Automatic Gate Lock (FM143) for Mighty Mule Automatic Gate Openers , Black

Works great, installed easily on my farm gate. Very heavy duty lock.

A direct lightning strike took out our original 6 year old gate lock. It worked flawlessly, so we purchased another one. So far, so good. Easy installation, I think a little pricey, but when you consider my family’s safety and the security of our farm’s entrance, I guess it is worth it.If you have a Mighty Mule automatic gate opener, you need an automatic gate lock.

I read all the bad reviews for customer service on this company, but their product is very much more affordable than all the rest, so I took a chance.I, too, had to read the instructions carefully, because my MM 600 is not listed in the lock's compatible openers. But I saw that the diagrams showed photos very similar to my control board, and took a shot. Everything fell into place, and the lock works great.One caveat: the receiver pin that the lock grabs on the post, did not fit between my gate and post. I don't like that big of a gap anyway. I used a 4" wide square Ubolt as the receiver pin, by drilling holes in the post, and setting it into the post at the right angle to be grabbed by the lock. It works fine as long as you carefully line them up before welding the ubolt in place (yes I have a pipe post, but you could do the same with wood posts by drilling tight holes, and wedging the ubolt in place. Use a hammer to drive the bolt into place with smaller diameter holes. You can still adjust it by pulling it out and in of the post.) I had a four inch wide by five inch length SQUARE ubolt. These are hard to come by in my area, and I ordered it off the net. (AMAZON, OF COURSE). http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000BQM05Q/ref=cm_cr_ryp_prd_ttl_sol_1So I managed to bypass customer service at MM for now. I'm a very limited handyman and even I did this, so you can too.

Anyone expecting a high-security device will likely be disappointed. However, if you just want a lock that holds the gate closed and provides some security against the casual/lazy intruder, this will work well. I’m sure that my gate security could be defeated in 5 or 10 minutes by a reasonably determined intruder with a toolbox of normal hand tools. After all, that’s pretty much all I used to install everything. Even with the Pin Lock I bought, someone with a socket wrench could dismount everything after a bit of work. An intruder would be slowed down some, but not stopped. Long before then, my secondary security measures will have alerted me to such activity anyway. This lock’s latch can be pushed back with a thin piece of metal, but the gate opener arm would still hold the gate mostly closed. Also, as provided, the lock’s clevis pin/cap assembly is not terribly secure. Another reviewer mentioned how he improved the security of that assembly.Overall I was fairly satisfied with this product because I had a realistic expectation of the level of security provided. It was not very hard to install once I figured out which hardware would work for my particular application. They don’t include hardware since every application/installation might be quite different. That made sense to me, although some other reviews seemed to expect an assortment of mounting hardware to come with it. I took some measurements, bought some appropriate U-bolts & washers, and drilled one hole. I still need to cut off the long ends of the larger U-bolt, but since I couldn’t find that one in stainless, I’ll need to paint the cut ends so they won’t rust. I’ll probably just prime/paint all of the mounting hardware anyway.If you really want a gate system that’s difficult for intruders to defeat, you’d weld everything so that a socket wrench couldn’t take it apart. Of course, then repair would be a lot harder. Also, anyone who knows the basics of the automatic gate opener could cycle it by jumpering some wires or hooking up a car battery to the motor and solenoid wires. For better security you’d want to put the wiring inside conduit and enclose the control box inside something sturdy. Also upgrade the remote/wireless part to a more modern one that uses rolling codes instead of static DIP switch settings.I’m not putting all my security eggs in one (gate) basket, so this did pretty much what I expected, and I’m reasonably satisfied.

If you have a gate opener and it gets windy this lock will save your gate and opener. The opener is only good to a point for holding the gate closed. It helps with adding a bit more security but it definitely eliminates gate bouncing and stress on the opener.

I purchased the gate opener for our 16’ aluminum gate but then I read some of the reviews for the opener that said your gate could still be pushed open with a strong gust of wind so I got this. When I purchased I thought the key only locked the gate if you got out of your car and manually locked it. Good surprise it locks automatically and the key is only for emergencies if your gate won’t open electronically. Since my primary purpose for purchasing this was for ensuring the gate latched and couldn’t be pushed or blown open I am VERY happy with it. I didn’t get it for security because looking at it you can tell it isn’t a great lock but I don’t expect to get broken into either. We prefer to close the gate when we are out but I don’t like spending all the time getting ready in the morning only to have get out on a rainy day and manually shut and lock the gate when i go to work or come home.

$138 and no mounting hardware. Couldn't include a handful of bolts! Digital instructions? Seriously, print a sheet and put it in the box!!

Had to replace existing lock and this fit the bill perfectly. Works as it should