Broken Gear in garage opener, should get new one?

bowlofturtle · Dec 29, 2010

I have a craftsman garage door opener. 1/2 HP made in 01/00

model is 139.53971SRT

The gear just stripped just about completely now.

http://www.prodoorparts.com/uploads/products/hi-res/Pro Door Parts 11 17 2007 0561.JPG

Gear looks VERY close to that but its not the one for my model. I haven't found the replacement part yet but looks to be somewhere in the $30-45 range, hopefully its cake to R&R this. Trying to find the manual to see if its easy to replace or not, looks like a couple of bolts and i'm good but setting it up and aligning it is the issue.

I'm debating if i should rebuild it or just get a whole new one since they only cost $150-200 ish. I felt very neutral about the current garage door opener, it did its job until now.

What would you guys do... rebuild or replace?

kbs2244 · Dec 29, 2010

Gear kit should be about $20.00 including shipping.
Fix it.
It is an easy learing job.

And makes you look good in the light of the other half.
Now she has $175.00 to spend.

Snowbound · Dec 29, 2010

I did one of my openers last year. Not a big job at all. Drive out a roll pin and replace the worn gear. Kit comes with grease and some other parts. I just used what I needed and kept the rest "just in case".

Good luck!

ratdoggy · Dec 29, 2010

Not hard to do at all. If you can work a wrench you can do it.

pinebarkauto · Dec 29, 2010

I'll bet the $30-$40 part is a kit. I replaced the gears in my Chamberlain unit a few years ago and one of the parts companies, www.garagedooropenerparts.net, offered just the gear for about $20 and a kit for a little more. The kit included both gears, a shaft, and all the bearings and grease. When finished, I felt I had a new unit but for the motor. FYI, when I took the unit loose, I realized my door took substantial effort to raise and lower. I got a pro to come out and adjust the springs, but others may be brave enough to attempt it. Not me. I am sure that caused the gear to go out. Chip.

billspit · Dec 29, 2010

Exact same thing happened with a rarely used Sears opener I had. I bought the kit in the store parts dept for around $20.

oldtractors · Dec 29, 2010

Replacing the gear is a lot easier than hanging a new opener.

tcianci · Dec 29, 2010

Fixing that thing is a piece of cake. The lube in the kit is IMPERITIVE to any reasonable life expected from the new gear. My C'man opener is over 30 years old and I have done this twice, the 2nd time being less than a year ago so I'm getting about 15 years out of a gear. The first time I bought the kit and like others have said, you really ony need the gear and the grease, the other stuff in there is usually still good. The 2nd time I found the gear online for about 8 or 9 bucks, and I still had the lube from the first kit. You may even find the correct lube sold separately where you find the gear, so you don't need to spring for the kit. Go for it!

NJHandyGuy · Dec 29, 2010

Replace the gear.

if i am not mistaking its a adjustable wrnech and an 11mm bolt or 9/16's

Mr_fixit · Dec 29, 2010

you should find what you need for about 8.95.
http://cgi.ebay.com/Sears-Craftsman...7?pt=Garage_Doors_Openers&hash=item27b3185479

jstroede · Dec 29, 2010

At a minimum, get this kit:

http://cgi.ebay.com/41a2817-Gear-Ki...ors_Openers&hash=item5641c1b1c0#ht_1322wt_942

Personally, I would just get this:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Liftmaster-41C4...oors_Openers&hash=item5d27cc026f#ht_500wt_725

The second one is the same parts, but already assembled and just drops in. That is what at least 75% of our installers buy. Replace both the gear and the sprocket at the same time, or often times it will happen again very quickly.

Go ahead and fix it if the opener functions fine otherwise. New openers are basically the same, other than working on a different frequency so your old remotes and accessories will not work.

John

scbird94 · Dec 29, 2010

I almost replaced our liftmaster last month, would only click when you pressed the button, motor was getting voltage, and it would work if you helped it in its initial start.

