# How do you attach a gate to a T-post?



## Guest

I've been searching online trying to figure it out using terms like "gate hinges". But I'm not getting anywhere.

What would you use to attach a T-post to a gate made from an old wooden window frame? 

I don't need anything heavy duty. I got some 4' T-posts and some garden fence to enclose a small area to keep the dogs from running off when they go outside.


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## frankva

Plastic cable ties. Home Depot. They have plenty of sizes. Watch for wear. Easy.

******* version. Cut a coat hanger loop off the top of the hanger. Heavy wire to attach the post & gate. Turn the sharp edges that you twisted together, "inside" where it won't stab you.

My standard gate with 4' fence is a 5' light duty green post. 6" below the fence, 6" above. Fence hooks to T post, wrap and push down points, goes around area, back to the 5' post at the end of the fence at the T post. Loop of coat hanger at the bottom, set the 5' post into the loop. Rope loop tied to the 5' post flops over the top of the T post.

The fence flexes one way(bend) that is the direction it opens. Back and forth will break the fence. Plastic ties to hold the fence on the posts. 


Sounds convoluted, but insanely easy once you have done it. One trick. All sharp points need to be down and to the inside when you wrap around a post.


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## Alice In TX/MO

Dog collars because Plastic Cable Ties (also known a zip ties) deteriorate in the sunlight after one summer.


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## PNP Katahdins

Orange plastic baler twine will work - for awhile. Need any?

Peg


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## Farmerwilly2

How long do you want it to last and how well do you want it to look? Hillbilly or Beverly Hills? How big are the dogs?

A cheap and long lasting method would be to use heavy wire or screw clamps to attach a 2x4 to the t-post, attach gate with hinges to 2x4.


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## FreeRanger

Alice In TX/MO said:


> Dog collars because Plastic Cable Ties (also known a zip ties) deteriorate in the sunlight after one summer.


The expensive ones don't deteriorate in the sunlight. Look for UV stable or something like that....

LOVE the coat hanger idea, I use barbless barb wire for some short term projects. 

The answers are going to be mostly "*******" type since you are limited to just the T-post. Real gates are attached to a wooden post, with the T-post farther down the fence line. T-post can't hold the gate up if used very often.

So here is another do-it-yourself hinges. I use metal hose clamps to hold the dogs kennel panels together. Works good for many years and I can just push the panels around in any shape I need to get them out of the way on the concrete pad.


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## HeelSpur

I use copper wire like some people use duct tape.
It works great, lasts and won't rust away.


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## farminghandyman

I would set a wood post and use gate hangers,

OK our garden gate is a small secion of stock panel and it held on with a few peices of baleing wire,


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## susanneb

Wedgeloc has a lot of interesting hardware for t-posts, including t-post gate hinges. Other parts include brackets for bracing corners and building simple sheds.

Gate hinges are about halfway down this page:
Wedge Loc

Check their dealers for your state -- TSC and many other places carry them.


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## Guest

I think I'll use hose clamps.

Beverly Hills or Hillbilly... haha. Everything around here leans toward the hillbilly side.


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## Wags

We've used Wedge-Loc stuff - works pretty slick.


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## fishhead

You could zip strip a piece of wood to the T post at each hinge spot and use a regular hinge. It would be a better gate to just replace those 2 posts with wooden ones.


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## motdaugrnds

Well, sure there are red-neck ways of doing anything; however, some of us have been there & done that! 

When we create something around here, we want it to last many, many years. Yes those T-posts (even step-in posts) are quite useful for many projects and do last a very long time; however, attaching a gate to one is not ideal since the T-posts are NOT stabilized in the earth as solidly as a regular treated (and concreted in) wooden post needs to be if it is carrying the load of a gate.


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## geo in mi

When our baler guy bought a new plastic twine baler and did away with the baling wire, Dad cried......

 geo


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## wy_white_wolf

I've welded old door hinges to t-posts. Just make sure you have a couple of rocks or bricks to support the gate so it doesn't bend the t-post over.

WWW


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## Cabin Fever

We also use cable ties on our garden fence gate. No big deal having to replace them every couple of years.


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## HermitJohn

Just position the post so the back of the t-post faces where you want the gate. Salvage a couple butt hinges or old wood door hinges. and drill couple holes through hinge and post and bolt it together. There isnt lot of space to do this, but should be enough. Use pair vise grips to hold hinge to post as you drill through both so holes are lined up.

Me, I'd just weld hinge to the post, but assume you dont have a welder.

Wire or whatever will work, but be continually annoying to use.


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## Common Tator

T post gate hinge WEDGE&#45;LOCÂ® Gate Hinge with Pin ~ T-Post Hardware


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## Bentley

Typically, the black zip-ties will not degrade in sunlight. The white ones will last a few months in the south.

B


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## Callieslamb

Just use pieces of wire.


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## BarbadosSheep

make sure you let the gate rest on the ground and don't try to make the post support it. I do this a lot for smaller project. I have a heavy 5' chain link gate attached to a tee-post for my chickens. When I want to open the gate, I lift it slightly and reposition it, and rest it back on the ground. The post just keeps the gate from falling over or moving. I use whatever is handy to attach the gate. My favorite is a piece of coated copper wire that. Zip ties work well too.


