garage doors

[Bruce Nunnally]

I enjoy and appreciate Garage Doors, but I have found I have no skill at fixing them if they break. Springs, cables, and a motor; how hard can it be? But each door and opener design we have baffles my every attempt to make even the slightest adjustment. Now, I only attend to the door at all once it is broken. No need fixing the roof when its not raining, so to speak. But nothing that I would expect to fix the door actually helps, and usually makes it worse.

Tonight, my garage door was going all the way down, then back up again. Had worked fine for the last year.

Ah, there appeared to be too much slack in the chain.

Check the sprockets, expecting one was broken. No broken sprockets.

Adjust the chain, also reseating the chain on the sprocket and checking for all teeth on the sprocket. All there.

Tighten the chain, taking out the slack.

Test door, it goes up, but now not quite to the right place, it goes down, hits the stop, and back up again.

Look the manual up on the internet, which says oh yeah, there is a distance travel adjust.

By this time my motor is overheated or fried, not sure which until it cools off.

Garage doors, openers, and accessories. Bah.

I also am amused that when I give up and call the repair people, no matter what is wrong, you need to start over.

Oh, yeah -- no one makes that door any more. You need a whole new door.

This technology of opening the door is old, and not safe any more. This uses X. You need Y.

That motor only has Z hp and you really need Z+ hp.

Oh, it is gonna cost you $1200 easy.

Oh, you didn't want to pay that? What if I can do it for $800?

I could do it unsafe and not warrantied for $600. Do you want it unsafe for $600?

Bah.

[Phillip]

Bruce,

Take heart. Many of us have been through this abuse. Garage doors are like so many other devices. The technology has to change or they couldn't sell us any more. That being said, if you are patient, I am sure you can fix your door.

I had a similar problem with mine so I adjusted the stops. Unfortunately they were so old they broke as soon as I touched them. Not to be beaten by a garage door opener, I bought two switches from Radio Shack and mounted them at either end of the track. Then I put a spring loaded tab on the guide that runs along the track. When the guide gets to the appropriate spot, it hits the switch and stops. It does the same at the other end. It has worked this way for years. My kids think I am a moron for doing this, but I just can't give up on it yet. I know this opener has some more life left in it.

By the way, the repair cost me about $15.00 and comes with absolutely no guarantee.

Hang in there, you are not alone.

[winterset]

When my springs break (Usually at the end where the hook is), I take it off, and put it in a bench vice, and bend out the last spiral with vice grips, and a hammer, and make a "new" hook". so far 3 of my 4 springs broke, and my house is only 4 years old. the springs are cheap enough - about $15.00, but it saves me a trip to the store. I believe to call someone in is probably a $75 job, where my method costs me $.00, and it is the quickest way. I will not let these doors beat me either!!!

There might be an adjustment on the opener for how much force should be used to open & close the door, in addition to the speed. my opener has both on the motor. If yours does, increase the force.

[Bruce Nunnally]

I have stopped and read the manual. The motor has adjustments for force up, force down, travel up, and travel down.

Right now the trolley is all the way against the 'down' stop. If the motor is engaged, it attempts to press the trolley further into the 'down' stop. The chain on the pull toward the down stop gets taunt, and then the motor stops. If engaged again it again tries to jam the trolley further into the down stop, and fails.

If I loosen the chain and POP it off the teeth at the motor end, loosening the jammed tight torqued chain off the drive pulley, I can add more slack to the chain on the side-that-pulls-down.

Then when the motor is re-engaged it again tries to jam the trolley further into the stop.

I tried to adjust the travel down to 'less' but it has not had any visible effect.

[TDK]

Bruce, et al,

Oh yea - Garage Doors, the great American Home Destroyer. I'm sure everyone has some story of how the dang door damaged their car or vice-versa.

My wife parked back too far the inside handle nicked the bumper. I dabbed the scratch (the estimate was $800 to redo completely).

I had a long board in the truck years ago it it dented the other door as I backed up, (inevitable I suppose). I finally cut out the square of glued-on interior insulation and pushed the dent back out with my fingers. Now to finish off the glued in square on insulation/paper-backing with drywall mud.

We have one older-style (no doubt very, very dangerous), that does not have the IR beam, that backs the door up - if the bean is broken during closing. That un-safety feature allows us to walk out that door when both are closing.

Nearly every garage door in one factory I visited was mangled by forklifts. As we all know, Forklifts are the Great American Factory Destroyer - so the combination is like opposite poles of a gigantic magnet drawing ever nearer, until WHAMMO!

I would guess your door is simply over-heated and will reset by itself. Its not done with you yet...

We were looking to buy a newer house the other day and it had the following type of garage door opener:

http://www.expressdoors.com/html/idrive_opener.html

I believe they are known as an iDrive or Dalton opener. They become part of the torque-tube (the 1" diameter rod with with the coil spring around it and the roll-up cable spools on either end).

They can easily handle low-clearance ceilings, but they are also amazingly quiet and quick.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Wayne-Dalton-idrive-Ga...1QQcmdZViewItem

Regards,

[Cadillac Jim]

Read the part about installation and check each step to make sure that nothing subtle has happened. Proceed until it gets to the part about final adjustments. Center all the controls and do it from scratch.

[Bruce Nunnally]

I decided that the closer considered the trolley open although it was currently closed. During these tests the door is unengaged, just the trolley up/down.

I carefully cleared the torqued-to-down-side chain and disengaged the chain from the drive sprocket.

I moved the trolley, rotating the chain disengaged from the drive sprocket, so that the trolley was in the open position.

Next I reengaged and tightened the chain.

