garage door roller replacement

[JHZR2]

Our garage has wood doors that may date to the 20's. The doors go up and down, but when the do, they kind of shift side to side, like it is shimmying in the track, caught side to side. I have recently replaced the springs and cables, simply because the springs looked like they were old and not stretching evenly. Changing these items didnt help.

I assume that it means that I need new rollers or something along those lines. any good way to diagnose? Is roller replacement a DIY job? Does it take some special skill?

Im guessing that the grease in the tracks is also OK - it looks clean, no grit or dirt, and there is a nice coating that is not too much or too little (IMO).

Recommendations?

Thanks!

 

[nitehawk55]

Yeah , get newer doors !

 

[JHZR2]

Nah, doors are nice wood, look good, not rotten, have nice glass windows (one has a crack but Ill fix that someday). No reason to spend $ or effort on new doors. These just need a tune-up.

 

[Hosteen]

Manufacturers like Overhead Door and Raynor don't recommend any grease on the rails. I use white lithium sparingly on the rollers. Most doors rattle and try to wrack because the installer didn't follow installation insturctions for the distance between the edge of the door and edge of the rail.For Raynor that distance is 1/2." My Raynor door has done that for fourteen years due to contractor not paying attention to Raynor's guidelines. [censored] me off everytime I open and close the garage door. For our new home under construction, I am using a Raynor installation crew so the job will be done right. Regards

 

[Donald]

They do sell replacement rollers for modern doors. Are yours the same? Have you lubed all the rollers properly. I think there is a YouTube on that topic.

 

[JHZR2]

Originally Posted By: Hosteen
Manufacturers like Overhead Door and Raynor don't recommend any grease on the rails. I use white lithium sparingly on the rollers. Most doors rattle and try to wrack because the installer didn't follow installation insturctions for the distance between the edge of the door and edge of the rail.For Raynor that distance is 1/2." My Raynor door has done that for fourteen years due to contractor not paying attention to Raynor's guidelines. [censored] me off everytime I open and close the garage door. For our new home under construction, I am using a Raynor installation crew so the job will be done right. Regards


Well anything that was done over a half-century ago is irrelevant anyway. So my interest is to tune-up as needed to be fully functional. Something may well be bent.

Doubt either of those manufacturers built my doors...

 

[JHZR2]

Originally Posted By: Donald
Have you lubed all the rollers properly. I think there is a YouTube on that topic.


No and Ill look for this. Thanks!

 

[Cardenio327]

Originally Posted By: JHZR2
Nah, doors are nice wood, look good, not rotten, have nice glass windows (one has a crack but Ill fix that someday). No reason to spend $ or effort on new doors. These just need a tune-up.


Maybe get a new door and attach the old one to the outside of it?

 

[bepperb]

Most modern garage doors use a single rotating bar above the door with a drum on each end with metallic cable down to the lowest section of door. Because the bar rotates the entire width of the door it effectively raises the door evenly side to side (because if one side were lower that cable would tighten, the other side would slacken).

Older doors, though, usually have a linear spring on each side with a pulley and some cable to the door. There is no equalization side to side. And if the springs aren't even you'll get this. I think replacing the springs (and perhaps the cable and pulleys if they exist) would be the correct first step. You should be able to remove the rollers easily and test them, perhaps one is sliding, not rolling. I'd also inspect the track, perhaps someone hit it with something and it's pinching the rollers or otherwise adding friction at a particular point.

As a last resort, maybe consider a torsion bar conversion:

http://www.repairmygarage.com/Garage-Door-Torsion-System-Conversion.html

And wow, the people who chime in to replace it with a new one are pretty ridiculous. At the same time be sure to get the beige vinyl siding and laminate floors, right!

One more edit, on a modern (after the 70's) door the rollers are free to slide side to side pretty significantly so if the track waves or isn't perfectly parallel it doesn't really matter. I'd be interested if your rollers can do this, and if so if they move this way freely as well.

 

[cappilot]

Recently experienced what sounds like the same problem. Found a bad bearing in one of the cable pulleys. A replacement pulley was about $4.

 

[JHZR2]

Originally Posted By: bepperb
Older doors, though, usually have a linear spring on each side with a pulley and some cable to the door. There is no equalization side to side. And if the springs aren't even you'll get this. I think replacing the springs (and perhaps the cable and pulleys if they exist) would be the correct first step. You should be able to remove the rollers easily and test them, perhaps one is sliding, not rolling. I'd also inspect the track, perhaps someone hit it with something and it's pinching the rollers or otherwise adding friction at a particular point.

...

One more edit, on a modern (after the 70's) door the rollers are free to slide side to side pretty significantly so if the track waves or isn't perfectly parallel it doesn't really matter. I'd be interested if your rollers can do this, and if so if they move this way freely as well.



That sounds like what I have. A long coil spring, discussed here:
https://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/threads/garage-door-spring-rating.164031/

I replaced coils and rollers when I changed the springs. No change.

Ive not changed or even looked at the rollers...

 

[Pop_Rivit]

There are two types of garage door springs-torsion (runs along the header of the door)



and extension (one or two on each side of the door)



Extension springs are a nightmare to make work together correctly, especially with a heavy wood door. I'd highly recommend having a torsion spring installed. At our prior home when we first moved in we had extension springs, and after a couple years we had similar issues to yours. We had a garage door company replace the extension springs with a torsion spring and after that the door worked perfectly.

Both types of springs need to be adjusted correctly to work properly, and getting them adjusted can be tricky.

Replacing the rollers is simple and there's no special knowledge required. It's the springs and their adjustment that is critical to correct door operation.

 

[Cujet]

A couple of points.

1) The large torsion springs are prone to cracking. Often due to rust. A good way to prevent cracking is to coat the spring with some form of rust preventative oil. (not WD40)

2) The various hinges in the door must be intact, tight to the door and free of excessive play.

Trying to get a worn out, flexible garage door to operate properly often takes a comprehensive effort.