Choosing Garage Door Opener

[TurboEuro88]

I am in the middle of renovating my garage and one of the items I'd like to address is replacing the old, noisy, chain-driven overhead opener with a jackshaft opener. Not only is this to replace an old opener, but I would like to gain the ceiling space since I only have 7.5' of clearance floor to ceiling joists. Obviously the Liftmaster 8500 is the go-to choice for what seems like everyone on GJ, but I have also read about the issues Liftmaster has with them. As well, I am concerned that a jackshaft opener may not work well in my application given that its a 16' wide door and only a 7' tall opening. As well, with only having 7.5' ceilings the track under the joists does angle down a bit so the top most parts of the door clear the ceiling joists. Its not easy to see but this is the best example I have right now:



Anyway, I know one of the first things I need to have done is my tension springs either replaced or re-adjusted as they don't appear to be holding enough weight when the door is mid-way open/closed. Beyond that, though, I am wondering if a jackshaft opener would even work for my application. With my current opener it seems to "push" the door a bit before the weight transfers to the vertical track but I don't know if replacing/adjusting the tension springs would fix that.

Any input would be very much appreciated here. As I mentioned above, I'd much prefer a jackshaft opener just to have the additional clearance when lifting a car up off the floor, but understand I may not be able to go that route. Would rather not have to find out the hard way!

 

[Jrad235]

Sounds like you only have 6" of headroom, so you'll have low headroom track on there. The 8500 won't be able to pull the door all the way out of the opening, and may need pusher springs to close easy on that door. I'd stick with a chain or belt drive operator. If you need clearance, consider just mounting your new opener to one side or the other of the door. with a two-spring system, it really won't matter if it isn't centered.

 

[TurboEuro88]

I expected to need pusher springs, but wasn't sure if the 8500 would still be able to do the job with them.

Really want to get away from an overhead opener if at all possible, though. Open to whatever options exist to achieve that.

 

[Hot Rod Grampa]

If your track is single on the horizontal rail, you have standard headroom tracks. If they tip downhill going away from the header, you may not be able to use a shaft drive, even with pusher springs. Commercial pushers have about a 14" working range. So from the fully opened position, if you close the door the first 14", will it continue to go down on its own? Since the shaft drive opener works only on turning the shaft, has no way to push the door down until gravity takes over. You may have to change to a low headroom track, but then the door will not open fully. It will droop in the opening. Just the mechanics of it. As was suggested, a standard trolley can be installed on the side of the door, next to the track, if you have torsion springs. It will work fine. A good D.C. Belt drive battery back up will have soft start and stop, very quiet and will work in case of power outage.

 

[gnpenning]

From the picture it doesn't look like lhr track. Liftmaster does NOT recommend jackshaft openers for lhr doors. Wind the springs on a lhr and it will become clear.

For the little space you have you are not going to be able to get a lift very high anyway. I'm in the offset the opener camp.

 

[TurboEuro88]

If your track is single on the horizontal rail, you have standard headroom tracks. If they tip downhill going away from the header, you may not be able to use a shaft drive, even with pusher springs. Commercial pushers have about a 14" working range. So from the fully opened position, if you close the door the first 14", will it continue to go down on its own?

It's single tracked on the horizontal, but they do "tilt" down a small bit, I would guess an inch or two over the entire horizontal. Don't really understand why but this is all existing stuff to when I bought the house a year ago.

As far as what happens when closing the door, it doesn't really want to go down until about halfway through the second panel (I have 4 total), so definitely more than 14".

Dont think I could afford losing any more of the door opening as it currently stands, though. I am OK looking elsewhere if the 8500 won't do this job (I suspected it may not). Can someone provide an example of a side mount trolley opener?

 

[Hot Rod Grampa]

Your choice as to what model you want. You would attach it to the door as close to the side as practical. Imagine the opener bracket, instead of in the middle of the door, now attached to the end stile of the door. I dont have any pictures to show you. The reason your track pitches down might be because the installer ran out of room for all the parts. Doors and openers are not always installed together. Without an opener there may have been enough room to install the door correctly with the track level. Then the opener came along so the cheap and easy way out was to tip the track to get the door to stop rubbing on the rail.

 

[kkenney]

Try Zap garage door opener. I have one very nice

https://www.northshorecommercialdoor.com/zaprejagadoo.html

 

[TurboEuro88]

The reason your track pitches down might be because the installer ran out of room for all the parts. Doors and openers are not always installed together. Without an opener there may have been enough room to install the door correctly with the track level. Then the opener came along so the cheap and easy way out was to tip the track to get the door to stop rubbing on the rail.

Hadn't considered that part. It would make a lot of sense and I've honestly never looked to see how close it gets.

I'll start doing more digging into openers. Luckily the one I have isn't dead, at least not yet, but I'd like to move to something newer.