BradMM wrote:
Ok, I had a company come out and look at our garage door problem. We
moved into this house almost three years ago and I installed the
opener on one of two wooden doors for my wife to use. It worked fine
for 2 1/2 years but started getting cock-eyed as it went up and down
and would stop and change directions. It's gotten progressively
worse. I've posted this recently so this is a repeat.

Four possible problems:
1. springs need replacing
2. rollers need replacing
3. garage/house has shifted due to drought
4. some combination of the above

I got an estimate that seemed reasonable for replacing both the
springs and the rollers. I had checked at Lowe's and even though they
had the right color springs, the guy who came out said the diameter
DID need to be the same and Lowe's were smaller. So, it seemed that
even if I wanted to do it myself, I'd still have to order springs.

What shocked me was he also gave an estimate of replacing the door
completely and that cost was about the same as replacing rollers and
springs on the current door. Problem is, the new door wouldn't match
the old so we'd have to replace both when one doesn't need it because
I open and close it manually. 90 day warranty on repairs, three year
on replacement.

I'm leaning toward just repairing the existing door and possibly still
doing it myself. BTW, my current door has the parallel springs so
they are easy and relatively safe to exchange. The new door that the
service guy proposed has torsion springs so I'm befuddled as to how
that can be the same cost as replacing parts on my existing door.


Bother!

Door springs are like the One Horse Shay - they might break, but it's highly
unlikely they'll "wear out."

Door springs can be adjusted to proved more or less tension - actually the
attaching points, not the springs themselves. Try increasing the tension on
the laggard side or decreasing the tension on the non-laggard side.

As to your possibilities:
* Springs need replacing - If the springs are intact, they don't need
replacing
* Rollers need replacing - If they're round and roll, they don't need
replacing
* Garage has shifted - There ought to be other evidence: cracked sheetrock,
cracked brick joints, etc.
* Combination - Nah

Other possibilities:
* Rollers binding due to gunk in the tracks, roller flat spots, twisted
tracks, etc.
* Opener not centered

Try this to diagnose the difficulty:
* Disconnect door from opener and move the door by hand. Where's the
problem?