I got home early tonight (7:00) and had time to work on my garage
door. Some folks (Ken Sterling & Others) gave me a bunch of
suggestions that I tried out:

1. The weather stripping wasn't the issue - there isn't any except
for the bottom of the door.
2. All rollers turn & all hinges look okay.
3. I disconnected the lever arm from the chain drive and it goes up
with more effort than I'd expect. Again, nothing seems to be
dragging/catching. The tracks are in place, aligned, etc. I'm
betting the springs are the issue.
4. The track that the chain drags the trolley along is greased up
really well.
5. The cable running from the base of the door to the springs has a
relative few snapped strands but not enough to pose any issue. I'd
chock it up to normal aging/use.

After monkeying with it for a little over half an hour, I'm pretty
sure it is the springs and will work on replacing all four. I'm going
to look for springs sufficient for a 400# door and take one with me in
order to compare. I'm going with the suggestions to:

a. Replace all four springs at once to avoid an imbalance.
b. Install the safety guide wires should the springs snap in the
future
c. Tension the springs by applying enough force on the wire to
stretch them 2" when the door is open.
d. If the pulleys are cheap, I may shotgun the fix and replace all 4
while I am at it.

Thank you all for your help & patience.

--George

c. Tension the springs by applying enough force on the wire to
stretch them 2" when the door is open.

I didn't follow the original thread so please excuse my ignorance if this
has already been suggested. :-)

Do they seem to be tensioned equal amounts with the door raised now? On the
3 or 4 doors I've worked on the cable was not fastened all that securely on
the end. Usually there is a hole or two that it's looped through and then
laced through itself and it's possible that one of them has just slipped.
(Tough to describe but makes sense if you see it g) Others have cable
clamps that can also slip if they weren't tightened enough originally.

If that's the problem you should notice one (or two if they use the same
cable) spring(s) less tight than the others. Simply resetting the proper
tension would solve the problem.

This seems much more likely than a spring suddenly getting weak.

Best Regards,
Keith Marshall


"I'm not grown up enough to be so old!"


"George" wrote in message
...
I got home early tonight (7:00) and had time to work on my garage
door. Some folks (Ken Sterling & Others) gave me a bunch of
suggestions that I tried out:

1. The weather stripping wasn't the issue - there isn't any except
for the bottom of the door.
2. All rollers turn & all hinges look okay.
3. I disconnected the lever arm from the chain drive and it goes up
with more effort than I'd expect. Again, nothing seems to be
dragging/catching. The tracks are in place, aligned, etc. I'm
betting the springs are the issue.
4. The track that the chain drags the trolley along is greased up
really well.
5. The cable running from the base of the door to the springs has a
relative few snapped strands but not enough to pose any issue. I'd
chock it up to normal aging/use.

After monkeying with it for a little over half an hour, I'm pretty
sure it is the springs and will work on replacing all four. I'm going
to look for springs sufficient for a 400# door and take one with me in
order to compare. I'm going with the suggestions to:

a. Replace all four springs at once to avoid an imbalance.
b. Install the safety guide wires should the springs snap in the
future
c. Tension the springs by applying enough force on the wire to
stretch them 2" when the door is open.
d. If the pulleys are cheap, I may shotgun the fix and replace all 4
while I am at it.

Thank you all for your help & patience.

--George

They're pretty equal now Keith. I'm hoping to run down to Home Depot
Saturday or Sunday, get the stuff and call it even.

--George

On Wed, 25 Feb 2004 04:47:20 GMT, "Keith Marshall"
wrote:

c. Tension the springs by applying enough force on the wire to
stretch them 2" when the door is open.

I didn't follow the original thread so please excuse my ignorance if this
has already been suggested. :-)

Do they seem to be tensioned equal amounts with the door raised now? On the
3 or 4 doors I've worked on the cable was not fastened all that securely on
the end. Usually there is a hole or two that it's looped through and then
laced through itself and it's possible that one of them has just slipped.
(Tough to describe but makes sense if you see it g) Others have cable
clamps that can also slip if they weren't tightened enough originally.

If that's the problem you should notice one (or two if they use the same
cable) spring(s) less tight than the others. Simply resetting the proper
tension would solve the problem.

This seems much more likely than a spring suddenly getting weak.

Best Regards,
Keith Marshall


"I'm not grown up enough to be so old!"

d. If the pulleys are cheap, I may shotgun the fix and replace all 4
while I am at it.

They are, do. It made a world of difference on my doors...
--Glenn Lyford

My door works like new now. After we took the spring assemblies
apart, we found one spring that was just totally fried. The other
three springs looked okay.

Interestingly, I found that the color codes on the springs appear to
be useless across brands. The colors on my springs, the springs at
Ace Hardware and the springs at Home Depot all appear different. I
measured my springs and they came out the same as 160# units. Thus,
I replaced the one worn out spring and everything works great. They
were $18/each and I figured I'd save the money.

Another interesting thing I found was that the four springs on my 7x16
wood door were actually two sets of springs. Two 180 pound springs
and two 160 pounds springs.

--George



On Sat, 28 Feb 2004 05:39:03 GMT, Glenn Lyford
wrote:

d. If the pulleys are cheap, I may shotgun the fix and replace all 4
while I am at it.

They are, do. It made a world of difference on my doors...
--Glenn Lyford