Ken, this is great. The first free day I get, I'll give it a shot!

On Fri, 20 Feb 2004 11:41:44 GMT, (Ken Sterling) wrote:

George,
Simply disconnect the opener attachment up on the track from the lift
arm on the door.... Now you can lift the door manually. You
*shouldn't* have to strain very much to lift the door... it should be
almost to the point where it feels like it would go up by itself (but
you don't want it too light). If the door is *heavy* you need more
tension on the stretcher springs. You can follow the cable from the
bottom of the door, up and over a pulley at the top, back to the end
of the spring where it goes around another pulley, and then back
toward the door where the end of the cable is attached with an S hook.
It is simple to adjust the springs with the DOOR OPEN and BLOCKED!
Do not try to do it with the door down. Raise the door, place a piece
of 2x4 between the bottom of the door and the header to hold it up,
then shorten the cable at the S hook until both the spring pulleys
are about the same distance back from the door wall. It may take
you a couple of adjustments, but try to get them even. Unblock the
door, test the door weight. If still heavy, then shorten the cables a
little more until the door is okay (WATCH that the pulley on the end
of the spring doesn't get pulled so far forward that it hits anything
or gets too close to the S hook. If the door simply won't lighten up,
then you need new stretcher springs for each side (used to be color
coded with a dab of paint, red, blue, whatever, but you can buy
replacement springs for a 6', 6'6", 7' and other height doors).
NOW, after you have the weight of the door about right, and it should
stay in the raised position all by itself, you need to look at the
rollers and track. Sometimes the joint in the track at the top
corners of the doors, which are bolted together, will have the bolts
come loose, and the track will shift a little bit, or the bolt heads
will hit the rollers on their way past. Make sure everything is
straight and tight, and test the operation of the door by hand. If
one side seems "heavier", then that spring may just be weak, and you
can give it more tension or replace it. Also make sure the track
isn't too close to the side of the door. The brackets that mount the
track to the framing are slotted and can be moved toward and away from
the side of the door... ya need a little room here for the door to
float side to side.
Lastly, run a piece of cable/rope whatever, through the length of the
stretcher springs, securing the back end of the cable to the bracket
the spring attaches to, and secure the front end of the cable closer
to the wall than the S hook is mounted. This is a safety cable which
will keep the stretcher spring from flying around if it breaks
someday. With the cable through the center of the spring, the spring
may break, but will simply slide along the cable and prevent any
damage to people, cars, windows, etc.
Reconnect the opener to the door and give it a shot ---- let me
know how things work out.
Ken.