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Next up......GARAGE DOOR SPRINGS................

redgtxdi

redgtxdi

Diamond Member
So I should've known better. It's only been a few days since I've had to address something in the money pit......err............house!

It's only been a few weeks since I repaired the garage door opener w/ a new relay card. Now it's the garage door SPRINGS!

Wife calls this morning & says the garage door wouldn't open. She took the truck that sits outside. OK, no prob. I get home to look at it & one of the double springs is broken. (So it's not *completely* gone on one side, but even just losing ONE of the dual-springs on ONE side sure makes the garage door hella' heavy!!!) 😕


TIA for any help/advice!
 
Get a professional to do it - the spring in my old house were very large, and VERY heavy.
 
Well, I should say, too........Mine is just a regular wooden door. No torsion springs, just extension.

It would *appear* to be fairly simple, but I don't wanna feel the wrath of a pretensioned spring if there are tricks to the whole thing.
 
It depends upon which type of spring system you have. Is it the kind with the springs coiled up on an axle hanging longitudinally right above the door? If so then you need the proper tools to do the job. Lowes or Home Depot should have the pair of rods you use to release the tension on the springs and then re tension them once the replacement spring is in place. You simply put one rod in one of the holes in the hub and then holding it you unscrew the square headed bolt that locks the hub to the axle. Once the bolt is loose you carefully untension the spring until the rod hits the wall. Then you place the second rod in the next hole, pull it up some to release the other rod from being jammed against the wall.....and simply repeat this relay until there is no more tension on the springs. Replace the springs and then simply reverse the steps. You should only tension the springs so they hold the door open. A little extra is ok but don't overdo it.
 
yup...regular springs shouldn't be a problem. just make sure to get the same diameter and length

don't mess with old torsion springs...they can seriously injure you.
 
You are lucky they are extension springs since those are easy to replace. It is not that the torsion springs are hard are hard to replace it is just they can be dangerous if you are not careful.
 
Well, glad to hear they're easy to replace.

Still can't quite figure out how I'm gonna release *all* of the tension. (Opening the door is obviously as far as I can go manually, but there's still light tension in the springs.

Hopefully the H.D. or Lowe's folks can show me so I don't drop the garage door on myself.....LOL!!! Just ONE spring of four must hold quite a bit 'cuz in the middle of the door-swing that flippin' door is HEAVY!!! Slammed on me twice already. Told the wife she has to help in the morning. I ain't gonna try lifting it solo again.....😛
 
If I was you I would replace all four springs so everything is balanced properly when you are done. Also they are likely the same age and so another will be likely to break soon. Make sure to install safety cables as well, I am glad mine had those because I was standing near the spring when it broke. I would also reccommend changing the lift cables that go to the door unless you are sure they are in good shape. It would also be a good time to check the condition of all of the other pars on the door.

When the door is adjusted properly, it should hold itself about halfway up with the opener disconnected. If this was the case, you can bring your old springs to the store to get new ones of the same size. When the door is lifted all the way up, there should be no tension on the springs, then you would lock the door in place with 2 c-clamps, one placed in the track on each side. You said there is tension when it is all the way up, if this is so then there is something wrong with your installation. Perhaps the springs were not strong enough and someone over adjusted them to compensate.

Here are some links that I found to be helpful:

http://www.garagedoorsupply.com/
http://www.popularmechanics.com/home_im...me_improvement/1276316.html?page=1&c=y
 
Thanks hammer.......(don't hurt 'em hammer, LOL!)


But I need to reiterate...............this is an old-school WOODEN "TILT UP" DOOR. Not the roll up type. I wouldn't be using C-clamps to hold the door open, but my garage door opener still holds it open. (I release the Genie, then re-latch it once I have it open.)

And, yes, I was planning on replacing both sides of springs anyway. (Better safe than sorry.)

Also kinda' makes me think twice about wanting to get a roll up door. I think I'll definitely wait now 'til the wooden door is just completely toast.

EDIT: And I was also very thankful that my springs had the "inner wires" (kinda' like a 2-piece paper clip system that keeps the springs from flying if they break). I assume you probably can't buy 'em any other way these days! (Don't need no springs takin' off like a rocket......LOL!)
 
Originally posted by: ArchCenturion
Get a newer rollup type Aluminum garage door, with like 15" pannels on a track. It is time for you to upgrade.
Click to expand...

Nevvvaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!! 😉
 
Hmm, I have never seen one of those tilt up doors before. I would search the web for info and see if it is doable.
 
Just did it a few months ago....replace both at the same time otherwise the door will slightly unbalanced. Way too many trips to Home Depot to solve this....
 
Well, it was MUCH easier than I anticipated. A couple key-ring type clips and the springs came right off. Ran down to HD, picked up some springs for $13 a piece and had 'em back on in about 2 minutes!!

Garage door works great, but I see now what happened. Garage door opener "stopper" moved and allowed the GDO to open the door past its regular stop & bent one of the arms......(actually the little "adjustable" arm that runs parallel with the larger arm).......so the door's tweaked a little bit but it's not visible unless you look at it. I think I'll just ride it out & if it gives me any more trouble..............24 gage,(not 25 gage) mother !@@#@! aluminum panel door!!!!!!!!!! 😀
 
Well, daggummit..........I knew it was too easy!! 😛

Actually, everything's still OK, but my neighbor noticed that I got "928" springs and they should have been "728". I wasn't sure there really was a difference but as I looked more closely I did notice.

Then I searched online & found that *apparently* this is how they break down........

928 = 45/55 lb. initial spring tension with .148 gage spring wire.

728 = 100/110 lb. initial spring tension with .177 gage spring wire.

Now the website I looked at showed that 928 had a "max stretch" of 23.5 inches, but my springs say max 18.5 inches. (same as my 728's said on the tab). I don't know if the website screwed up or if there are 2 types of 928's, but I swore they matched up when I was at H.D.

So I'll have to pull 'em off & swap 'em for 728's. (May have to go to another HD 'cuz I didn't see any # like 728 at the closest HD.)

Oh well, at least it's an easy job so I should be back in biz tonight after work. Yeeehaaww!! 😉
 
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