Garage Door spring...

[Ghost]

Heard a loud pop and the shop door shaking this afternoon. Took us several looks and head scratching to figure out that one of the springs broke on the electric door opener. Can the spring be retensioned on the rod or is there a replacement in my future? Hows all this work too?

[x2elite]

you need to have a professional come and put a new spring on and wind it for you. Trying it yourself can be dangerous without the right tools and experience.

[xjtrailrider]

X2 on having a pro fix those torsion springs, they are nasty to deal with. I had both replaced on my garage at home by a pro. I actually did a whole door since the old one was wood and non insulated.

Glenn, most likely the ones you have are even heavier than mine and are commercial grade. I would call Overhead Door if you have one in your area.

[muddyrocks]

In case you are going to do it yourself here's a guy that did it and survived, so he says:
http://www.truetex.com/garage.htm

Looks kinda easy after reading it. ugh. Talk about long winded. But you can save money.

[FlexdXJ]

you need to have a professional come and put a new spring on and wind it for you. Trying it yourself can be dangerous without the right tools and experience.


Yeah they are just as dangerous as the springs in the emergency brakes on Big rigs.

[13bullets]

In case you are going to do it yourself here's a guy that did it and survived....

That alone sums it up pretty well. Those springs will kill you.

[XJEEPER]

I replaced one several years ago on my parents home (pre WWW)......both of my bars used to set the tension were mild steel and both were bent pretty good when I was done. The pros use tempered steel bars and are trained. You could easily wind up with broken bones or worse if you screwed up. I guessed at how many turns and got lucky........even though I'm a DIY guy, prolly wouldn't do it again, mainly because one of my clients is the one of the largest door and hardware mfgrs. in the US. I had them do one last year at my home, got a sweet discount and didn't have to go to the hospital.

[Ghost]

Looks like I'll be hitting the phone book soon. Right now it will jsut have to stay shut. :( Good thing the jeep was in front of the other door!

[Jeepman401]

I have a nice dent in the top of my toolbox at work from one of those springs

[wall04]

Man I just had to do that three weeks ago.

I seriously was going to do it myself. But, the only place I could find a replacement spring was ACE and it wasn't the right one. It's at least 1/2 days work for one person doing the job alone. I would just go with the pros on this one.

[douginteg]

Hi

If you want some good info on the subject, no matter how you choose to proceed, check these guys out.

http://www.truetex.com/garage.htm

http://ddmgaragedoors.com

[kujito]

It's really not that hard to do, but it is even easier to FAWK yourself up. If you don't know how, don't do it.

[Andy in Pa.]

I had one break a few years ago too. I cut off the part that broke off and tried re-torqueing the remaining spring. I used 3/8" x 18" extensions to re-torque the springs, and that seemed to work pretty well. I took my time and did it a 1/2 turn at a time very carefully. I got it close enough to open the door, but of course it didn't work well because I couldn't get the torque on the broken spring to match the good one. I had someone out to replace the springs soon afterwards.

[McQue]

I ran a self storage facility for 4 years. All of the storage units were garage door access...so with 800 units about 25 years old, we averaged about 4 broken springs a month...We had a guy that would come in and change the springs (both sides) for $190, parts and labor. So, I would suggest going to a local self storage place and get the name and number of the guy they use. The guy we used would fix one door in about an hour and 15 minutes.