Need info on garage door openers

[Fisherguy]

I'm hoping to put side winder type garage door openers in my shop for my 10x10 doors. Wall is 24ft wide, if I built the shop I woulda put in 1 wider door.
I don't have a whole lotta room for them, how much does a person need to mount them? I imagine I could cut the shafts if I had to? Does the chain mechanism need to stay?






Also, my doors are mounted to the framing but I'm putting ½" plywood on the walls and ceiling, will I be able to:
- lower the doors, loosen the top brackets to place plywood on the ceiling then remount the brackets?
- lower the door and back off the big spring, then manually raise the door, block it to stay there and loosen the door wall brackets, place the plywood and remount?

... or will I need to remove the doors entirely to place the plywood, that would be a PITA.
Thanks
Will

 

[Hot Rod Grampa]

I believe the residential jack shaft openers need 9" of room. You might be able to fabricate a chain drive system to put the openers under the shaft, but your manual hoist must be disabled by removing the chain off the shaft or the complete unit. The ceiling can be done the way you describe but the door can weigh up to 300 lbs so lifting it after removing tension may be difficult. An option would be to unwind spring, remove lags from vertical tracks, slide door into the garage an inch or two, slide in your plywood the re install door track lags. Repeat for other side. Center perch where springs are anchored must be in a level plane with outside bearings so measure well before removal and re install in exact same location.

 

[manwithtools]

Take a look at this, I suspect you could easily use this with a longer chain if needed to get the opener up higher away from the tracks:

https://amazon.com/Liftmaster-480LM-Alternate-Mounting-Extension/dp/B002P5RDDK?sa-no-redirect=1

 

[Fisherguy]

I believe the residential jack shaft openers need 9" of room. You might be able to fabricate a chain drive system to put the openers under the shaft, but your manual hoist must be disabled by removing the chain off the shaft or the complete unit. The ceiling can be done the way you describe but the door can weigh up to 300 lbs so lifting it after removing tension may be difficult. An option would be to unwind spring, remove lags from vertical tracks, slide door into the garage an inch or two, slide in your plywood the re install door track lags. Repeat for other side. Center perch where springs are anchored must be in a level plane with outside bearings so measure well before removal and re install in exact same location.

OK, thanks, never thought the door would weight that much but I guess it makes sense.
So the chain mechanism can be removed? If so I can cut the shaft to get a little more room, that's good. If the chain comes off I guess I can't open the doors at all if there's a power outage?

Take a look at this, I suspect you could easily use this with a longer chain if needed to get the opener up higher away from the tracks:

https://amazon.com/Liftmaster-480LM-Alternate-Mounting-Extension/dp/B002P5RDDK?sa-no-redirect=1

Thanks, will keep that in mind.

 

[Fisherguy]

I believe the residential jack shaft openers need 9" of room. You might be able to fabricate a chain drive system to put the openers under the shaft, but your manual hoist must be disabled by removing the chain off the shaft or the complete unit.
...

I made some measurements today, I think I can fit the jackshaft openers in if I loosen everything on the shafts to move it or cut the shaft.

Does the chain to manually open the door really need to be removed and if so why? Would be hard to open the door without it if the power went out.

 

[Hot Rod Grampa]

If you remove the chain hoist you should be able to manually open and close the door. When you open the door half way it should stay there by itself. That is a properly balanced door. When a jack shaft opener is used, the door needs to be "heavy" because the opener acts on the shaft so the weight of the door is all that closes it. No outside effort is expended, unlike a trolley style. If the door is not balanced correctly the cables will get loose and could jump off the drums.
If you leave the old chain hoist on there is a chance the chain could get cought while the door is in motion and could do damage. All instructions always warn to remove all other systems from the door. You can do as you wish. The residential shaft drive units have a built in safety disconnect to enable you to open door during power outage.

 

[CJseven]

Why do you have the chain falls on them in the first place? But with that said, if they are opening and closing fully with no trouble now, you should be able to install the jack shaft openers without adjust the springs. Before I would go moving tracks and readjusting everything I would mount the openers either above or below the jack shafts and use a 1 to 1 ratio chain drive between them like posted above. You could even make your own for little to nothing.

Something similar to this

 

[Fisherguy]

If you remove the chain hoist you should be able to manually open and close the door. When you open the door half way it should stay there by itself. That is a properly balanced door. When a jack shaft opener is used, the door needs to be "heavy" because the opener acts on the shaft so the weight of the door is all that closes it. No outside effort is expended, unlike a trolley style. If the door is not balanced correctly the cables will get loose and could jump off the drums.
If you leave the old chain hoist on there is a chance the chain could get cought while the door is in motion and could do damage. All instructions always warn to remove all other systems from the door. You can do as you wish. The residential shaft drive units have a built in safety disconnect to enable you to open door during power outage.

Thanks for the info gramps.
I never tried opening the door without using the chain until today and I can open it just by lifting it, just not as easy as using the chain. Opening it half way though both doors will not stay put, they close by themselves if you don't lock the chain.
The doors also have the bumper springs on the end of the tracks that contact the door when it's up all the way which I've seen on here helps keep the cable on the drum.

Why do you have the chain falls on them in the first place? But with that said, if they are opening and closing fully with no trouble now, you should be able to install the jack shaft openers without adjust the springs. Before I would go moving tracks and readjusting everything I would mount the openers either above or below the jack shafts and use a 1 to 1 ratio chain drive between them like posted above. You could even make your own for little to nothing.

Something similar to this

The empty shop came with the house, it's newly built but is bare studs inside, the garage doors with the chains were on it.
Like I said in the 1st post, I need to remove the hardware from the studs to slip the ½" plywood in, will have to unwind the springs anyhow so moving the shafts over to make room for the openers is not a big deal, should be able to mount the openers directly onto the shafts.
Thanks