Crashed Garage Door - cable is still good or need replacing?

[joebk]

A roofing crew came removing old wood shake shingles and installing new roof after. The roofing debris blocked the wheels and the cable unraveled from the drum when the door came down.

I took a closer look, and the cable seemed bent somewhat. Is the cable still reusable, or I need to get a replacement cable now?





If I do need to replace the cable, I can do it with the garage door in the closed position?

Thanks.

 

[NUTTSGT]

If the cable has kinks in it, I would replace it.

I would replace it with the door down.

 

[PassnThru]

Agreed. Now that it has kinks in it you are going to fight it trying to keep it on the spool.

 

[joebk]

Thanks. The track was bent a bit. I managed to straighten it somewhat.

I'm seeing some ripples along the corners of the lower door panels as well.


Just ordered a set of cables -- will see if the garage door opens ok afterward.

Hoping I don't have to put in a whole new opener with track... .

 

[Wrench97]

They will work after being kinked, but I use see the ones I reused like that fail sooner then undamaged cables,(this was on semi trailer roll up doors same idea and design just plastic coated wooden panels)

 

[joebk]

K I replaced the kinked cable and installed a new cable.


The door is in the down position. When I pressed on the opener control the door attempted to move up just very briefly and went down again immediately.

I pulled the Liftmaster manual rope to disengage the opener, and tried to pull up garage door manually. It was super tight and I couldn't pull up the door.


I wonder,

was the coil spring in the tightened position already, so the opener couldn't pull up the door?

If that's the case, I wonder how to unwind/remove the tension in the spring?


Thanks.

 

[mikedodge]

There needs to be tension on it. The old one probably lost it when it came loose.

 

[PassnThru]

When you said it was super tight did you mean heavy? Did you replace both cables or just one?

 

[Wrench97]

Are there paint stripes on the springs?

 

[ChefRex]

If it was damaged by a roofing co. why are they not taking care of it? Or did you pick up some "migrants"?

 

[Zeke]

Honestly, with these types of questions, you should be calling a pro. Cable replacement and re-tensioning the wound spring should be no more than $150 labor.

When the one cable came off the spool, things got tweaked that you maybe aren't seeing. The door should be able to be raised with no cables albeit somewhat heavy. If it's binding because it got out of whack with one spring working and the other having jumped off, something is wrong. You can get seriously hurt messing around.

I installed my own roll up door that I got used for free. When the original coil spring on one side broke, I called a door pro. Winding that spring once was enough for me. And I NEVER let service people in my garage.

 

[Viper98912]

Oh jeez. Stepping in here. You realize that you're messing with a mechanism that is fairly dangerous correct? Do some searches on this website and you'll read a lot of negative things about this.

When the cable unraveled, you may have tweaked the shaft slightly and everything is bound up. Be aware that all of the spring tension is now (somewhat) sitting all on the other cable. The drums are probably not aligned anymore (coil-wise) and it's completely cocked. And you're trying to mess with the spring that can seriously injure you. Whatever you do absolutely do not start loosening the bolts on the springs or the other drum.

You need to call a pro. They will come out and loosen and manually unwind both springs, then they will loosen each drum to pull the slack of the cables tight on each side, then they will re-wind the springs equally, then they will do final tweaking to make sure the door balances itself at a certain position, and your door will be back to normal. Your door, when it's in the down position, is when it has the MOST spring tension (most dangerous).

As stated before, if you're asking these types of questions, that means you really shouldn't be messing with these things. Even people with knowledge, shouldn't be messing with garage door springs. There's two types of work I don't do - roofing, and garage spring winding.

 

[joebk]

Long story about the roofer. The crew finished the roof job, got the money and never came back after. Not returning phone calls.

I think the spring lost the tension when the cables unraveled while the door was in the opened position.


I disengaged the kinked cables, brought down the door, and hooked up the new cables.

When I loosened up the bolts on the drums to redo the cables, there was no tension on the drums
(I put in a vise grip to hold the shaft against the back wall as I did it just in case there was tension on the drums).


Now the door is in the down position, I think there's no tension in the spring to help pull the door back up, that's probably the reason it's so heavy when I tried to pull up the door manually.

Am I right in my thinking?


Would it work--if I return the door back to the open position? I would need a couple of guys to help pull up the door I guess? It's aluminum door, but I wasn't able to pull it up manually by myself.



Left a message to a garage door service guy but no response yet. Here in the Bay Area in CA any visit is $300 minimum... .

 

[Wrench97]

Yes you have no tension on the springs.
Even if you open the door and install the cables you will still need more tension for the door to work correctly.
Use the chart below to find the number of turns and if you do not have the correct winding tools do not attempt it.

