Overhead garage Door Busted

[DC20]

The big coil spring that runs over the garage door is busted. Motor won't lift it. If I undue the latch and try to lift, it is a ton. Door is about 10 years old. I think I need to release the tension on the spring?

 

[rbh]

Re: Overhead garage Door Busted

Can you see were the coil is broke????
Most of the time they back off due to the end bolts slipping.

 

[Bifflefan]

Re: Overhead garage Door Busted

If the spring is broken, there is not tension on it. The reason for the spring is to lift the weight of the door, all but a few pounds so the will close.
I can not stress this enough, if you dont know what your doing, DONT TOUCH IT!!!!
Yes I know capitols is yelling, I was.
I have a frind that is missing 3 fingers and part of his hand from messing with one of the springs. Not to mention he was pinned to the spring for about an hour until he was missed by his wife.
Just call a professional to come and repair it. The couple hundred you spend on it is better than the hospitol bill.

 

[DC20]

Re: Overhead garage Door Busted

It's a torsion spring, I see the broken spring. I just wanted to be able to lift the door to get the truck out. After a google search looks like these things are dangerous to mess with.

 

[Tim Frank]

Re: Overhead garage Door Busted

If the spring is broken, there is not tension on it. The reason for the spring is to lift the weight of the door, all but a few pounds so the will close.
I can not stress this enough, if you dont know what your doing, DONT TOUCH IT!!!!
Yes I know capitols is yelling, I was.
I have a frind that is missing 3 fingers and part of his hand from messing with one of the springs. Not to mention he was pinned to the spring for about an hour until he was missed by his wife.
Just call a professional to come and repair it. The couple hundred you spend on it is better than the hospitol bill.

^^^^^^

This may be the single best piece of advice that I have ever seen on here.

 

[fat fanny]

Re: Overhead garage Door Busted

I to have had this issue but with counterbalance dual springs had them break a few times and if it weren't for the 1/4" safety cable the damage to my wifes car would have been hard to explain but the hole in our refrigerator in the garage tells the story of the danger those springs store! take the advise especially on the overhead springs. Good luck

 

[tx1961whaler]

Re: Overhead garage Door Busted

+4 on the danger of working on those torsion springs.
When the garage door guy came to fix ours and the car was inside, he got on the handle outside and had me hit the door opener button. He and the opener were able to get the door up to get the car out. This is a double wide, solid wood door. I couldn't lift the door one inch off of the ground with the spring broken.
With the right tools, experience and knowledge he had the spring replaced in half an hour.....

 

[JRJ]

Re: Overhead garage Door Busted

It's a torsion spring, I see the broken spring. I just wanted to be able to lift the door to get the truck out. After a google search looks like these things are dangerous to mess with.

I hope you don't mess with it. Good luck.

 

[DC20]

Re: Overhead garage Door Busted

Yea, I am by no means a light weight, but I could barely lift the door a few inches off the ground. It is a double sided, insulated, hurricane double door. The admiral's truck is inside the garage! Thanks for every ones concern, I am not messing with it, will call the experts in the morning.

 

[Boomyal]

Re: Overhead garage Door Busted

.....I am not messing with it, will call the experts in the morning.

Whew, glad to hear it. Your digits will live another day, to type new posts on iboats. I am a considerable DIY guy but I would not tackle those springs.

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Overhead garage Door Busted

I have replaced one of those. You just have to be very careful and take your time. The dangerous part is the tightening of the spring. If you are all unsure about this you should get a pro however.

 

[Brokenrod]

Re: Overhead garage Door Busted

After the pro fixes your door, make sure that you keep those springs lubricated. we used to reccomend a lightweight oil like 3n1. Give the rollers a little squirt too. Dont use grease in the tracks- theyre called rollers, not sliders.
If you did attempt to fix it yourself and something went wrong, you could be missing a few fingers(or worse) before your brain even registers that something happened.

 

[Brewman61]

Re: Overhead garage Door Busted

You got about an average lifespan out of the spring(s). Most double size doors have two springs. Single size doors usually have just one.
Assuming you have two springs on the door, it wouldn't be a bad idea to have both springs replaced even if only one broke. Labor isn't all that much more.
Will save you a service charge when the other one lets go in the near future.
Garage doors can be very heavy and hard to lift with a bad spring. When my went it sounded like a gunshot- scared the ^*(%(%%^!!@# out of me.

 

[BUDDY123]

Re: Overhead garage Door Busted

Had mine go a few months back, for the extra bucks get both springs replaced, will save you the service call when the other one goes, and it will.

 

[Boomyal]

Re: Overhead garage Door Busted

Had mine go a few months back, for the extra bucks get both springs replaced, will save you the service call when the other one goes, and it will.

I think most respectable professionals would refuse to replace just one.

 

[DC20]

Re: Overhead garage Door Busted

Well it's all said and done. Both springs replaced for 250 that I really needed for boat parts.
Admiral able to get her truck out of the garage, priceless

 

[Brewman61]

Re: Overhead garage Door Busted

I think most respectable professionals would refuse to replace just one.

They'll do what you ask/pay them to do. They will strongly suggest replacing both, but when I had this done to two different doors, they suggested but didn't require replacing both. Just doing one is false economy. The other one is sure to give way soon, and you'll just end up paying more in to have another service call.

 

[KRS]

Re: Overhead garage Door Busted

One spring on mine broke.

$180 to replace it, adjust the door, and lube the pivots.

Money well spent.

KRS

 

[fat fanny]

Re: Overhead garage Door Busted

Believe it or not right after I replied to this post I went out to close the garage door and guess what was hanging from the cieling ? I ended up changing mine @ 9:00pm that evening I have a box of new ones from an auction that my son used on a punkin chunker replaced it myself ( I have experience with them) luckily the door was open and the tension off the door's other spring making it easy to re-string the safety cable back through and re- adjust the tension

 

[DC20]

Re: Overhead garage Door Busted

Believe it or not right after I replied to this post I went out to close the garage door and guess what was hanging from the cieling ?

Oh no, they don't give any indication of when they are ready to go either.
I will however periodicly spray the springs with some lube from now on.