Garage door head scratcher

[Rlapointe87]

Did a quick search but this is sort of situational anyways just bought a house with dream shop on the property 30x40 barn with full loft. Has two garage doors measuring 11x12 currently has no openers and they’re quite heavy my wife struggles opening them so we want openers but I’m looking at the clearances there’s only about 4 “ above the door when it’s open and since it’s a pole barn in between the doors there is not much clearance either as I was thinking I could do a wall mount opener but it’s pretty tight only 3” at the tightest area and about 6 farther down. The pipe that has the spring mounted to it hangs over about an inch. Was thinking maybe I could weld a sprocket to the pipe and runs length of chain down to a wall mount opener. Any one done this or have any ideas or opinions? Tia

 

[The Cobbler]

a properly adjusted door should not be hard to open . they should not feel heavy. . a tough to open door will be hard on openers .

 

[Rlapointe87]

a properly adjusted door should not be hard to open . they should not feel heavy. . a tough to open door will be hard on openers .

I agree I’m wonder if the spring is not loaded enough. Might just have a company come out and look at them

 

[K'ledgeBldr]

I think you have something funky going on-
For the size of the door, and the number of marks on the torsion spring (winding). That should be the correct number. And it’s the same number on both sides (no broken springs). Maybe there’s an alignment issue with the tracks(?).

 

[Rlapointe87]

I think you have something funky going on-
For the size of the door, and the number of marks on the torsion spring (winding). That should be the correct number. And it’s the same number on both sides (no broken springs). Maybe there’s an alignment issue with the tracks(?).

Setup looks fairly new but I’ll check today when I get home from work. Wonder what my options would be for a door opener though.

 

[woodscaper]

This is what I used on my pole shed door, it looks like you have enough room to mount the sprocket and chain assembly and it works great. Sprocket mounts on the door shaft and the chain wheel is below that with a bicycle chain connecting the two. About $130 on amazon or elsewhere. There are several different versions, with gear reduction and without, the sprocket uses setscrews and a key if there is a keyway in the shaft. I don't think you want to weld a sprocket on, that might make replacing a spring difficult.

Wall Mount Chain Hoist Gear Reduced Drive -1in Shaft 2000R-1

Heavy-duty wall-mounted 4:1 chain hoist kit for rolling and high-lift doors. Includes sprocket, roller chain, hand chain, chain keeper, and key.

www.northshorecommercialdoor.com

 

[mike93lx]

I had a ceiling mount belt drive in my last garage with a similar amount of clearance. The belt was basically against the ceiling, but it fit. That was on a 7' door though, so not sure if it will work on yours

 

[kaymccampbell]

Here's a jackshaft extender, that you can use on any jackshaft garage door opener. It gets you the gears, and you can change the chain out to any length you like, to get by the beams. I'm sure there's cheaper options, but this is one I've seen used before.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00E3KYW5W/?tag=atomicindus08-20

 

[Rlapointe87]

I have seen that in my searches and thought it may work but was concerned about the short chain I didn’t realize you could lengthen it that may work. I have the same exact issue on the other door and I could drop the openers to different heights even if I had to

 

[GlennSullivan]

When I built my Garage, I used LiftMaster LGO commercial openers which are designed to mount on the wall and connect the opener to door jackshaft via sprockets and #40 roller chain between the opener and jackshaft, which was all included in the purchase. The sprocket on the jackshaft has 2 setscrews that are drilled into the shaft. The system also comes with a clutch which easily disconnects the drive at the opener to allow opening the door in case of power failure or unit failure.

LM does not make the LGO any longer but I think have other similar commercial openers. You can see the black LGO openers on the wall next to each door and the chain drive up to the jackshaft.

BYW, as others have said, you either have a mis-sized, mis-adjusted or broken spring as the door should be neutral weight without the opener connected.

BTW2 this is not the way my garage looks on a daily basis, the pics were taken right after a paint job and new floor in the summer of 2021.

 

[Rlapointe87]

Wow you could eat off that floor!! I see what you mean those look like they would work well for my situation. And yes I supposed I’ll have to figure out what’s up with the springs maybe they weren’t turned enough.


This unit looks like it might be similar that I’d would chain up to the shaft w a sprocket

Liftmaster MJ5011U Medium-Duty Logic Jackshaft Operator 1/2 HP 115 VAC

The Model MJ door operator is designed for use on industrial sectional doors with high or vertical lift and small rolling doors and grilles. Maximum recommended duty cycle: 12 cycles per hour.

gatehousesupplies.com

 

[GlennSullivan]

That unit looks like it would work. Make sure whatever you select, has an easy way to disconnect the unit from the jackshaft for manual operation (mine has a pull chain which operates a dog clutch on the operator output shaft) Most of all search for reviews online, Some of the newer LM medium and lighter duty jackshaft products, like the LM8500 have horrible reviews.

If you can try and get a unit that is WiFi and MyQ compatible, these are the features that allow you to operate the door through the LM MyQ app and get notifications when someone else does, or you forget and leave the door open. The LGOs are not compatible because they were bought before all those features were available and I really miss these features as all my other garage doors have it.

 

[Rlapointe87]

That unit looks like it would work. Make sure whatever you select, has an easy way to disconnect the unit from the jackshaft for manual operation (mine has a pull chain which operates a dog clutch on the operator output shaft) Most of all search for reviews online, Some of the newer LM medium and lighter duty jackshaft products, like the LM8500 have horrible reviews.

If you can try and get a unit that is WiFi and MyQ compatible, these are the features that allow you to operate the door through the LM MyQ app and get notifications when someone else does, or you forget and leave the door open. The LGOs are not compatible because they were bought before all those features were available and I really miss these features as all my other garage doors have it.

I believe there is a unit you can purchase and add my q to any opener now. I agree that is a nice feature. Just watched a video on tensioning the springs and everyone in the comments said to just pay someone to do it. I’m the Type of person who would rather just do it myself than setup an appointment. But spring tension kinda freaks me out.. or should I just go for it

 

[kbs2244]

the hype over spring tension is overblown
just be sure you get the right sized lever bars and mark them so you fully seat them
in the holes
the force needed to do the twisting will remind you to be careful
you tube is your friend on the procedure

my local Menards has chain extended jack shaft openers on the shopping cart storage doors

I expect it is the same at all their stores
if you have one near you you can go check them out

 

[Zeke]

The tensioning bars are not long enough. Using a cheater can be dangerous. I still use a cheater though and I double check everything before I make a move. Every time.

 

[GlennSullivan]

I believe there is a unit you can purchase and add my q to any opener now. I agree that is a nice feature. Just watched a video on tensioning the springs and everyone in the comments said to just pay someone to do it. I’m the Type of person who would rather just do it myself than setup an appointment. But spring tension kinda freaks me out.. or should I just go for it

Your statement about adding MyQ is partially correct. You can do it super easy with residential units about 5 years old and newer and somewhat easy with residential units 10 years old and newer. The openers in my FL house were bought 4 years ago and all I needed to do was purchase the network gateway device, hard wire it to Internet and interface it to the 2 door controllers wirelessly. The unit in my small garage in NY is about 10 years old now and I needed to purchase a new door interface as well as the network gateway. The LGOs in my big garage are 15 years old and commercial. They are wayyyy more difficult and require a lot of parts and work. Each "kit" will only control / support 2 doors and I have 3, so I have not gone down that rabbit hole yet.