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.
FAAC Welding & Fabrication: The West Covina Owner’s Guide
We stock and install FAAC-compatible welding and fabrication for gate systems across West Covina, with most installed work running $280 to $680 depending on the part, the metal condition, and whether the gate needs to come off its hinges. Same-day service is available for most welding failures, and we carry common FAAC bracket assemblies, hinge plates, and arm reinforcements on the truck. The way owners usually find us: the gate starts sagging, the operator arm pulls loose from the post, or a weld breaks at the hinge and the gate suddenly binds against the driveway.
FAAC builds operators and arms that outlast a lot of the hardware they get bolted to. The operator does its job. The welded bracket, the hinge plate, or the post mounting point is where the failure lives. That’s the part we fix.
Which FAAC Models This Applies To
The welding and fabrication work we do in West Covina covers the full FAAC residential range: the 390, 391, 400, 412, 415, 422, 750, 760, 770, and the C720/C721 slide operators. The compatibility issue that matters most is the arm-to-gate attachment geometry. A 390 series uses a different bracket pitch than a 400 series, and if you weld a 400 bracket onto a 390 arm, the travel angle shifts and the operator fights itself on every cycle. We measure the arm mounting points before any metal gets cut or welded.
For OEM versus aftermarket: FAAC’s factory brackets are cast or stamped to tight tolerances, and for the hydraulic 400-series arms especially, we recommend staying OEM. The aftermarket steel brackets we fabricate in-house work well for hinge reinforcements, post plates, and slide-gate rail repairs where a custom fit actually beats a generic cast part. The honest answer depends on where the load is. We’ll tell you which is which and write the part number on the invoice either way.
One West Covina-specific detail worth knowing: the Santa Ana winds off the San Gabriel foothills put lateral load on gates that owners in calmer areas never see. A gate that cycles fine all summer will crack a hinge weld in November when the wind hits it broadside at Galster Wilderness Park elevation. We build wind-bracing into every fabrication job where the gate faces the dominant wind direction.
Signs Your FAAC Welding & Fabrication Is Failing

- The gate sags at the latch side by a half inch or more. The top hinge weld has stretched or cracked, and the gate is now hanging on the bottom hinge alone. Every cycle grinds the bottom hinge deeper.
- The operator arm pulls away from the gate or post at the bracket. The bolt holes wallow out first, then the bracket itself starts to flex. You’ll hear a clunk at the end of each travel direction as the arm takes up the slack.
- The gate scrapes the driveway or binds partway through travel. A weld failing at the hinge shifts the gate plane, and the operator is now pushing against friction it wasn’t designed for. The motor runs hotter and the limit switches lose their reference.
- You can see daylight through a hinge or bracket that used to sit flush. That’s the crack propagating. It won’t close on its own, and welding it now saves the gate from dropping entirely.
- The post itself moves when the gate cycles. The post base weld or the post concrete has failed. This is a structural fix, not a bolt-tightening job, and it’s the most common repair we do on older West Covina hillside driveways.
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AfterReplacement Cost & What’s Included
Most FAAC welding and fabrication jobs in West Covina land between $280 and $680 installed. Hinge reinforcement or a cracked-weld repair runs $280 to $400. A full bracket replacement with arm re-alignment runs $380 to $550. A post replacement or slide-gate rail section runs $500 to $680, more if the post is set in concrete on a hillside slope and we’re digging on a grade.
The price is written and handed to you before we strike an arc. That’s Haven Standard Clause 1, and it applies to every job no matter the size. You’ll get the part number, the labor line, and the total. No discovery fees, no “we found something else” upsell after the work starts. If we find additional damage mid-repair, we stop, show you a photo, and write a new price before continuing.
Every weld we do in West Covina carries the 365-Day Done Right Promise: if the repair fails within a year, we fix it at no charge. You also get a photo record of the before, during, and after work, left with you and filed in your job history.
DIY or Call Us?

You can check some things without touching a welder. Look at the hinge welds with a flashlight. Take a photo of the bracket where it meets the operator arm. Watch the gate cycle once and note where it binds. That documentation helps us quote it accurately over the phone.
What you should not do is weld a gate hinge or bracket yourself unless you weld regularly. A failed weld on a moving gate is a load-bearing failure. A bad bead fails again, usually at the worst moment. And we’ve had to cut out more than one amateur repair in West Covina where the weld held but the hinge geometry was off by enough to destroy the operator motor over six months. Welding also means grinding, hot metal, and a gate that can shift under its own weight while you’re under it. Let a trained fabricator handle the structural side.
If you want someone to look at it, call (562) 368-4485. We’ll tell you over the phone whether it’s a weld repair or a full bracket replacement, and what it’s likely to cost. The estimate is free. The written price comes before any work.
FAQs
A properly done hinge or bracket weld on an FAAC gate in West Covina typically lasts 8 to 15 years before the metal fatigues again, with wind exposure and gate weight being the two variables that shorten that window. Call (562) 368-4485 if you’re seeing early failure, we’ll inspect the entire load path and tell you what’s actually wearing.
Yes, in most cases a cracked hinge or bracket weld can be ground out and re-welded in place, provided the surrounding metal has not thinned or wallowed out at the bolt holes. If the metal is too far gone, we fabricate or source the replacement and install it the same visit.
Most hinge and bracket welding jobs run 60 to 90 minutes on site, including the re-alignment and a full cycle test before we leave. Post replacements and structural work can run three to four hours depending on the concrete and the slope.
We stock common FAAC bracket assemblies, hinge plates, and raw stock for custom fabrication on the truck, so most West Covina repairs happen in one visit. If your exact FAAC bracket is a rarer spec, we write it down, order it, and give you the lead time before any money changes hands. We’re an independent service provider, not affiliated with FAAC, which means we’ll also tell you honestly if an aftermarket equivalent does the job better for less.
If your FAAC gate is sagging, scraping, or pulling loose in West Covina, call (562) 368-4485 for a free estimate. We’ll name the part, name the price in writing, and leave you with a photo record of exactly what we found and what we left behind. You can also ask about parts for LiftMaster, Mighty Mule, and Ghost Controls systems while you’re at it.
Written by Adrian Vance, Owner, Vance Gate Repair West Covina at Vance Gate Repair West Covina, serving West Covina and nearby areas.




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