Recent content by JimTMich

Two ideas for you: 1. if ceiling height is a problem, cut 2" off the top of the columns (you will have to drill 2 little holes in the column to bolt the top plate on. no big deal.) Then cut 2" off the bottom of the lock ladders. This will give you plenty of clearance. The cables will be a...

Mystic, my HD-9XW and rj-45 arrived safe and sound. I brought it home on a u-haul car carrier. I used an engine hoist to get the individual pieces off the trailer with a frieds help. Everythign went very smoothly. I'll post a picture when I'm finished putting it together. Jim

I like Bendpak HD-9xw. Look at the massive sheaves. The #1 thing I liked was that all the sheaves have zerk grease fittings. The other lifts I looked at say to grease the sheaves, but there are no zerk fittings, so you have to take the sheaves out to grease them. I didn't want to spend time...

Good thread here. http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=285430

Thanks, any signs of rust?

What did you finally go with mp333? I'm about to install an HD-9XW and am thinking of some 3/4" HDPE spacers as I do get standing water in the winter where two of the legs will be.

I bought a garage door opener hanger kit at Menards. This included some angle iron and nuts and bolts. I cut the track off the horizontal and used that for the vertical high lift part, so I bought no track. To splice the tracks together, Menards had the correct bolts with a very thin head so...

Be deliberate with the spring, read about it, treat it with respect. It's not physically demanding. This was my first time touching a door spring and it went fine. Didn't take long to unwind or wind. I counted 1/4 turns while unwinding it and simply added another full turn when I rewound it...

Just did it myself with no conversation kit using the original spring since I only lifted the door about 18" higher than normal.

Since you are a Mechanical Engineer, get out your freshman year Statics book and satisfy yourself that you have all the moments covered. I think you will do just fine modifying it.

The LiftMaster 8500 went in smoothly and works very smoothly. This is with the original cable drums.

Thanks for posting. This is a good thread.

Direct lift has a rolling jack. Not positive yet if it fits the bend pak. http://www.directlift.com/Pro-Jack-4500-P56C18.aspx

The conversion wasn't quite finished in this picture. I did move everything back a little to get a faster "beak away". I had to do this due to some architectural features on the face of the door.

I did not use the 400-54 drums. I added one more turn to the spring. Before I did the conversion, the spring had lost enough tension that the door felt really heavy when opening by hand. The door is about 160 lbs. So some of that one turn was just to compensate existing conditions. Right...