council).

I then drank some beer and came up with gate foundations rev.1;

and noted several things:
1. I don't have a rebar bender.
2. When the gate opens (inwards), the underneath foundation must extend backwards also to stop it toppling over..
3. A lot of concrete would be required.
4. There are gas and water services in there somewhere.
5. I can weld..

So after more beer, Rev.2 foundations design were drawn:
Drawn back to front, but the RSJ to the rear will be providing back support when the gate opens into the drive (RHS of lamp post).

Then I bought three lengths of 2200mm RSJ because £15 each:

So..

If I weld it, possibly buttress the joints, douse the thing in bitumen, weld on hinges, sink it in the ground and concrete it level, minus depth for drive surface to come to FFL, and brick around the pillar with my saved original imperial bricks with NHL3.5, does it look like it will work..?

Notes & thoughts:

The thing will be just inside the boundary so no party wall issues I hope.
It's a REALLY heavy gate.
The hinges are peculiar, the top just attaches on the 1" wrought square bar frame which has been rounded (poorly) for about 2" of it's length. The bottom hinge I believe was more of a pin, resting on the ground (some kind of axial bearing I could use maybe? Fixed onto the horizontal RSJ like a pad?).
It actually has a wheel on the non-hinged side presumably for the weight.. (Did I mention it's heavy).
I hope to not use this wheel and design sufficiently stout bearings that the gate is easily moved by hand - phosphor bronze / roller/ball bearings would be nice to design in, there would need to be weather rated of course.
By the same token I would like to use the wheel.. At least a future option, I could have a large steel plate laser cut into a curve and set it into the finished drive floor at a later date for the wheel to ride on.
Hinges I've seen on a similar gate I think on a church near me: (I did not take the gate from said church lol).

Input/thoughts/comments appreciated..

Beers!

 

[Mottie]

If the ground is level, could you fit a support wheel?

 

[johnny2007]

Without a support wheel nothing will hold that gate on hinges.

 

[Lower]

If you used the support wheel on a track and have the bottom hinge pin set in a socket on the ground as per your photo of the original installation, you wouldn't have to go to the trouble of putting support steels inside your brick pillar.

 

[Bullet-Proof_Biscuit]

Thanks for replies, should have said the spanner in the mix will be the reclaimed extremely worn granite setts I will be paving the drive with which are not very wheel-friendly at all. Cutting a track for the wheel later hopefully, chopping several hundred setts for clearance won't be fun though.

Those RSJs I have hare about 150x200mm in section so plenty strong enough when welded IMHO. Just hoped it has been done before?

@Lower, as you say, the bottom hinge pin will be set in a socket on the ground, fixed to the join of all three RSJs on a welded plate at correct height, so the entire gate is not 'hung' per-se, only held upright on by the upper actual hinge.

Also it will be too heavy to move (daily) if the bulk of the weight is on that roller.

Does my concreted-in RSJ structure idea seem sound? I would fully seam weld both sides, and buttress as mentioned, to resist bending moment @ the fulcrum.

I think I'll need to chop the wheel off and bore it out for a roller/bronze bearing:

 

[Lower]

If the bottom roller is on a track and the other end of the gate is supported by the bottom pin with the top hinge allowed to float vertically, only half the weight of the gate will be taken by the roller, ie 100kgs.

A well greased roller will take that weight easily. If you wanted to make it work better, replace the roller with a PU wheel and sealed bearing.

Personally, i'd do one or the other. Either install the track from the start and only use the pillar to hold the gate upright or make the pillar strong enough and don't use a track all. I think the track is the easier option.

I think your design for holding the gate pillar upright will work but make sure the hinges are attached to the steel itself and not the brick pillar. Make sure your hinges bolt on and there is plenty of adjustment so that you don't have to rely on the steel being absolutely plumb.

A house close to us has just had gate posts installed for some big electric gates. They dug out a hole about a meter cubed, set a box section vertically upright in the centre of it in concrete and then built a brick column around it which they backfilled with concrete. They didn't bother with your below ground sections and the gates (which were lifted into position with a hiab) don't appear to have dropped.

 

[Tigercubrider]

If you can retain access to the box section, or add internal threads ( welding a hefty chunk of internal threaded bar) then if the steel turns out to lean slightly over time, you could have the option of winding each hinge point in/out and correct any droop?

Maybe chandlers for weatherproof bearings and wheels?

Unless you have mates in the industry, laser cutting a big curve sounds expensive.
Pretty sure a fabricator could bend a channel for you

 

[Old Salt]

What about laying a concrete curve using shuttering just wider than the wheel on the correct arc. That would keep the cost down and should allow the wheel to roll.

 

[Bullet-Proof_Biscuit]

Thanks for comments. Yeah good idea to make the top hinge mount adjustable, ideally for X and Y so it won’t fall open or closed depending on settlement.

I think this kind of hinge for the bottom pin would be ideal, taper roller as per car wheel bearing, with a weather shield.

I do want a period correct track but that’s an after drive paving install exercise imho. Concrete won’t be period correct and I can CAD an arc drawing in .dwg to send to a laser cutters to make for me from a 1/2” steel plate, at a later date. Roller bearings in the original cast iron wheel should reduce rolling resistance enough I hope! And I’ve got these ridiculous RSJ’s now lol.

 

[Bullet-Proof_Biscuit]

Latest development after a scale drawing the gate will be 135mm short of the latch side pillar, the pillar being inline with the house, this gives me exactly 3000mm clearance, I do not want to make the entrance narrower so I might get a boat which has trailer access considerations, thinking possibly a removable section or 'mini gate' which can be opened separately when access is required, it's the aesthetics of it I'm only concerned about. Perhaps welded from steel bar to match(ish)..