Linear Welding & Fabrication Nationwide

Linear Welding & Fabrication: The San Antonio Owner’s Guide

If you have a Linear gate opener with a cracked weld or a broken mounting bracket, we stock and install Linear-compatible welding and fabrication parts across San Antonio, and most jobs run between $275 and $600 installed. That price includes the fabrication work, the part itself, and a written quote before anything gets touched. Owners usually discover the failure when the gate starts shaking mid-cycle, or when the opener makes a full throw but the gate only moves halfway because the weld at the arm has finally let go after years of Texas sun and daily cycling.

Call (325) 252-5195

Which Linear Models This Applies To

Linear gate openers are built around a few core chassis designs, and the welding and fabrication work we do covers the mounting points, gate brackets, and arm assemblies that hold those chassis in place. The most common models we see in San Antonio are the Linear LRA series (residential swing) and the Linear LSO/LGO series (slide and commercial swing), and each has different bracket geometry and stress points. The LRA units, for example, use a bolt-through post bracket that can crack at the weld joint where the arm pivots, while slide gate units like the LSO put constant lateral load on the drive rail supports. If you look at the side of your opener, you’ll find the model number on a stamped plate near the power connection, and that number tells us exactly which bracket or repair plate your unit needs.

One compatibility gotcha worth knowing: Linear changed the post-mount pattern between the original LRA and the LRA-2 series, and the old bracket doesn’t line up with newer mounting plates without a small adapter or a custom fabricated edge. We keep both OEM and quality aftermarket plates on the truck, and for the older Linear units we usually recommend aftermarket, because the OEM brackets for discontinued models are expensive when you can find them at all, and the aftermarket steel is often the same gauge or heavier than what Linear specified.

Signs Your Linear Welding & Fabrication Is Failing

• Visible rust or hairline cracks at the weld bead. This is the most common failure in San Antonio’s humidity-and-sun cycle, especially near the coast where salt air accelerates oxidation. Once a crack starts at the weld line, it widens every time the gate cycles.
• The gate arm shakes or chatters during operation. When the weld holding the arm bracket to the post weakens, the arm flexes under load. You’ll hear a metallic rattle that wasn’t there last summer, and the gate will hesitate before moving.
• The opener runs but the gate moves only partway. The motor is doing its job, but the connection between the opener and the gate has failed at a weld point. The arm slips, so the gate gets pushed air instead of steel.
• Fresh scrape marks on the gate or the post. When a weld fails completely, the gate can drop a quarter inch or more, and the edge of the frame starts dragging on concrete or scraping the post.
• You can move the gate by hand more than an inch without the opener engaging. That play means the mechanical connection is no longer solid. On a properly welded and mounted Linear, you should feel resistance immediately because the arm and bracket move as one unit with the gate.

Replacement Cost & What’s Included

For most Linear welding and fabrication repairs in San Antonio, we quote between $275 and $600 for the complete job, including the steel, the weld, and the on-site installation. A simple post-bracket replacement on an LRA might land around $275, while a cracked slide-gate drive rail or a custom arm repair with multiple weld points can push the number closer to $600. The range depends on how much access we have to the post, how thick the original steel is, and whether we need to fabricate an adapter for an older Linear mounting pattern. You’ll see the exact number in writing before we strike an arc, and that number doesn’t change after we start. Every fabrication job we do in San Antonio carries our 365-Day Done Right Promise: if the weld or the bracket doesn’t hold, we make it right, no argument.

DIY or Call Us?

For anything involving the control board, the limit switches, or the motor itself, call us. Those components are live-wired at 110 to 220 volts, and a mistake there is dangerous. What you can safely check before calling: the physical condition of the welds on the bracket (look for rust, cracks, or daylight through a joint), whether any bolts have backed out, and whether the gate itself swings or slides freely by hand with the opener disengaged. If the welds are intact but the gate is hard to move, your problem is likely in the gate, not the opener. But if you see cracks in a weld bead or fresh scrape marks where the gate meets the post, that’s a fabrication repair, and it’s not a job for a weekend and a stick welder. A bad weld on a gate that cycles hundreds of times a day puts the whole opener’s load path out of alignment, and the repair gets more expensive the longer it runs. Call us at (325) 252-5195 and we’ll tell you over the phone what we think you’re looking at, with a written price before we touch anything.

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