The opener closed the trolley as expected, then continued to hit the stop then opened it again to the original position. This seemed positive as we

are at least back to where I started the evening

I turned the 'down' adjustment to not so much down.

The opener closed the trolley to hard against the stop and torqued the closechain tight again. Confusing.

[jackc]

Wow. You guys are making my head hurt!

Makes me glad all I have to do is jump out of the car, unlock the door, and yank it open.

[jking220]

Wow. You guys are making my head hurt!

Makes me glad all I have to do is jump out of the car, unlock the door, and yank it open.

I never thought I'de say this, but Im kinda happy my caddy sleeps under the stars!

Not really, I cant wait to get a house with a garage.

[Cadillac Jim]

There is a microswitch that trips when the door is all the way down (and another for up). Maybe it's not tripping. Find it and check.

[Bruce Nunnally]

It was the travel switch mechanism.

In this garage door opener, there are three threaded posts. Along the center post the contact for the opener rides. This post is attached to a worm gear which is driven by the opener.

On one of the outside posts, the stop contact for up sits. on the other outside post the stop contact for down sits.

As the opener opens, the center post twists and the contact for the opener moves from being in contact with the open stop to being in contact with the closed stop.

In my opener, the bushing at the top of the main axle for the opener is starting to fail. The main axle is slightly off, so that the worm gear on the main axle to worm gear to move the contact for the opener would not always engage (did not stay in lock turn). When the opener post did not turn with the opener motion, then the opener contact would never reach the open or closed post and just jam into the physical stop.

By placing a small shim (the end of a tie wrap) in the bracket base for the carrier for the mechanism, I was able to force the two worm gears together slightly, so that now the door opens and closes properly.

My impression is also that the up adjust and down adjusts are the opposite of the instructions on the case. Go figure.

The door goes up and down for now. I think it is time for a new opener based on the torque damage to the main drive axle/bushing.

[Delta]

Be real careful regarding those springs. Ive heard horror stories of them snapping and causing real bad human damage if your around them. I believe now they are supposed to have a cable running through them to keep them from exploding should they snap.

[winterset]

Yes, Thanks.

Mine do have a cable running thru the middle. I am a pro at re-stringing them. I witnessed one snapping when it was extended, and it wouldn't have harmed anyone. even so, I make sure the kids are not near the springs or the doors when they are opening or closing.

[Cadillac Jim]

When working with the springs, the door should be up and the springs not stretched, or stretched just a few inches. Don't try to work with them when they are stretched.

[Bruce Nunnally]

Our garage door opener failed finally, with the upper bearing collapsing. I plan to grab a new one and learn installation next.

[Bruce Nunnally]

I did install the new opener, and that worked out fine.

yesterday the door stopped tracking properly, and stuck in place after a loud bang. After several trips to the store, I replaced the upper pulley on one side, several of the steel rollers, the top bracket on one side because it was now bent, and sanded a board along the framing of the garage door to increase the clearance between the board and the door. Now the door goes up and comes down under its own power, so I am going to stop engineering it lol. But as time allows I plan to replace the rest of the steel rollers; the motion of the door is still not as smooth as it should be.

[JimD]

.... But as time allows I plan to replace the rest of the steel rollers; the motion of the door is still not as smooth as it should be.

I have been happy with the service from plastic/nylon replacement roller parts (Home Depot or Lowe's). Noticeably quieter also!

[Bruce Nunnally]

I looked at those, but they did not have a complete set (the number I needed), so I got the all steel ones.

[KHE]

One of the easiest things to do to prolong the life of the tortion spring(s) on garage doors is to oil them. Use a pump oiler and oil the spring coil and then use a rag to distribute the oil along the coils. Reapply the oil every 6 months or so.

If the tortion spring is not lubricated, it will rust and then bind when in use resulting in eventual breakage. Once I started to oil my garage door tortion springs, I have not had one break.

[JimD]

Also....

A drop or two of oil on the door panel hinge points can be beneficial. Run the door open-closed a few times to distribute the oil throughout.

One word of caution on cycling the door open-closed; most door actuator motors include a thermal circuit breaker that could detect a high motor temperature limit and disable the actuator with the door in some unwanted position. Five consecutive open-close cycles per hour should not be a problem.

[Cadillac Jim]

I use motorcycle chain lube to oil my garage door opener because it's a penetrating oil, an aerosol penetrating lubricant that quickly condenses to lithium grease with high film strength and low volatility. Once a year, I lube the roller bearings in the side rollers with it to maintain smoothness and quietness. I haven't lubed the springs with it before, but I will now.

[Ranger]

One of the easiest things to do to prolong the life of the tortion spring(s) on garage doors is to oil them. Use a pump oiler and oil the spring coil and then use a rag to distribute the oil along the coils. Reapply the oil every 6 months or so.

If the tortion spring is not lubricated, it will rust and then bind when in use resulting in eventual breakage. Once I started to oil my garage door tortion springs, I have not had one break.

I have always kept the torsion springs oiled as I too have heard that. Snapped one a couple of years ago anyway.

[Cadillac Jim]

I've snapped a few in my time. I've found that old ones aren't the same length or strength as new ones, so they do stretch with time too. I would think that they should be changed ever 10 years or so. It's easier if neither of them has broken.

[Bruce Nunnally]

My Garage Door is operational but on probation. I think due to the weather change and perhaps some guide roller wear the door was hitting the wood trim on the 'other' side (I trimmed back / sanded off the one side). So, more sanding with a dremel tool and now the door goes up and down under its own power again. It still is not 100%, but I am happy to report it is working at all. The dremel tool was a purchase to trim the rear valance when I put the Corsa cat-back exhaust on the CTS.