Previous owners of our place decided to build the front gate out of Sch40 2 3/8” pipe. I believe it is 12’ and has cedar stays to keep animals in.

When we bought the place it didn’t have an opener on it but was setup for one. A neighbor told us they kept having issues with burning out openers so they removed it.

Is there a reasonably priced opener that has the possibility of holding up?

Would changing for a standard sleeved hinge to some sort of ball bearing carrier type my allow the use of a cheaper opener?

Any wisdom?

Junking the gate is an option as well.

I put a ghost controls opener on my dads 16ft gate made out of galvanized pipe and chainlink a couple months ago. Not the heaviest gate ever but not light. Seems to work pretty well so far.

If i had the money for it, i would have bought NICE brand from everything i have read.

No way in heck I would use a Ghost Controls (and certainly not a mighty mule) on the gate the OP is describing. I have a Ghost Controls on a 16' gate but it's pretty light - no where near what you're describing.

You also have to factor in wind load on top of gate weight. A heavy gate with thick heavy pipe already has a decent wind load - add in the cedar stays and it's going to burn up residential openers (I know Ghost Controls claim to be heavy duty "commercial" - I can promise you they are not. They are great for light to mid weight gates - I swear by mine - but it's going to not last on the gate OP described).

You need a commercial grade opener or a lighter gate.

Apollo

not a mighty sick mule

Apollo or Liftmaster or nothing in my opinion, Ghosts seem to be slightly better than Mighty Mules but save yourself the headache and being pissed off all the time by avoiding the junky Mighty Mules and Ghosts. I’m sure the previous owner was using one of those disposable openers and got tired of fighting it. I can’t count how many of those brands have burnt out within a year or two before we finally bit the bullet and started buying quality openers and I’ve not had a single problem with either brand opener since we started using them. Buy once cry once has never been more true than on gate openers…

My dad always used me.

Certainly an option!


Same.

https://www.usautomatic.com/solar-gate-opener-patriot < this is what I have installed several times. I think US automatic is making the highest quality opener on the market right now.

I believe I can get liftmaster at cost through in-laws garage door business so I guess I’ll start there.

Yup

Local welder and build one.

I had to have our heavy gate replaced with a lighter one (picked out by the wife, which I thought was wise). We had, and still have, a GTO Pro opener (same as Mighty Mule), and it burned out two openers till I got a heavy duty opener. I didn’t even know that was an option until I called their customer service. It’s been in place and working fine for maybe 10 years now. So I suppose I’m the last living human that has had good results from MM. well…good results after the opener upgrade.

And, as Cochise said, wind load needs to be considered.

I am not disagreeing about the advice to get a really good opener though. Pretty much all of them are rated higher than MM, but I am getting by just fine.

What did you go with?