Garage door problem

Graham Jagger · **Joined:** Fri Aug 29, 2003 12:53 am **Posts:** 1718

Need some recommendations on someone to call to fix my garage door opener. It's a worm drive style. Well one of the springs broke and unwound. So now we can't open the door. Can't even lift the rascal cause it's so damn heavy. I've never installed a setup like this so I don't really know how to reconnect the spring and wind it up properly. If I did it then it would be my luck I do it backwards and it goes up and right through the back wall... The motor and all cabling is fine. Just the spring on one side is busted.

So any recommendations on someone to call to replace the spring and set it back up?

Thanks, Graham

Todd Breakey · **Posted:** Tue May 18, 2004 9:13 pm

Custom Overhead Doors installed the one on our house. I'm not sure where you live but their numbers are Raleigh 876-4555, Durham 419-4444, Chapel Hill 942-5544.

MikeWhitney · **Joined:** Wed Aug 20, 2003 9:15 pm **Posts:** 4724

Graham - I had the same thing happen to me last year. I needed to get the door open so screwed a huge eyehook into the door opening above the door and used a winch connected to the handle to open it. Worked like a charm for me.

If it's one of them thar overhead type springs, they're dangerous. I did mine myself

shawnwhipple · **Joined:** Wed Aug 20, 2003 6:28 pm **Posts:** 603

I had overhead doors do mine a few years ago. They did a good job and I'd recommend them.

Mike is right those springs are dangerous!! It's amazing how much load those springs are under. We heard ours pop when it failed, it sounded like someone fired a gun in the garage.

We could open the garage (barely) but you had to trip the emergency release on the garage door opener. There should be a red handle or string on the opener that once released will allow the door to move. I had to get real creative when mine failed because both vehicles to get to work were in the garage. I think the steps to opening the door were:

1)Trip the release
2)Actuate the garage door opener, so the opener moves to the "Open" position
3)Untrip the release
4)Manually pick up the door and open it until it locks into the garage door opener again
The garage door should now hold in the open position.

You can work backwards from there to close it or if your feeling brave just pull the red handle and let the door slam closed. I wouldn't recommend the 2nd option, it tends to make all the neighbors wonder what the heck you are doing.

The guy that replaced ours also recommended giving the springs a spray down with WD40 once every 3 months. He said the reason they fail is because they are susceptable to rusting especially between the coils. The WD40 should keep the rust from starting.

Shawn

Diane Hall · **Posted:** Wed May 19, 2004 10:15 am

Jason's blew about 2 or 3 weeks ago. We heard it go but couldn't figure out that "fell" to make such a loud noise. Of course, the next morning trying to get the car out of the garage made the problem obvious. His opener doesn't seem to have a "red string" release thing. What we did was hit the button, then push the door up manually, along with the opener. It worked until someone could come fix it. He looked up how to do it himself, and given how dangerous it is to do, what he read recommended calling a professional and for $150 it was very likely worth it.

Patrick Wellenius · **Posted:** Wed May 19, 2004 10:32 am

Those springs are definitely bad news. One at my parents' house went while my dad was doing some work in the garage. It caught him right on the forehead and left a good 2inch gash that needed several stitches. Missed his eye by less than an inch.

Patrick Wellenius · **Posted:** Wed May 19, 2004 10:36 am

Those springs are definitely bad news. One at my parents' house went while my dad was doing some work in the garage. It caught him right on the forehead and left a good 2inch gash that needed several stitches. Missed his eye by less than an inch.

RobLupella · **Posted:** Wed May 19, 2004 11:56 am

Graham, If you decide to try and fix the spring yourself, can I have your cool light weight one-pump jack, your air pump and your extra wheels (I can sell them to some Corvette guy and buy a compressor). I will be willing to wait the appropriate mourning period while they unscrew the coil from your forehead. :lol:

Seriously, don't try it, it is dangerous and I wouldn't want you know who to take over the admin of the EMC complex. :lol:

DickRasmussen · **Posted:** Wed May 19, 2004 12:04 pm

The "wound up" springs are scary. When our original shop got destroyed during Fran, we called a pro to "disarm" the spring since the door had been closed and it didn't look like the spring had released at all! It is probably easy if you know how . . . I had a "stretch" type break in California with no damage luckily. The replacements came with various safety stuff including an internal cable to capture the broken segments of spring. Installation of these is safe since they go on with the door open and the springs slack.

Graham Jagger · **Joined:** Fri Aug 29, 2003 12:53 am **Posts:** 1718

Thanks for all the respones and recommendations folks!

Fortunately no one was home or in the garage when it went. Ann was just coming home and the door wouldn't open. When I got home last night I looked around and noticed the spring on one side was not connected. So being the home handy man I grabbed my ladder and some wrenches and started looking at what to take apart. When I noticed how both springs connected together at the center and thought about it for a minute I stopped. The remaining spring was still wound up. I figured that it would unwind if I loosened it and that might not be cool. So common sense actually took over on this one...

The guy is coming over tomorrow morning to fix it. This is a 2 car garage with a single wood door, 18x7, apparently the larger size. So he told me not to mess with it or touch the spring. He's replacing both and resetting the tension and all that fun stuff.

Thanks for the tip on spraying the springs with WD40. I usually lube the worm drive, rollers and the cables but never sprayed the springs. They are rusty. It snapped about 2 turns of the coil from the center. I don't see any debris in the garage so it appears to be a clean break. Bet it did make quite the noise when it snapped. The important car was here with me at work so no schrapnel came in contact with fiberglass :lol:

Rob

I will be sure to let Ann know you wanted dibs on the parts should I try the repair. You can try and explain your way out of this one at the Rock. You do own tap shoes I hope :lol:

Graham

Todd Breakey · **Posted:** Wed May 19, 2004 3:11 pm

RobLupella wrote:

I will be willing to wait the appropriate mourning period while they unscrew the coil from your forehead. :lol:

What exactly is the appropriate mourning period before pilfering the guy's stuff after he recieves the Darwin Treatment?

Graham Jagger · **Joined:** Fri Aug 29, 2003 12:53 am **Posts:** 1718

Well good news, bad news...

Good news. 2 new springs and I can manually operate the door so I was able to get my sons car out of the garage.

Bad news. The garage door opener motor burnt out. Apparently its one last shot in life was trying to open that door with the busted spring. Poor devil. It's at least 10yrs old if not the original. Also only 1/3hp for a big door. So I had to go pickup a new opener last night. This one is 1/2hp with all the extras. Now my weekend chore list just got bigger... :roll:

And I already had plans to work on my car since Rob won't be getting it :wink:

Just got new fuel injectors that need to go in.

Graham

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