Garage Door Spring Snapped!

[Leo99]

Originally Posted By: gathermewool
Originally Posted By: javacontour
never mind, my door has torsion springs, you are talking an old school spring, ignore my pre-edit post.


Yea, sorry. These are extension springs.

Here are some pics of the broken spring:



Here's a good spring from the other side, for comparison:






These kind of springs are easy to replace and not dangerous. The kind that mounts on the above the door are the dangerous kind. Take your old good spring down to Home Depot and match it up. replace both of them.

 

[gathermewool]

Originally Posted By: Leo99
Originally Posted By: gathermewool
Originally Posted By: javacontour
never mind, my door has torsion springs, you are talking an old school spring, ignore my pre-edit post.


Yea, sorry. These are extension springs.

Here are some pics of the broken spring:

Here's a good spring from the other side, for comparison:


These kind of springs are easy to replace and not dangerous. The kind that mounts on the above the door are the dangerous kind. Take your old good spring down to Home Depot and match it up. replace both of them.



Yea, there's no tension on them at all until the garage door is shut.

I'm doing a bit more research and then I'll be heading to Lowes for a new pair of springs.

 

[pandus13]

Yup, My door spring broke in the exact same configuration...

Good to hear you plan to use clamps.

Make sure the spring, cable and pulley are already in position (space/access reason) before pulling the door up and locking it .

I just remember: could not see the paint on the broken springs, so since i got a new door (hence i knew the weight), i got the door weight + 20# springs

Also, since we are at BITOG, Lowes should have a spray with synthetic lube: going to guess just chain, moving parts, and NOT ON THE TRACKS

without the opener attached, you should be able to pull the door with not much effort, almost by itself.....

 

[gathermewool]

Originally Posted By: pandus13
Yup, My door spring broke in the exact same configuration...

Good to hear you plan to use clamps.

Make sure the spring, cable and pulley are already in position (space/access reason) before pulling the door up and locking it .

I just remember: could not see the paint on the broken springs, so since i got a new door (hence i knew the weight), i got the door weight + 20# springs

Also, since we are at BITOG, Lowes should have a spray with synthetic lube: going to guess just chain, moving parts, and NOT ON THE TRACKS

without the opener attached, you should be able to pull the door with not much effort, almost by itself.....


I was thinking about 3-in-1 in the pulley ball bearings and some chain lube on the chain. There's an appropriate amount of dark brown grease on the slide and some lighter brown grease in the track. I didn't think the track took grease, since there are wheels, but who knows. Maybe I should clean out that grease?

I'm going to go with a new spring with the same 140# rating. Kind of matches up with your experience: 115# + 20 = 135# --> round to 140#

 

[WhyMe]

just replaced the cable on my garage door this morning. those extension springs are easy. i would just match the color at the end and get new ones. replace them on pairs. Do it when the door is open and clamped to keep it from dropping. i would get new cables too and do it all as one job.

should not take more than a couple of hours

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXmTAYzs7ro

 

[csandste]

Originally Posted By: Gimpy1
I consider myself a DIYer and had a considerable amount of tools and equipment. That being said when the spring on our garage door failed I decided that this was NOT a job I wanted to tackle. The springs have a considerable amount of tension and if you don't know what you are doing they can severely injure you or kill you. I called around and found a company that would come out and replace both springs the same day for $250 bucks with a 5 or 10 year warranty (can't remember). For me $250.00 bucks was great, took the guy an hour or so and he also replaced the steel cables.


This.. had my spring break last year. I'm not very handy, but even if I was screwing around with those springs would scare me. I think I paid under $200 and it was well worth it not to have a spring sticking out of my face.

 

[gathermewool]

Originally Posted By: WhyMe
just replaced the cable on my garage door this morning. those extension springs are easy. i would just match the color at the end and get new ones. replace them on pairs. Do it when the door is open and clamped to keep it from dropping. i would get new cables too and do it all as one job.

should not take more than a couple of hours

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXmTAYzs7ro


That's one of the videos I watched and how I got the idea on how to weigh the door. Thanks for the input

Originally Posted By: csandste
Originally Posted By: Gimpy1
I consider myself a DIYer and had a considerable amount of tools and equipment. That being said when the spring on our garage door failed I decided that this was NOT a job I wanted to tackle. The springs have a considerable amount of tension and if you don't know what you are doing they can severely injure you or kill you. I called around and found a company that would come out and replace both springs the same day for $250 bucks with a 5 or 10 year warranty (can't remember). For me $250.00 bucks was great, took the guy an hour or so and he also replaced the steel cables.


This.. had my spring break last year. I'm not very handy, but even if I was screwing around with those springs would scare me. I think I paid under $200 and it was well worth it not to have a spring sticking out of my face.


There's definitely a concern, though I've assessed it to be a small one. The spring is not installed extended, so there's no tension at all while doing the work. The test will be done with me in the car, out in the driveway, using the remote button. I'll cycle it a couple of times, assess whether anything has moved, changed position (e.g., cabling, pulleys). Only when I'm satisfied that it's safe to do so will I observe the operation more closely.