 

[mike93lx]

I diy basically everything but will not screw with a garage door spring. You'll never mess with it enough to get real experience and if something goes wrong, it is bad. Wait for the tech

 

[joebk]

Thanks all.


I was able to get a reasonable quote from a garage door service shop to just tighten up the springs.


I looked up on youtube there's a tool called SureWinder that helps a lot to tighten up the springs safely without using the long winding bars, but it costs a bit over $700 to get it now.



Perhaps I'll try the tool next round when the tool's price comes down (might have to wait it out a bit, as inflation is sky high now...).

 

[Wiz02]

I guess that because my Dad had a side hustle repair rolling steel doors for warehouses when I was a kid, I consider door springs inherently dangerous, but no more so than coil springs on a car, table saws, radial arm saws etc. If you have a solid understanding of the situation and follow safety practices, it isn't rocket science to unwind a torsion spring and assess the situation.

However, I heartily support the advice already posted, that if you are uncomfortable doing any sort of work and have the means, you should hire a professional.

 

[Zeke]

The biggest problem with winding springs is the fact that the door is all the way down and you have to wind enough tension to equal the door weight. Or close to. It would be very easy spring wise if you could work above the door while it's up. Almost zero tension. If I had the headroom, that's how I'd do it with a plank or platform.

All it takes is to not fully seat the winding bar in ONE hole and all hell breaks loose.

 

[Wrench97]

The biggest problem with winding springs is the fact that the door is all the way down and you have to wind enough tension to equal the door weight. Or close to. It would be very easy spring wise if you could work above the door while it's up. Almost zero tension. If I had the headroom, that's how I'd do it with a plank or platform.

All it takes is to not fully seat the winding bar in ONE hole and all hell breaks loose.

We do that with truck doors still takes about 4 rounds and then you have to stretch out the spring to equal the fully wound length.

 

[joebk]

Some questions:

my next door neighbor came help push some of the rollers back into the track a while back. He bent the upper track to do that.


Now I'm trying to bend the track back into place, I see two things:

- some cuts along the bottom of the horizontal track at a spot
- as he bent the track, at that spot, the side of the track protrudes inward sharply somewhat.


I will try to smooth out the spot, but the steel track is very tough,

it's possible that would still be a bit of a rough/sharp spot pushed in from the side after using a plier to straighten out that spot.


1. Would the rough spot cause issues when the rollers go through that on the horizontal track?


2. I also wonder if how to replace the horizontal track in case the spot is too rough for the rollers.

The side of the bracket that holds the drum is connected and bolted onto the horizontal track.

Is it safe to remove the horizontal track if there is no tension on the springs, and the drum and the shaft would stay put?


Thanks.

 

[Wrench97]

Pictures would help, for the most part you can straighten with a hammer and a dolly.
I use to straighten them after they were hit by forklifts even heating and welding when needed just because it was faster then replacing.

 

[joebk]

Here are some photos:

Outside the spot on the horizontal track:



Cut inside the track:


I used a file and sand paper to smoothen out the inside of the track. Still, you can see the bent spots.



I'm also thinking about putting in some new hardware, as the hinges were beaten up when the door crashed.

This is a 20 year garage door.

I bent some of the hinges back in shape, but I figure just a good opportunity to get new hardware.


I wonder, though, if it does matter what brand hardware I get. Though I have no idea what brand of hardware I have with the garage door.

Does it matter which brand I get to have matching holes?

#1 hinge:



Bottom bracket:


Thanks.

 

[Wrench97]

If you are have a garage door guy out to install the cables ask him if has a dolly tool.
It fits inside the track and allows you to beat it back into shape with a hammer on the outside, the groove is to straighten the top edge.


Hinges are pretty universal, cheaper ones are thinner material then the better ones, the side hinges(the ones the rollers go in) usually have numbers on them 1,2,3 etc with the lowest number at the bottom.

 

[joebk]

I got a replacement hinge #3 from HD.

It's a bit longer, so the joint line on the door hinge is a bit off from the joint between the two door sections.

Would that still work out fine if the joints are not totally lined up?

 

[Wrench97]

Self drilling screws?, Line up the joint and the panel breaks then run the screws it new holes.

 

[Wiz02]

All it takes is to not fully seat the winding bar in ONE hole and all hell breaks loose.

Completely agree, you need to have the right tools to wind the torsion spring. You need a real winding bat that properly fits. Watch a video to see how to use the bars. Huge potential damage to you or your helper if you take chances. Lots of force in that spring.