Nuvo Iron SCGS13BLK 13" Self Closing Gate Spring, Black

I have a solid steel gate that is very heavy. Unfortunately when the pool guy goes through the gate he often leaves the it wide-open. I needed a mechanism to automatically close the gate. Because the gate is heavy I added a second spring when it wouldn’t close with one. The first spring took me longer to install but the second was completed in about 15 minutes since I knew what I was doing. I used a screw driver to rotate the knob to adjust the pin. Was not very difficult. I would highly recommend.

easy to put in for use on small gates worked as advertised

Ok, first the good. The product does exactly what it says it does. I used this on a wooden deck gate that is ~3' tall by 5' wide. It is a moderately heavy gate. The device holds the gate closed perfectly (so our dogs will quit getting out so often!). Previously, the gate would bounce open off the latch and our dogs would then go roam the neighborhood :). The bad: The gate is held by a 4x4 post. Screwing the device to this part was not a problem; however, the gate is made with a 2x4 frame giving only around a 1.75" surface to attach the device to. Had to screw the device in with a little bit of angle to the screws, but again, this wasn't a problem. Worked great. What didn't work great was the key to hold the spring. The key would NOT stay in the key hole to hold the spring tension when I put it in the proper direction. The reason was that it would pry itself out a little at a time as the gate closed. This was exasperated by the key laying over the edge of the mounting bracket which tended to help pull the key out. To resolve the problem, I ground down the fat end (the one that SHOULD go into the hole). I put the key in backwards, and ground it down to a length that would land entirely on the metal mounting area. This made sure the key stayed put and fixed the issue completely. Adjustment was easy, and it is relatively discrete being black the same as my hinges on my white gate.

It is the design of this gate spring that makes it stand out. Other springs just have the bottom nut squeezed into the spring (which can certainly come loose). This design has a rigid bottom with a pin sticking out to anchor it. Very sound construction. Other designs have you using a wrench to turn the top nut so that you can squeeze a metal spacer into the space between the nut and the face plate. In my hands this design was very difficult to install. This gate spring has a capstan drive in which a supplied lever turns the nut so that the pin that will hold it at the correct tension can be installed. In my hands this was super easy. Without question I would purchase this item again.

EXTREMELY poor instructions. I had an experienced handyman assist me, but the paper instructions Step 1.were so poor even he couldn't figure them out. So much for ten minute installation! Step 2.We pulled up instructions online for help only to find they repeated the paper ones! Step 3 was utube which was helpful in installing. It really is a great device and we love it. If I had installed it by myself using these instructions I would have totally messed it up. Thankfully, my friend had seen one that was already installed correctly and we used that as a guide.

I used two of these gate springs twelve years ago and they still work great. I recently installed three more on new wrought iron gates and they were easy to install and adjust and the three look the same as my older two and they all function and work excellent. They even come with spare lock pins, which is handy based upon my personal abilities to loose them while adjusting the return springs over the years. Highly recommend these gate return springs.

These things are cheap garbage but worse than that they are dangerous. It comes with a rod for tensioning the spring by twisting it and a peg to hold it in place that you move as you twist the spring. The problem is that the design allows for the tensioning rod to slip out for any reason at all - including no reason. When this happens all the tension you’ve wrenched into the spring is released in what I can only describe as a terrifying metallic tornado. Unfortunately for me I was just about to grab the peg when the rod decided to slip out so the peg (which is about the width of a pencil eraser) ripped through the tip of my finger. It was close to the worst pain I’ve ever felt. As a bonus my 6 year old got to hear every swear word I know. If the dangerous design isn’t enough to scare you off, one of the pieces broke off while I was tensioning as well. I was able to cobble it back into working order but this thing is clearly cheaply made. DO NOT BUY

So glad I ordered this. It is for a wooden gate that is used very often. i should have ordered a longer one for the gate because this one is a little too short and the gate sits open, but I am no carpenter, so I would say that is my fault. Other than that, it is definitly strong enough to handle it and looks durable enough to withstand the humid weather and not get rust too fast.