garage door motor: fix or replace ?

[Deschodt]

Tonight my garage door opened for the last time...

Wouldn't come down anymore. I opened the unit up, because clearly the motor was working but the chain was not moving... Gear or something...

Yup ! a gear alright !

what say you, worth repairing the gear or is it a waste of time, and replace ?
it's kinda jammed right now.... 10y old motor... and I never installed one... Can I do it myself ? It did not seem overly difficult, but I guess you need to adjust how long it works up and down.... Other than that, seemed easy..

 

[LEVE]

I have a 15 year old Craftsman 1/2 hp pulling up one of my garage doors. I've replaced the gears and limit switches (Broke during move across the country). This opener is doing the same job a newer one is doing on the other larger door. I'll keep it in service as long as I can. It's easy to repair, parts are easy to find and inexpensive. I'd recommend doing the job yourself. If you've gotten this far you can easily do the job.

I'd rebuild the gearing and then remove the door load and set the limit switches. Once that's done I'd reattach the door and see how it works... being prepared to pull the plug, or door load, if needed.

 

[Ocho]

That looks just like my Craftsman opener did. New gear kit was less than $20 shipped from Sears. IIRC, you get that entire gear/shaft assembly and it is held in by three bolts on top of the motor. Took all of about half an hour to put it in. Easy fix and you are good to go for another ten years.

You might check your garage door springs and make sure they are adjusted properly. If your door is not in balance, it will wear those gears out in a hurry. If your door will stay halfway up on its own, without the opener, you should be OK.

 

[rasit]

That's a cheap, easy fix.

 

[tcianci]

Last time I fixed mine, I think I found the gear online for like 5 bucks or something. The specify a certain lube for it, don't remember for sure but I had some left from the first time I bought the gear from Sears.com. Definately worth the fix, it takes just a few minutes.

 

[Mr_fixit]

fix it. I think that part costs less than 15.00 delievered, check e-bay.

 

[robin1731]

I also did one a few years ago. Easy to do.