 

[toneydoc]

My spring broke a few years ago.
Called Overhead Door company. A man came out and replaced the spring and made sure door worked
It has been operating fine since then. Cost for entire repair was about 125 IIRC
Be careful as the spring must be under the proper amount of tension. I thought it was cheaper
to pay a man than maybe get hurt in process.
Let us know how your repair goes

 

[gathermewool]

One other thing to note: my spring length is 25". Homedepot sells 25" springs, while Lowes springs are 27.5" to nearly 28".

The Homedepot spring says max extended length is 67"; the two I have installed on the other door are at stretched to 62" currently, with the door closed fully.

The Lowes site does not share max length, but does show that it's 11 gauge, which is exactly what the old spring is.

Originally Posted By: toneydoc
My spring broke a few years ago.
Called Overhead Door company. A man came out and replaced the spring and made sure door worked
It has been operating fine since then. Cost for entire repair was about 125 IIRC
Be careful as the spring must be under the proper amount of tension. I thought it was cheaper
to pay a man than maybe get hurt in process.
Let us know how your repair goes


Heading out now to pick up materials. I'll report back with how it all went. I'm hoping to get it done tonight, so we can pull the Subie in before the snow starts!

 

[y_p_w]

I've had that happen before. Just **crack** and it's gone with all the tension released. Mine was a wooden door and with only one spring it was really hard to lift. When I got it repaired I looked at the process and no way I would do it myself. I've heard that there's the occasional gruesome injury such as being impaled by a slipping rod.

 

[SevenBizzos]

My spring snapped on a Sunday evening. It was repaired by a local place by 10:00 the next day. I have a two car garage and the door weighed 260 lbs. I think it cost $250 or so. The guy also aligned the door for a better seal and replaced a track wheel just because it needed it. Probably original door and spring from 2001.

 

[WhyMe]

Originally Posted By: gathermewool
I've thought about upgrading the openers, but that's just not in the cards right now.

Reddy45,

Yea, I took lots of pictures and have watched a lot of videos on replacing the spring - super easy-looking! I'll take a look at the advice on that page, thanks.

My concern is that these springs may not be originals (though they very likely are), and that they may not have been sized correctly before. As a backup to simply replacing the springs with like-kind, I figured I'd measure the actual weight of the door. The actual weight doesn't match the dark or light blue's respective 140# and 90# ratings.

Maybe a stronger spring was used to help pull the door up, assuming pulling a closed door up is harder on the relatively weak opener than closing?:

Closing: has the momentum of shutting going for it, as well as an uncompressed spring initially, in the open position.

Opening: Extra spring tension would help "break the door loose" and lower the load on the opener.

Any thoughts?


if those springs have a safety wire through them then i doubt they are original.

 

[Eddie]

I replaced a garage door spring once and was fortunate to not have lost several fingers. Now I call a garage door man with the spring winder and holder. Ed

 

[ford46guy]

I would call around a few places, this is seriously a risky job, and I am the biggest believer in DIY. I think the difference was $80 for them to do it, tools would have brought it closer. Even the guy who did it said you better be on your toes when you wind the spring. A newbie could be thinking of how many times to wind it and make a careless mistake.

If you do attempt this get the proper tools- DO NOT USE SCREWDRIVERS. I know someone who tried it with screwdrivers and they were seriously injured, the block was full of cops and ambulances.

 

[EdwardC]

I think a lot of people think that you're talking about a torsion spring and not an extension spring. I personally wouldn't try replacing a torsion spring assist, but extension, I would probably do.

Either way, take your time and be careful, gl!

 

[javacontour]

Torsion isn't that bad. But if one is nervous, don't do it.

Originally Posted By: EdwardC
I think a lot of people think that you're talking about a torsion spring and not an extension spring. I personally wouldn't try replacing a torsion spring assist, but extension, I would probably do.

Either way, take your time and be careful, gl!

 

[ZeeOSix]

Originally Posted By: WhyMe
if those springs have a safety wire through them then i doubt they are original.


Speaking of that, I just looked at my original springs on the small garage door and don't see any safety cables. Time to rig some up so a spring failure doesn't take out my car. I could just imagine how one of those long stretched springs would look flopping around if they failed

 

[Yah-Tah-Hey]

Contact the manufacturer or local rep and have spring replaced by a professional. One can hair lip themself working with springs if unfamiliar with procedure. USE A PROFESSIONAL

 

[WhyMe]

Originally Posted By: ZeeOSix
Originally Posted By: WhyMe
if those springs have a safety wire through them then i doubt they are original.


Speaking of that, I just looked at my original springs on the small garage door and don't see any safety cables. Time to rig some up so a spring failure doesn't take out my car. I could just imagine how one of those long stretched springs would look flopping around if they failed

when i got this house they did not have safety cable. one day i was in the house while the wife was closing the garage on the way out. i heard a BOOM. Sounded like a shot . Went to the garage and the spring had broke. bought new springs and a extra set of safety wires to do the other side. if that thing had let go while a car was in the garage it would have did some big damage

you can get safety cables at HD for under $10

 

[JTK]

I lost one of the two torsion springs on my 16ft old super heavy ~40yr/old wooden door 4-5yrs ago. Had both replaced along with the torsion tube, all hardware, both pulleys and all cables to the tune of ~$300. 2yrs later a cable snapped and was all replaced with heavier cable for $150 or so. Heavy double springers are not cheap to have repaired for you. The next time it snaps, I'm springing for a whole new door. No pun intended.