I replaced the garage door extension spring with the same (I thought)
strength springs now the opener struggles a little. The existing springs
were "orange" so they were probably (maybe) 170# springs. I could only find
brown 160# replacements so I used them. Would 20# total difference cause
the opener to struggle?

OR....
The old springs were double..one INSIDE the other...not next to each other.
The springs were quite old and I'm guessing, again, that they needed 2
spring to get that much strength. Looking at the pattern of the orange
paint they used it looks like they were painted AFTER one was inserted in
the other. Based on this I'm _guessing_ that the two spring together make
one 170# spring. Or am I wrong on this and the old springs were actual two
170# springs!?

thanks

joe wrote:

I replaced the garage door extension spring with the same (I thought)
strength springs now the opener struggles a little. The existing springs
were "orange" so they were probably (maybe) 170# springs. I could only find
brown 160# replacements so I used them. Would 20# total difference cause
the opener to struggle?

OR....
The old springs were double..one INSIDE the other...not next to each other.
The springs were quite old and I'm guessing, again, that they needed 2
spring to get that much strength. Looking at the pattern of the orange
paint they used it looks like they were painted AFTER one was inserted in
the other. Based on this I'm _guessing_ that the two spring together make
one 170# spring. Or am I wrong on this and the old springs were actual two
170# springs!?

thanks



I can't answer your question authoritively, but what I did when I had to
buy new springs for my garage door was use a bathroom scale plus a brick
and a foot and a half piece of 2 by 4 to measure the weight of the door
in the "almost" down position using the brick and 2 by 4 to create a
lever which multiplied the scale capacity by two. Then I bought a pair
of springs rated for that weight door.

Jeff

--
Jeffry Wisnia
(W1BSV + Brass Rat '57 EE)
The speed of light is 1.8*10^12 furlongs per fortnight.

I am no professional about garage door springs, although I do believe
that you can adjust the tension of the spring at the end of the cable.
I would not think that 170 -180 should be much of a difference/safety
wise. This should take care of the prob.

Turns out the old "double" spring was a 300# springs...the color coding was
arbitrary back then. Picked some up at a garage door store and we're back
in business.


"joe" wrote in message
...
I replaced the garage door extension spring with the same (I thought)
strength springs now the opener struggles a little. The existing springs
were "orange" so they were probably (maybe) 170# springs. I could only
find brown 160# replacements so I used them. Would 20# total difference
cause the opener to struggle?

OR....
The old springs were double..one INSIDE the other...not next to each
other. The springs were quite old and I'm guessing, again, that they
needed 2 spring to get that much strength. Looking at the pattern of the
orange paint they used it looks like they were painted AFTER one was
inserted in the other. Based on this I'm _guessing_ that the two spring
together make one 170# spring. Or am I wrong on this and the old springs
were actual two 170# springs!?

thanks