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## Heritagefarm

High tensile hotwire. Just wrestle with it a lot. Then shove the gate upwards to move it when it sags after only being used for a month. Even if it doesn't move, the t-post moves, often even lunging at you and threatening you with t-post abuse hotline threats. Mess with it, fix it, redo it, and then yell at it and install a wood post with hinges and a real gate because you got sick and tired of messing with the pretend gate and being verbally abused by t-post gates. And yes, I am extremely tired right now.


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## Ed Norman

I've had great luck by welding a frame of 1" square tubing into a rectangle as wide as the gate and almost 7' tall so I don't knock my hat off. Weld a gate and hinges onto the frame and then set two T posts as wide as the frame. Wire it to the frame on both sides with tie wire and it will last for years. I suppose you could do the same with 2X4s. The overhead piece keeps the post from leaning from the weight of the gate.


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## willow_girl

Make a gate out of a pallet. Slip it over a T-post. Drive in a second T-post and attach your fence to it. 

The pallet will pivot on the post to open and close. If you need it out of the way entirely (like to get a wide item through the gate) just lift it off.

When the pallet rots, lift it off and replace it.

If you need a wider gate, use two pallets and tie them shut in the middle with baler twine. 


Like this:


















Yes, I am a *******.


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## Shrek

When I fenced my garden area with 2 by 4 inch welded wire and T posts I simply used a 5 foot long piece of left over fence wire that I twist attached to the fence on one side of the entry with the open ended horizontal wires and on the other end I used the open horizontal wires of the mesh fence wire to attach a rebar upright with a couple inches sticking above and below the fence fabric gate piece to fit into a short piece of pipe I drove into the ground beside the T post on the "latch side" of the gateway.

When I go into the garden I lift the twine from the top of the rebar, lift the rebar out of the pipe in the ground and lay it back to the right side where its twist patched into the rest of the fence.

When I leave the garden I stick the rebar back into the short pipe driven into the ground and use the twine to lash the top of the rebar to the Tpost on the left filling the gateway with a 5 foot section of fence wire. Its just like folks using barbed wire with spring clips to gate a pasture entry.


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## frankva

Ed Norman said:


> The overhead piece keeps the post from leaning from the weight of the gate.


I'm gonna remember that. Thanks.


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## Old John

When we fenced our yard, we used 48" wire, farm fence, triple 9's. We used landscape timbers for line posts, 8" corner posts with H-braces, and 8" gate posts with H-braces.
The gates are 10' gates(easier to get a tractor through).ETA...They are tube gates with the wire zip-tied on.The gates swing easily because we got them hung pretty level.ETA...They're still level, 9 years later
We have, so far, lost 2 of the landscape timber posts. Replaced them with T-posts.
It's still a pretty good looking fence.


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## jlrbhjmnc

willow_girl said:


> Make a gate out of a pallet. Slip it over a T-post. Drive in a second T-post and attach your fence to it.


Cool idea! I think you just solved my gate problem - I need to do it for free and now I think I can - thanks!


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## FreeRanger

willow_girl said:


> Make a gate out of a pallet. Slip it over a T-post. Drive in a second T-post and attach your fence to it.
> 
> The pallet will pivot on the post to open and close. If you need it out of the way entirely (like to get a wide item through the gate) just lift it off.
> 
> When the pallet rots, lift it off and replace it.
> 
> If you need a wider gate, use two pallets and tie them shut in the middle with baler twine.


Done this one too. Works OK if you have a supply of good pallets. Some pallets are just too heavy, others aren't built with all four side flush. Can work good in making sheep pens (jugs) for ewes during lambing time.


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## texican

Cable ties cost money.

I use a short section of barb wire, wrapped tight... around one of the t-post 'nubs'.

Get a very large, heavy, or long gate, it's post hole time, round wooden post or cross tie...


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## Troy Jensen

Old posts but I found an awesome solution

A farmer showed these to me while I was in Virginia.

Its a whole T Post fencing system
Hang a gate from a T-post


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## rambler

Your link isn't working on my iPad?

Paul


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## arabian knight

rambler said:


> Your link isn't working on my iPad?
> 
> Paul


 Try this one as I did get it loaded, with some trying. And with a lot pictures on that page it does take a bit to load but just let it do its thing.

https://www.smartatfixes.com/hang-a-gate


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## Troy Jensen

arabian knight said:


> Try this one as I did get it loaded, with some trying. And with a lot pictures on that page it does take a bit to load but just let it do its thing.
> 
> https://www.smartatfixes.com/hang-a-gate


Thanks
I guess I am better at taking care of goats then using a dang computer.
Thanks for the fix. 

Anyway I used these hinges and some of his braces to run a wire fence through a gully and they work really well.
Hung the gate in less then 5 minutes!

Hope maybe it helps some others out.


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## bobp

I wouldn't suggest it


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