Tested the capacitor for initial motor start, wouldnt hold a charge at all. Asked local garage door guy (freind) if he had any liftmasters in his dumpster, yes... robbed a film-canister sized capacitor from the garbage, and saved $200. Works perfectly

I hate how everybody just throws everything away when something is wrong with it. Same logic at a car dealership. Car needs a set of tires and a wheel bearing ($500) so instead of fixing it they trade it in for half what its worth to buy a overpriced car for $10,000 that will be worth $3000 in five years.

Replace ANYTHING only under catostrophic total-loss failure. If you can spend a small amount and get 2 more years out of it, your money ahead.

battmain · Dec 29, 2010

I've replaced the gear. Hardest part is getting the assembly down without dropping it. An assistant is handy, but not required. Easy to do. Also balance the door while you're at it. It will help to save the new gear.

iagsxr · Dec 30, 2010

My local lumberyard has the kits. IIRC Chamberlan makes Craftsman and the kits are fairly universal. No biggy to install, def easier to me than a complete opener.

On the one I replaced I then realized that the door was grossly out of adjustment. That's what wrecks most of them. It was on a building I'd just gotten.

That opener's still funky. Something's wounded(motor/capacitor) from being overloaded. It doesn't get used that much so I haven't taken the time to figure it out.

Ign · Dec 30, 2010

JUST went thru this w my Liftmaster. Wife pulled the opener, replaced the gear (kit) and put it back up.

It's still screwy tho. My local dealer helped me troubleshoot it, think it needs a new control board as it won't go down and self-reverses. Also shoots the trouble code for motor overload, but the springs are adjusted well. He said better to replace the whole unit than order a new board, but I'm gonna try to fix it.

BigAl62 · May 19, 2011

A little late, but I had the gears strip on my Craftsman garage door opener. Yes they are made by Chamberlain. I called the customer service line and the rep laughed at me! (It was my wife and I was giving her a hard time, I'm such a goof!) Get the model number off of the motor box and go onto www.searspartsdirect.com they can usually get the parts in about a week.

PeteW · May 20, 2011

The top chain sprocket just broke off of my old opener and I ended up just replacing the whole thing since ours didn't have the safety sensors (and we have an 18month old) and Sears had a new opener kit on sale for $140 that included 2 remotes and a wireless keypad.

Each transmitter is around $30 and the keypad around $50. It all boiled down to us getting new transmitters and a keypad that we wanted and Sears was nice enough to throw in a new Opener, chain, and track for free.

Just another way to look at it.

I installed the new kit by reusing the opener brackets, replacing the header bracket for the track, and replacing the mount on the garage door itself. I also had to run the wire for the light sensors. I did the whole install without a second set of hands and it took me just under 3 hours.

rsanter · May 20, 2011

I just did mine
its a liftmaster as others have said and it is relitivly easy
my bushings were worn as well so I would recomend the slightly
more expensive kit that has those as well

bob

Jeff Ivers · May 20, 2011

I have an attached garage and a separate shop with a total of 4 rollup doors. Initially, only the attached garage had an opener. Twice, I have had the opener on the attached garage strip a gear. In both cases, I was in a hurry to get the door fixed since my wife could not raise the door manually. I replaced the opener and then got a kit and repaired the old opener and installed it in the shop. Now the point of the story is this. All 3 openers are of sufficiently different age that the 3-button remotes will only work on 1 opener. However, Chamberlain sells various receivers that can be used to convert an older or newer remote to an opener. So, I have a single 3 button remote in each vehicle that will activate any of the 3 doors.

Broken Gear in garage opener, should get new one?

bowlofturtle

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kbs2244

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Snowbound

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ratdoggy

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pinebarkauto

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billspit

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oldtractors

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tcianci

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NJHandyGuy

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Mr_fixit

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jstroede

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scbird94

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battmain

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iagsxr

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Ign

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BigAl62

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PeteW

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rsanter

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Jeff Ivers

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