I have a Genie screw drive at a house with a double garage. The door
is just a single big piece (not sectional), about 7' tall x 16'wide.
When the opener closes the door and it's all the way down, then
naturally the opener shuts off. But now the door has started coming
back open 6 inches or so and the screw drive turns backwards. I don't
think it used to do this and I thought that simply because of how
screw systems work it should be almost impossible to make the screw
turn backwards. You can pull up on the door and open it further
(screw drive turns backwards and lets it open).

???????

Ashton Crusher wrote:
I have a Genie screw drive at a house with a double garage. The door
is just a single big piece (not sectional), about 7' tall x 16'wide.
When the opener closes the door and it's all the way down, then
naturally the opener shuts off. But now the door has started coming
back open 6 inches or so and the screw drive turns backwards. I don't
think it used to do this and I thought that simply because of how
screw systems work it should be almost impossible to make the screw
turn backwards. You can pull up on the door and open it further
(screw drive turns backwards and lets it open).

???????


Hi,
I have same opener, Genie screw drive on a same size sectional door.
There is two adjustment, limit switches(one for up, one for down) and
clutch. Check the manual.

responding to
http://www.homeownershub.com/mainten...er-704622-.htm
DA wrote:
Ashton Crusher wrote:

You can pull up on the door and open it further
(screw drive turns backwards and lets it open).

These garage door screws look like two-start, 1/8" pitch and so to pull on
the nut and make the motor shaft turn as a result, you would have to exert
an enormous lateral force. It will most likely result in you stripping the
nut's thread (or teeth - this isn't a "normal" nut, it's a part of the
carriage, the part with the emergency release cord)

I think the only way you could manually make the door move when the screw
is still engaged and observe the screw rotate is when the motor wants to
rotate the screw in this direction anyway but does not have enough power
to lift the door by itself. By manually lifting the door you essentially
just help the motor rotate the screw. In other words, it's not you
rotating it, you just happen to help it along.

The motor's force is adjustable - either electronically with two
potentiometers on newer openers or with a clutch on older ones. It's
possible that if you adjust the opening force higher, the door would back
out all the way. Are the door and the screw lubricated? Does it open
easily enough when the screw drive is disengaged?

Anyway, your Genie (which model is it, BTW?) should have safety features
that make it open if the closing limit switch has not been tripped in 30
seconds or if the power draw of the motor suddenly increased indicating
that the door hit something on the way down. If you did not touch the door
at all after it backed out 6", what would happen? Will it just continue to
sit like that?

If the door itself is mechanically sound, lubricated and balanced, I
believe there is something with the closing limit switch - it's either out
of proper position or damaged (corrosion of mechanical damage) and no
longer shorts the contacts when pressed. Move it closer toward the motor
and see if the door stops reversing (even if this makes it not to close
completely). If there's no change in the behavior, verify the wiring of
the switch and if it's fine, change the switch. If that does not help,
there can always be a problem with the control board.

-------------------------------------
/\_/\
((@v@)) NIGHT
()::) OWL
VV-VV

On Saturday, July 14, 2012 3:46:37 PM UTC-7, Ashton Crusher wrote:
I have a Genie screw drive at a house with a double garage. The door
is just a single big piece (not sectional), about 7' tall x 16'wide.
When the opener closes the door and it's all the way down, then
naturally the opener shuts off. But now the door has started coming
back open 6 inches or so and the screw drive turns backwards. I don't
think it used to do this and I thought that simply because of how
screw systems work it should be almost impossible to make the screw
turn backwards. You can pull up on the door and open it further
(screw drive turns backwards and lets it open).

???????

First check the clutch to see if it's tight. If it's not tight then try tightening it. If it doesn't tighten then read the following:

The Genie SD9500 may not have a washer on the drive screw between the drive screw tuggnut retaining clip and the end of the track. The end of the track is uneven and will break the tuggnut retaining clip if it makes contact with it causing the clutch plates to permanently separate or disengage, preventing the motor from turning the drive screw. A section of the track is attached to the motor head by two bolts and bolt inserts and is not designed to be removed. After removing the bolts the inserts will have to be punched out in order to gain access to where the tuggnut retaining clip is in order to install a washer there; however at least you will not have to re-install the inserts but can use bolts with a larger diameter instead.

On Sun, 15 Jul 2012 01:13:11 +0000, DA
wrote:

responding to
http://www.homeownershub.com/mainten...er-704622-.htm
DA wrote:
Ashton Crusher wrote:

You can pull up on the door and open it further
(screw drive turns backwards and lets it open).

These garage door screws look like two-start, 1/8" pitch and so to pull on
the nut and make the motor shaft turn as a result, you would have to exert
an enormous lateral force. It will most likely result in you stripping the
nut's thread (or teeth - this isn't a "normal" nut, it's a part of the
carriage, the part with the emergency release cord)

I think the only way you could manually make the door move when the screw
is still engaged and observe the screw rotate is when the motor wants to
rotate the screw in this direction anyway but does not have enough power
to lift the door by itself. By manually lifting the door you essentially
just help the motor rotate the screw. In other words, it's not you
rotating it, you just happen to help it along.

