Baby Gate Guru provides a convenient spindle rod replacement set. But what size works best for your brand of baby gate?
One common frustration for baby gate owners is losing the 4 spindle rods that go into the sides of pressure mounted gates. These screws or bolts are loose pieces, so they can be easily misplaced when a gate is in storage or left behind after moving house.
We understand this is a frequent issue for people, so we took it upon ourselves to offer a convenient spindle rod replacement set. Besides being available in multiple colors and sizes to match many different gates, they are also extra long (12cm) to ensure they fit your needs and can even add a couple of extra inches of reach to your gate.
But once you’ve found a replacement solution, the next question becomes what size spindle rod do you need?
What Size Spindle Rod Do I Need For My Gate?
Spindle rods typically come in 2 sizes to fit all the various types of safety gates out there: 8mm and 10mm (also referred to as M8 and M10). Not every gate uses exactly these sizes, but choose the correct size spindle rod and you can fit nearly any gate well enough to work great.
Generally, the spindle rod sizes for the different baby gate brands are as follows:
8MM
Regalo
Summer Infant
Carlson
Top Paw
Evenflo
10MM
Dreambaby
Munchkin
Cumbor
Qdos
Safety 1st
North States (Supergate / Toddleroo)
Bindaboo
Lindam
Baby Dan
If you have a gate from a different brand, let us know in the comments and we can do our best to find out which bolt size works best for it and add it to the list.
You can also measure the holes where the baby gate screws go into to determine the correct size yourself. An M8 screw is really about 6.6mm in diameter, so fits nicely into a 7-8mm hole. Similarly, an M10 screw is really about 8.6mm in diameter, so fits nicely into a 9-10mm hole.
If you are unsure, we suggest ordering 8mm since those will also fit larger holes, and should not move around when fully tightened. The opposite isn’t true–10mm spindle rods will be too big to fit some gates at all.
Looking for pressure mounted baby gate hardware but don’t see your brand of gate listed here? Let us know in the comments and we will do our best to add it to the list.
Do they make 6m pressure mount screws?
Hi Rachel. I haven’t ever seen 6mm pressure mount screws for safety gates before. The smallest I know of that brands use are 8mm for Regalo, Summer Infant, and Carlson.
Frontgate
At the moment I am not sure what size Frontgate uses, but you could go with 8mm to be safe since 8mm will fit in both sizes.
Hi Kevin,
I have an Elfe brand gate, model number is 373055. I can’t get tension bolts from Elfe; they don’t make this gate anymore. Are you able to help?
Thanks so much!
Hi Laura, Yes! You can certainly try our replacement spindle rods as a substitute. Someone posted this model number earlier, and while I’ve never tested on an Elfe gate, based on what they said I estimated that our M10 spindle rods would fit. Thanks for your question, and feel free to update us on how it goes!
I bought these on Amazon for a Summer Infant gate, I bought the 8MM size based on your guidelines for Summer Infant brand. However, they were too small. Do I need 10MM or is there another size to consider? It is difficult to measure the exact size. Thank you.
Hi Sandra. From my experience using the bronze Summer Infant Multi-Use Deco Extra Tall Gate, 10MM spindle rods are slightly too big. They might fit inside with a lot of extra force applied or the help of a hammer, but it’s not a good fit.
As a result, the 8MM size fits better. Could I ask what you mean by they were too small? Even if it’s not a perfectly snug fit inside the hole, if the 8MM bolt fits inside the hole and you tighten it against the wall using the plastic adjustment wheel, you should end up with a securely fitted gate.
Thank you for your question. Let me know if that answers it sufficiently for you or not.
Do you know what size spindle rods are used on an evenflo baby gate?
Hi Sara, I’ve heard that 8mm is the correct size for Evenflo pressure gates, and 10mm is too large. Thanks for your question!
Is the Brica gate the same as the Munchkin? They look identical and wondering if the parts are interchangeable?
I think Brica may even be a Munchkin brand, so yes I think the correct size for them would be 10mm and I imagine the parts are interchangeable with a lot of Munchkin gates.
Would you know what size Kidco is? Thanks.
A lot of Kidco’s gates are hardware mounted, but I believe their pressure mounted ones are 10mm like Munchkin’s.
Elfe model #373055
The hole measures about 10mm
Hi Jocelyn. It sounds like an M10/10mm spindle rod will fit this Elfe gate then. An M10 spindle rod is really around 8.6mm thick, so if the gate’s hole is around 10mm it should fit nicely.
Hello, I have a Cumbor gate and was wondering what size screws would work for it
The First Years by Learning Curve baby gate.
