FAAC Welding & Fabrication Nationwide

FAAC Welding & Fabrication: The Los Angeles Owner’s Guide

We stock and install FAAC-compatible welding and fabrication components across Los Angeles, with most installed jobs landing between $285 and $640 depending on the hinge assembly, gate frame section, or bracket set your system needs. Same-day service is available when we have the part on the truck, which covers roughly three quarters of the FAAC weld failures we see. The typical call starts with a gate that sags two inches at the latch side, or a hinge ear that’s torn clean off the post bracket, or an opener that runs fine but the gate itself rattles like it’s about to drop. We’ll match the part, write the price down, and get it done.

Call (828) 426-7081

Which FAAC Models This Applies To

This page covers weld-in and bolt-on fabrication for FAAC swing gate systems, primarily the 400, 412, 415, 390, 391, 770, and S418 series. The welded components on these models come down to three families: hinge ears and pivot brackets, gate frame reinforcement plates, and post-to-opener mounting tabs. If you’re trying to identify what you have, look for the FAAC model tag riveted to the operator housing, then measure the hinge ear thickness. FAAC hinges run 6mm on residential 400-series and 10mm on the heavier slide and industrial series. That thickness matters: a 6mm aftermarket ear on a 10mm post bracket fails within a year because the weld face is carrying twice its design load. We are an independent service provider, not affiliated with FAAC, which means we run OEM and quality aftermarket side by side and tell you when the aftermarket part is honestly better. For FAAC specifically, the aftermarket stainless ears we use on coastal Los Angeles properties outperform the OEM mild steel because the salt air from Santa Monica Bay eats the factory coating faster than FAAC’s own wear schedule accounts for.

Signs Your FAAC Welding & Fabrication Is Failing

• The gate sags at the latch corner and scrapes the driveway. This is almost always a worn hinge pin bore or a cracked weld at the bottom hinge ear. The ear looks attached, but the weld root has fractured underneath the paint, so the whole leaf drops.
• The opener arm makes a hard clunk at each end of travel. That clunk is the actuator arm slamming against a mounting tab whose weld has stretched. The tab is flexing under load, and every cycle widens the gap.
• Rust staining runs down from the hinge area after rain. On FAAC gates within three miles of the coast, the factory mild steel ears rust through from the inside. The stain is the tell. By the time you see it, the ear has lost roughly a third of its load-bearing cross-section.
• The gate whips or shudders in wind. A loose or cracked hinge weld lets the leaf move laterally against the opener’s intended arc, and the whole assembly starts oscillating. It feels like an electrical problem, but it’s metal fatigue.
• You can lift the gate half an inch by hand at the hinge post. That play should be zero. If you can move it by hand, the hinge pin or the bracket is done. Every further open-close cycle acts like a lever working the crack wider.

Replacement Cost & What’s Included

In Los Angeles, expect $285 to $395 for a single hinge ear replacement including the part, cutting the old ear off, re-welding, grinding flush, and zinc priming the repair. A full hinge set on both leaves with new pins runs $420 to $560. Post-to-opener mounting tab replacement lands between $320 and $480 depending on access and how much of the old weld has to be cut out. Frame reinforcement plates for a cracked gate stile run $380 to $640 including fabricating the plate to match the FAAC profile. Every price is written down and agreed before we touch anything. No line items appear at the end that weren’t on the page you signed. The labor includes grinding, welding, priming, and paint touch-up, and the work is covered by the 365-Day Done Right Promise: if the weld fails or the gate re-sags, the return visit is free.

DIY or Call Us?

Here’s the honest split. You can safely identify your FAAC model, take photos of the hinge area from three angles, and check for visible cracks with the gate at rest and at mid-swing. That’s useful input for the call. What you shouldn’t do is attempt to weld an ear or bracket yourself unless you’re a certified welder with experience on cantilevered loads. A swing gate under power is a loaded spring, and a weld that looks solid but lacks penetration will fail catastrophically, usually while the gate is moving. Los Angeles gates on hillside lots carry extra gravity load that a flat-city weld doesn’t account for. We’ve had to redo enough homeowner welds to know the pattern: pretty bead, zero root fusion, gate drops within the month. If it’s cracked or sagging, call (828) 426-7081 and describe what you see. We’ll tell you on the phone whether it sounds like a bracket, a hinge, or a frame plate, and what the likely range is before we even book the truck.

FAQs