The motor's force is adjustable - either electronically with two
potentiometers on newer openers or with a clutch on older ones. It's
possible that if you adjust the opening force higher, the door would back
out all the way. Are the door and the screw lubricated? Does it open
easily enough when the screw drive is disengaged?

Anyway, your Genie (which model is it, BTW?) should have safety features
that make it open if the closing limit switch has not been tripped in 30
seconds or if the power draw of the motor suddenly increased indicating
that the door hit something on the way down. If you did not touch the door
at all after it backed out 6", what would happen? Will it just continue to
sit like that?

If the door itself is mechanically sound, lubricated and balanced, I
believe there is something with the closing limit switch - it's either out
of proper position or damaged (corrosion of mechanical damage) and no
longer shorts the contacts when pressed. Move it closer toward the motor
and see if the door stops reversing (even if this makes it not to close
completely). If there's no change in the behavior, verify the wiring of
the switch and if it's fine, change the switch. If that does not help,
there can always be a problem with the control board.

-------------------------------------
/\_/\
((@v@)) NIGHT
()::) OWL
VV-VV



Everything you say is correct as I understand things. That's what's so
odd. You can pull up on the door and it makes the screw rotate
backwards and the door can be opened. I thought that by the nature of
this type of screw mechanism it should be impossible to do that. The
motor is not running, just turning backwards. The "jaws" that run
along the screw are not stripped.

On Sat, 14 Jul 2012 18:19:13 -0700 (PDT),
wrote:

On Saturday, July 14, 2012 3:46:37 PM UTC-7, Ashton Crusher wrote:
I have a Genie screw drive at a house with a double garage. The door
is just a single big piece (not sectional), about 7' tall x 16'wide.
When the opener closes the door and it's all the way down, then
naturally the opener shuts off. But now the door has started coming
back open 6 inches or so and the screw drive turns backwards. I don't
think it used to do this and I thought that simply because of how
screw systems work it should be almost impossible to make the screw
turn backwards. You can pull up on the door and open it further
(screw drive turns backwards and lets it open).

???????

First check the clutch to see if it's tight. If it's not tight then try tightening it. If it doesn't tighten then read the following:

The Genie SD9500 may not have a washer on the drive screw between the drive screw tuggnut retaining clip and the end of the track. The end of the track is uneven and will break the tuggnut retaining clip if it makes contact with it causing the clutch plates to permanently separate or disengage, preventing the motor from turning the drive screw. A section of the track is attached to the motor head by two bolts and bolt inserts and is not designed to be removed. After removing the bolts the inserts will have to be punched out in order to gain access to where the tuggnut retaining clip is in order to install a washer there; however at least you will not have to re-install the inserts but can use bolts with a larger diameter instead.


Maybe the "washer" or something is just worn out. The opener is
around 34 years old and it's never been taken apart so nothing should
be out of place. It used to work fine but now it's got me stumped. I
don't think it's a clutch adjustment because it takes a lot of power
to pull this door and it's not slipping when it's opening or closing
it.

On Tuesday, July 17, 2012 4:13:08 PM UTC-7, Ashton Crusher wrote:
On Sat, 14 Jul 2012 18:19:13 -0700 (PDT),
wrote:

>On Saturday, July 14, 2012 3:46:37 PM UTC-7, Ashton Crusher wrote:
>> I have a Genie screw drive at a house with a double garage. The door
>> is just a single big piece (not sectional), about 7' tall x 16'wide.
>> When the opener closes the door and it's all the way down, then
>> naturally the opener shuts off. But now the door has started coming
>> back open 6 inches or so and the screw drive turns backwards. I don't
>> think it used to do this and I thought that simply because of how
>> screw systems work it should be almost impossible to make the screw
>> turn backwards. You can pull up on the door and open it further
>> (screw drive turns backwards and lets it open).
>>
>> ???????
>
>First check the clutch to see if it's tight. If it's not tight then try tightening it. If it doesn't tighten then read the following:
>
>The Genie SD9500 may not have a washer on the drive screw between the drive screw tuggnut retaining clip and the end of the track. The end of the track is uneven and will break the tuggnut retaining clip if it makes contact with it causing the clutch plates to permanently separate or disengage, preventing the motor from turning the drive screw. A section of the track is attached to the motor head by two bolts and bolt inserts and is not designed to be removed. After removing the bolts the inserts will have to be punched out in order to gain access to where the tuggnut retaining clip is in order to install a washer there; however at least you will not have to re-install the inserts but can use bolts with a larger diameter instead.


Maybe the "washer" or something is just worn out. The opener is
around 34 years old and it's never been taken apart so nothing should
be out of place. It used to work fine but now it's got me stumped. I
don't think it's a clutch adjustment because it takes a lot of power
to pull this door and it's not slipping when it's opening or closing
it.

I don’t think this is it but you might want to have someone lift up the door while you stay inside looking at the screw to see if it’s turning synchronously. One other possibility is that the screw being sectional (composed of sections) where one section may not be totally connected with the other. Try drawing a chalk line on the screw to see if all the sections are turning synchronously. Either that or the carriage is slipping which I also doubt. As you said “it should be almost impossible to make the screw turn backwards”. I still think the clutch is slipping though.