My issue is that the door won't fully close. With the release pulled, the door stops about 10 inches from the ground. If you try to gently press it down it comes back up to the same spot. I can't get at the springs because the door hasn't cleared the top enough to get at them. What can I do?
@GarageDoorGuidance the issue is I am in a rural area and I can't get anyone to look at it for weeks. Temperatures here are sub freezing during the the night.
I was used to work on doors with my neighbor, we had one guy think he could fix the door himself, disconnected the bottom bracket that held the cable while it was still under tension, needless to say the guy was driven to the ER and called us to do it
@@GarageDoorGuidance yeah, it got him right by his eye, big gash across the side of his face. People think garage doors are simple, most of them also think the motor lifts the door. So when they hear how much they are to fix, they wanna try and do it themselves
@@Dpoole56 I disconnected the bottom support of the door by mistake, but I reinstalled it higher than it was in place because the cable has a lot of tension. If I use this method, can I reduce the tension on the cable so that I can put it back in place, please?
@@GarageDoorGuidance I disconnected the bottom support of the door by mistake, but I reinstalled it higher than it was in place because the cable has a lot of tension. If I use this method, can I reduce the tension on the cable so that I can put it back in place, please?
@@sherif0farragno matter what the cable is going have a good amount of tension. Why do you feel the door needs less tension? The door should balance when you run it manually with out the motor. Moving the bottom shoe wont do anything and should always be right on the bottom of the bottom section. If the door goes up on its own when in manual you need less tension and if the door is heavy and drops then you need more tension. You must accomplish this by winding or unwinding the spring/springs more with winding bars. Can be dangerous without knowing how. Sincerely commercial and industrial door mechanic
We bought the house last year, lately we have issue with opening the garage door, it’s still open but very heavy to lift it, it’s kind of bouncing when it first lifted, we saw it’s bending in the middle of the top panel, and figured out the garage door doesn’t have springs, I’m wondering is it normal not having springs or that was the issue cause my garage door heavily lifted
Ive got a weird situation. I have a triplex and they all have the exact doors except the spring. One of them has 2 springs and one of the others only has one yet it works great. I got the darn door aligned amd was able to hand lift it but all the wiring popped off one side. Im assuming i need to let off some spring pressure? I did adjust it because both springs were loose as if they had no tension so i turned them both 15 quarter turns.
Hey John, hard to direct you without knowing exactly how it sits right now to be honest and I wouldn’t want to direct you incorrectly and cause injury ! What I can say is that a fully tensioned spring is right about 30 quarter turns for a 7’ high door. It should stay at open at halfway without dropping down hard or flying open signaling correct tension
You just need the tension off to be able to do it. I’d recommend asking around to see if you can get someone local to do it for you, it’s not supposed to be an expensive fix
@@GarageDoorGuidance thanks, I did look through some TH-cam videos and figure it out how to do it, on very mechanically inclined, and I knew I could handle it. Thanks for the reply.
The much safer and easier way is to simply open your garage door the entire way to ceiling and work in the gap between top of garage framing and the garage door. It's at little tension at that point you can pretty much turn the spring by hand. Stick a pipe in hole to hold that little tension and release drums or just loosen your drums and let them spin the little tension remaining out. You can install/re-tension or adjust your spring the exact same way.
Easier, quicker and SAFER !! to just undo the spring bolts and unwind . Why take the chance of that bar slipping out while your undoing cables with your fingers in between the drum and cable . Seems unsafe and I've done hundreds and wouldn't recommend this
You should NOT do this! I've been an Overhead Door Tech for over 20 years and this is stupid. Take the tension off the cables by putting the bars in the spring and loosening the set screws. That way if your bar gets knocked out you don't lose your goddamn fingers. Better yet, do the REALLY smart thing, don't mess with them at all, call someone
Thanks! Going to try that tomorrow, need to get those bars
Really helpful information, especially for beginners thanks
Excellent tutorial!
Thanks. Big help.
My issue is that the door won't fully close. With the release pulled, the door stops about 10 inches from the ground. If you try to gently press it down it comes back up to the same spot. I can't get at the springs because the door hasn't cleared the top enough to get at them. What can I do?
Likely they’re over tightened but like you said if you can’t reach them it may be time to call around
@GarageDoorGuidance the issue is I am in a rural area and I can't get anyone to look at it for weeks. Temperatures here are sub freezing during the the night.
I was used to work on doors with my neighbor, we had one guy think he could fix the door himself, disconnected the bottom bracket that held the cable while it was still under tension, needless to say the guy was driven to the ER and called us to do it
Yep that is also something I’ve personally seen happen as well.
@@GarageDoorGuidance yeah, it got him right by his eye, big gash across the side of his face. People think garage doors are simple, most of them also think the motor lifts the door. So when they hear how much they are to fix, they wanna try and do it themselves
@@Dpoole56
I disconnected the bottom support of the door by mistake, but I reinstalled it higher than it was in place because the cable has a lot of tension. If I use this method, can I reduce the tension on the cable so that I can put it back in place, please?
