Too_Many_Tools wrote:

On Dec 11, 7:46 pm, Bob Engelhardt wrote:

When a garage door spring broke the other day, I fashioned a "fix" for
it by bending a piece of strap iron:http://home.comcast.net/~bobengelhar...DoorSpring.jpg

Does anybody have any experience with this approach and can tell me how
well it's going to work? So far so good, but I'm a little nervous about it.

Thanks,
Bob


It will work for now.

It is time to go get a replacement though...the other end will be
suffering metal fatigue also..and it is just a matter of time before
it fails too.

I would also recommend replacing the other spring for the same reason.

Yes I know it is still working BUT metal fatigue is real and the
springs are nearing their useful life.

I used to only replace one spring too...until the other spring
repeatily failed . ;)

TMT

Yes, like shoelaces, you don't usually replace just the one which broke,
do you?

I've torched and bent new hook ends on those springs more than once and
they held up quite a while. Particularly on springs which had a sharp
bend where the hook joined the spring coils. Those bends looked like a
sure stress producer to me.

If you buy new springs to replace those rusty ones you've got to match
the strength of the new springs to the weight of the door. Judging from
the amount of rust in your photos you probably won't be able to read the
color coding (if any) on those springs.

An easy way to measure the weight of the door if you don't have a scale
which will accept that much weight is to use a bathroom scale an a
lever made from a couple of feet of 2 by 4 with one end on a small
piece of wood on the center of the scale platform and the other end on a
brick or something the same height as the scale platform.

Position that rig so the center of the 2 by 4 is under the bottom edge
of the door when it's down. With both springs disconnected (get a helper
if needed) lower the door onto the center of the 2 by 4. The scale
reading will be half the door's weight. If the scale still tops out move
the rig so that the door hits the 2 by 4 one third of its length from
the "brick end" and multiply the scale reading by 3.

Jeff

--
Jeffry Wisnia
(W1BSV + Brass Rat '57 EE)
The speed of light is 1.8*10e12 furlongs per fortnight.