FAAC Welding & Fabrication Nationwide

FAAC Welding & Fabrication: The West Palm Beach Owner’s Guide

If your FAAC gate has a cracked hinge bracket, a snapped mounting plate, or a torn weld on the arm that drives the gate, we can fabricate a replacement and install it, usually within one visit. Most FAAC welding and fabrication work around West Palm Beach runs between $280 and $650 installed, depending on whether we’re repairing the existing steel or building a new piece from scratch. The price is written down and agreed before we touch anything.

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How owners usually find us: the gate starts to sag on one corner, or it shudders partway through its swing and stops. Sometimes the operator motor keeps running but the gate barely moves because the welded connection between the operator and the gate has let go. Salt air near the Intracoastal and the humidity that never really leaves West Palm Beach get into those welds and brackets over time, and the metal fatigues quietly until one afternoon it just gives.

Which FAAC Models This Applies To

We see this most often on FAAC swing gate operators, particularly the 400, 750, 844, and 390 series, where the piston arm or the articulated arm mounts to the gate leaf through a welded steel bracket. The bracket is the weak point, not the operator itself. On FAAC sliding gates, the trouble tends to be the rack that bolts or welds to the gate frame, and on several older West Palm Beach properties we have seen the guide wheels mounted on fabricated steel plates that corrode from the bottom up.

The compatibility gotcha with FAAC: the mounting hole spacing on the gate leaf changed between the 750 series and the later 844 series, and a bracket that looks identical will be off by 9 millimeters. We measure the existing holes before we build anything. If your original bracket has a FAAC part number stamped on it, we match it. If the stamp is gone after years of weather, we go off the operator model and the gate’s thickness, which is usually 14 gauge or 12 gauge steel on the residential gates we see in neighborhoods like El Cid and Flamingo Park.

On the OEM versus aftermarket question for FAAC specifically: we prefer OEM brackets when FAAC still supplies them, because the steel grade and coating are matched to the load. But for parts FAAC no longer stocks, or on older operators where lead time is measured in weeks, a well-built aftermarket or custom-fabricated bracket in powder-coated steel does the job. We’ll tell you which one makes sense and why before you spend anything.

Signs Your FAAC Welding & Fabrication Is Failing

• The gate sags toward the hinge side when it’s open. This usually means the welded bracket or mounting plate at the operator connection has cracked. The operator is still pushing, but the load is now hanging on metal that is no longer solid.
• You hear a sharp creak or pop at the same point in every cycle. That sound is a weld that has partially separated. It gets worse with each swing, and it is easier and cheaper to fix before the bracket tears out fully and the operator arm twists.
• The gate shudders for a second or two after it starts moving. On FAAC hydraulic operators in particular, a loose weld at the front mounting flange causes a lag between the piston stroke and the gate movement. The operator is working; the connection is slipping.
• Rust staining runs down from the bracket or the weld line. In West Palm Beach, where overnight humidity and salt air are constant, this is the earliest warning sign. The weld has started to corrode internally even if the outside still looks solid.
• The gate has been hit by a car or a delivery truck at low speed. Even a slow impact can crack an underseen weld on the bottom hinge or the operator mount. We check every weld after an impact, even if the gate seems to swing fine for now.

Replacement Cost & What’s Included

In West Palm Beach, most FAAC weld repairs that we can do in place run between $280 and $450. That means cutting out the failed weld, prepping the steel, re-welding, grinding it smooth, and spraying a rust-inhibitive primer and top coat. If the bracket itself is too far gone and we need to fabricate a new one, the job generally lands between $400 and $650, including the steel, the welding time, and a powder-coat finish when the part will be visible.

What drives the range is thickness of the steel, access to the weld area, and whether we need to remove the gate leaf to do it right. We do not weld gates while they are still under tension from the operator; we disconnect, secure, and then work. Every quote includes the part, the labor, and cleanup, and it is covered by our 365-Day Done Right Promise. If the weld fails inside a year, we make it right.

We lay down a welding blanket and keep a fire watch on anything near the work area, because a stray spark lands where you don’t expect it. Your pavers, your driveway, your garden line next to the gate post: all protected before the torch comes out.

DIY or Call Us?

What you can safely check yourself: look at the bracket where the FAAC operator arm mounts to the gate. Look for a hairline crack at the weld line, rust staining, or a gap you can slip a business card into. Also try lifting the open gate by hand, just a half inch, and watch the bracket. Any movement there is the answer.

What we discourage: attempting to weld a gate bracket while the operator is attached and the gate is under load. FAAC hydraulic operators hold pressure, and a gate leaf that swings free during a weld repair will hurt you or someone nearby. Welding also needs the right rod, the right heat, and clean steel, and a rushed home repair usually costs more to fix later than the original repair would have. Tell me what it’s doing and what it stopped doing, that’s usually enough to get started, and we’ll take it from there. Call (728) 203-0817 and we’ll come measure and write the quote.

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