@@GarageDoorGuidance
I disconnected the bottom support of the door by mistake, but I reinstalled it higher than it was in place because the cable has a lot of tension. If I use this method, can I reduce the tension on the cable so that I can put it back in place, please?
@@sherif0farragno matter what the cable is going have a good amount of tension. Why do you feel the door needs less tension? The door should balance when you run it manually with out the motor. Moving the bottom shoe wont do anything and should always be right on the bottom of the bottom section. If the door goes up on its own when in manual you need less tension and if the door is heavy and drops then you need more tension. You must accomplish this by winding or unwinding the spring/springs more with winding bars. Can be dangerous without knowing how.
Sincerely commercial and industrial door mechanic
My garage door is coming down too fast,(using the motor)what could be the issue/ problem?
Does it come down to fast without the motor?
Operating with the motor
What about without
We bought the house last year, lately we have issue with opening the garage door, it’s still open but very heavy to lift it, it’s kind of bouncing when it first lifted, we saw it’s bending in the middle of the top panel, and figured out the garage door doesn’t have springs, I’m wondering is it normal not having springs or that was the issue cause my garage door heavily lifted
It should absolutely have a spring system to assist opening.
Thanks!
Ive got a weird situation. I have a triplex and they all have the exact doors except the spring. One of them has 2 springs and one of the others only has one yet it works great.
I got the darn door aligned amd was able to hand lift it but all the wiring popped off one side. Im assuming i need to let off some spring pressure? I did adjust it because both springs were loose as if they had no tension so i turned them both 15 quarter turns.
Hey John, hard to direct you without knowing exactly how it sits right now to be honest and I wouldn’t want to direct you incorrectly and cause injury !
What I can say is that a fully tensioned spring is right about 30 quarter turns for a 7’ high door. It should stay at open at halfway without dropping down hard or flying open signaling correct tension
Do you have to count the turns, so when your ready to reinstall, you get it to function the way it did originally?
Yes that’s correct
I want to replace the cables, can I release the tension like how you did, and then replaced the cables safely like that?
You just need the tension off to be able to do it. I’d recommend asking around to see if you can get someone local to do it for you, it’s not supposed to be an expensive fix
@@GarageDoorGuidance thanks, I did look through some TH-cam videos and figure it out how to do it, on very mechanically inclined, and I knew I could handle it. Thanks for the reply.
I have a 7ft high x 16 ft garage door and no springs, How do I figure what two springs to buy?
Hello, you’d need to get the weight of the door first ( can slide a scale under it )
Check the brand, serial number and PID.. Then call the Garage door company brand and they will tell you the weight of you Garage door.
One link is for a 3/4" diameter bar and the other link is for a 7/16" diameter bar. Is it supposed to only be a 1/2" max?
Sorry that is correct 7/16” is the official size used and you can get 1/2” at Home Depot. 3/4” is too much I’ll change that now thank you
can you re-apply tension then hook cables on? Keep getting told it won't work, someone know why?
You can but there’s a specific way to do it and would vary between one and two springs
If my spring is broken do I need to release the spring tension?
If it’s a single spring and it’s broken no, you should be able to spin the tube freely. Without unscrewing anything
@@GarageDoorGuidance thanks much
Where is the link?
Should be in the middle of the description 👍🏻
Why does one rod say 7 sixteenths in different one say half inch.
The Home Depot one?
This is necessary before removing brackets. Ask my mangled hand.
😬😮💨
i ended up having to do this with a screw driver! it was kinda scary
This is how people get hurt, you really should not be doing it without the proper equipment ..
The much safer and easier way is to simply open your garage door the entire way to ceiling and work in the gap between top of garage framing and the garage door. It's at little tension at that point you can pretty much turn the spring by hand. Stick a pipe in hole to hold that little tension and release drums or just loosen your drums and let them spin the little tension remaining out. You can install/re-tension or adjust your spring the exact same way.
On a single that’s probably do able yep
Easier, quicker and SAFER !! to just undo the spring bolts and unwind . Why take the chance of that bar slipping out while your undoing cables with your fingers in between the drum and cable . Seems unsafe and I've done hundreds and wouldn't recommend this
I’ve done hundreds myself and have run into plenty of scenarios were this was extremely useful. To each their own as they say
@GarageDoorGuidance what's safer tho I don't care about saving time when I can loose my fingers
You should NOT do this! I've been an Overhead Door Tech for over 20 years and this is stupid. Take the tension off the cables by putting the bars in the spring and loosening the set screws. That way if your bar gets knocked out you don't lose your goddamn fingers. Better yet, do the REALLY smart thing, don't mess with them at all, call someone
Genuine question, what’re you doing when the spring won’t spin because the last guy over tightened ? ( hammer won’t budge it )