Force adjustment on your Chamberlain garage opener

[CarLuver]

Happy New Year to All

So we have been having a cold dry spell. I have gotten two calls from folks telling me that their garage door won't close . I tell them to try to assist it into the close position , and if it works the force adjustment need to be recalibrated . happens when the door expands and contracts , and binds a little .

The new yellow button ones the force is computer controlled, unlike the old ones that had a screw adjustment . its very sensitive to force needed to close door .

So if you have a garage door that won't go down , recalibrating it may fix the issue. Here is vid

 

[B6_Dolphin]

The other important data point is the proper identification of the end-points, or "up" and "down" door positions. My Sears Belt-Drive opener, made by Chamberlain, one day tried to close my garage door, where it would compress the door seal and continue a little to far, putting stress on the opener and the door itself. It had basically "lost" the closed position of the door.

Here's how it was fixed:

 

[shortyb]

My Chamberlains are belt drive and have the soft open and soft close feature. It basically adjusts force automatically once the upper and lower limits have been set. Sometime when it is cold and one of the doors hasn't been opened for a couple days, you can hear the motor step up the speed to get past any seal binding. I always check my door weight and adjust spring tension if needed twice a year to make sure the openers can do their thing. Switched to nylon rollers about 7 years ago and make sure everything is lubed properly (including the tension springs). Haven't had any problems and almost zero noise with either door since.

 

[MasterSolenoid]

Garage doors need preventive maintenance just like a car.
Yearly now I disengage the opener and set the door on a scale.
If the over-head springs are correctly adjusted, there should not be too much weight on the door.
Mine was at 12 lbs. and if it starts to increase, it means the coil springs are wearing out.

 

[JeffKeryk]

Springs wear out. Cables can break. I lube the sliding parts with garage door lube.

 

[AZjeff]

Not sure if lubing the torsion spring does much but I do it every 6 months. Maybe more important where the springs will rust? The builder grade 16 foot garage door came with cheap plastic rollers, I decided to try some nylon rollers with bearings and they're definitely quieter and smoother than the wobbly OE ones. Easy to replace, do all but the bottom set with the door down then put the door up to take the tension off the lift cable and replace those.

I had a spring break at 5 years old and replaced them with hopefully better ones and lived to tell about it.

 

[JeffKeryk]

Not sure if lubing the torsion spring does much but I do it every 6 months. Maybe more important where the springs will rust? The builder grade 16 foot garage door came with cheap plastic rollers, I decided to try some nylon rollers with bearings and they're definitely quieter and smoother than the wobbly OE ones. Easy to replace, do all but the bottom set with the door down then put the door up to take the tension off the lift cable and replace those.

I had a spring break at 5 years old and replaced them with hopefully better ones and lived to tell about it.

The nylon rollers are the way to go. Mine are steel and worn. I had no idea they were easily replaceable; thanks for the tip!
@AZjeff how did you replace the rollers? Just unscrew (except bottom), bend track, bow out track? How did you do the lower? Thanks in advance.

 

[Hall]

how did you replace the rollers? Just unscrew (except bottom), bend track, bow out track? How did you do the lower? Thanks in advance.

Lots of YouTube videos on doing this. The bottom roller is done different, but I don't recall how different people showed doing it.

 

[AZjeff]

@AZjeff how did you replace the rollers? Just unscrew (except bottom), bend track, bow out track? How did you do the lower? Thanks in advance.

Door down, take the bolts out of the hinge, remove hinge, replace roller/axle, replace hinge. One hinge at a time. You can line everything back up perfectly by the witness marks. All but the bottom if you have torsion springs. For the bottom I put the door up and pushed it up a bit to take the tension off the cable and clamped a C-clamp to the track to hold it. Same R&R. This door is 7 years old and the channels aren't C channels, the side close to the sill doesn't turn back in so it was easy to remove/replace the rollers. Don't remember if older channel is a C so you might have to do something a little different to get the roller out. I'm sure I looked at a couple of YT videos. It ain't rocket programming and wasn't a bit sketchy.

Well worth the $20-30 they cost. I picked some on Amazon that had a ton of good reviews.

 

[JeffKeryk]

@AZjeff please take a quick look at this method. Skip to the 4:00 minute mark. Seems super simple. Your thoughts?

 

[AZjeff]

Sure why not. My luck I'd have the track off and a rogue wind gust that we get would come up and blow the door in and twist it all up. I had 20 minutes in the job and I have 12 rollers on 8' high doors. He was up on the ladder loosening and tightening bolts and twisting the track to get the top roller in overhead and may have to mess around with the sensors when he's done. If you do it this way mark around the wall brackets so you can get the left-right position back where it was.

Oh I see you like seeing the Tesla appear when the door goes up.

 

[JeffKeryk]

Oh I see you like seeing the Tesla appear when the door goes up.

I will remove the hinge for the top, the rail for #2 ,3, 4. The bottom #5 has cement blocking the roller from removal. We'll see. Thanks for your good advice.
Tesla? Since you asked...

 

[AZjeff]

The bottom #5 has cement blocking the roller from removal. We'll see.

Replace all but the bottom then put the door up, the roller will be somewhere near the curve depending on how far you have it going. Push the door a bit and find the spot where the tension on the cable is off and put a clamp on the track to hold it there. No problem.

 

[JeffKeryk]

Shout-out to @AZjeff
Even a lowly programmer can replace garage door rollers. I rolled the door up and removed the bottom rail; 2 carriage bolts at joint and 2 lag screws. Pulled door down a bit and swapped out bottom roller. Put rail back on with 1 carriage bolt and 1 lag screw. Lowered door to ground, removed rail, swapped middle 3 rollers, replaced rail. Used step stool to remove top bracket, swapped roller and replaced bracket.

Pretty much all you need is a 7/16" socket, extension, cordless ratchet and a little Sil-Glide for good measure. If it weren't for the cement blocking the bottom roller, it would have been even faster.

 

[AZjeff]

How's it run?

 

[JeffKeryk]

How's it run?

Like butta... Appreciate you.
Wifey noticed right away, and let's just say she is far more "with it", if you get my drift. Ha!