I have a gate don’t know brand,is it normal that the adjustment spindles just pull out without having to screw them out.
Hi Roy, Yes that is normal that the spindles just slide out. The threaded screw part is just for the nut or “adjustment wheel” to screw on to and tighten against the gate, which pushes the spindle further out against the wall until the gate is secured by the pressure. Ideally you want the diameter of the spindle rod to closely fit the diameter of the gate’s hole (the part that it just slides out from) for the most secure attachment, which is why the spindle rods are sold in 2 sizes.
I have Munchkin auto-close. Somehow I lost one of the plastic insert for put screw in. Do you know where can I get the replacement? I could find in their website. Or is there anyway to use the gate with out plastic insert. I don’t know how to secure the screw with out it.
Do you know why my tension rods will not tighten? I put them in the slot and they just slide in, I don’t have to turn them.
Spindle rods do not screw into pressure mounted gates. They slide in to the gate, and then you screw the nut (adjustment wheel) against the gate until the spindle rod pushes tightly against the wall. Thank you for your question!
Thank you so very much for having this information out there. This helped me out BIG!!
Thank you for this information. I was measuring, trying to figure out what size to get and found this. I appreciate it!
Any idea what size for Flalivi? Thanks!
https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B07VX32728/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glc_fabc_lHr5FbB6DBJH0?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1
Cumbor 37 inch gate…came without the spindle rods.
I have a regalo gate I bought the 8mm they were too small and now the 10mm are to big
Hi Trisha, thanks for your comment. The 8mm size is exactly the right size for Regalo gates, and is in fact modeled to fit them. It’s important to keep in mind that the spindle rods do not screw into the holes in the gate, but rather just need to slide inside them. The threaded screw part is to turn the adjustment wheel, which tightens the spindle rod against the wall. That part confuses people sometimes.
I have a North State Windsor Arch Petgate but one of the spindle rods is missing. It is dark brown. Can I just buy one?
Hi Sue, Our replacement spindle rods are only sold in a pack of 4. But we recommend either swapping out all 4 so they match perfectly, or only swapping out the 1 while keeping the remaining 3 in case any of the original spindle rods get damaged or also go missing in the future. In addition, if you swap out all 4 you may find that since our replacement spindle rods create a more secure fit in your installation, since they are typically longer than the originals that came with your gate. Thank you for your question!
We have a gate that needs a 3/8″ tension spindle rod but the only ones I can find are in millimeter
Hi Eileen, Bolts are most often sold in standardized metric bolt sizes (M8, M10, etc). M10 is the size that typically corresponds with 3/8″, as the diameter of an M10 bolt is actually a little smaller than 10mm after it’s machined to be threaded. So any of our M10 (10mm) spindle rods should fit your gate. Thanks for your question!
Hi Do you know the sizing for KingSo brand baby gate? 8 or 10mm??
Hi Kristen, While I’ve never tested that brand before, it looks a lot like an M8 sized gate in the pictures there. Thanks for your question!
Hi, I have a Regaloo baby gate but due to the sizing of my entry way i need the extenders but then the spindle rods are too long, if that makes sense? Is there a solution to this…
Hi Tera, our M8 spindle rods should be the same length and diameter of Regalo spindle rods. In my experience, Regalo makes their spindle rods longer than most other gate manufacturers, so our extra long spindle rod replacements are actually the same length as Regalo’s already extra long ones.
If you are using Regalo’s gate extention and finding that you then can’t fit spindle rods in between the gate and the wall, it’s possible you may be in in-between-land where it is hard to find a good fit. But what I would do is pre-screw the adjustment wheel nuts all the way against the padded ends of the spindle rods, stick each spindle rod all the way into each corner hole with the gate still away from the wall (this should only add an extra inch or so to the gate’s width), then move the gate into position and unscrew the adjustment wheel nuts as needed until the padded end of the spindle rods make contact with the wall. Thank you for your question, hope that helps.
I am going to try the 8mm for Summer Infant Multi-use Decorative Extra Tall Walk-Thru Gate. I talked to Summer Infant and they would not tell me the bolt size, saying it was proprietary. Maybe that’s why I’ve read here the 8mm are a bit too small.
Hi Gary, I’ve used the 8mm size in the Summer Infant Multi-use Decorative Extra Tall Walk-Thru Gate before with success. The 10mm size is a bit too big to fit. Since the 8mm size does slide in the holes, you are able to install the gate with that size. You just want to be sure to tighten the adjustment wheels as much as possible so it doesn’t slip around. Thanks for your question, and feel free to update us on how it goes for you!