Garage door opener idea - thoughts welcome

[tomsmith]

Hey all,

I recently purchased a MaxJax and can't wait to get it set up. Right now, I'm waiting for the concrete sections that were poured to cure for 6 weeks (due end of August) but in the meantime, I need to do something about this..

View media item 32587
That opener doesn't leave me with a lot of room to spare when lifting the car. I originally thought about relocating the opener a few feet to the right of the 16' garage door, I've marked the location with the red circle.

However, I think this might be an easier and more elegant solution. Rather than move the opener to the right, what if I just moved it up so it was nearer to the ceiling?

The red circle shows the original location and the red square shows the new location. The opener would be moved up as well, ensuring the relationship between the opener and the far end point would not change.

I would then use some flat stock to extend this piece to account for the new difference in height between the connecting bar and the door.

Here's a close up pic

The only real change is the additional pressure on the vertical metal piece since that will experience more leverage as a result of the longer length but the additional load on the 3/4hp opener should be minimal I think...

The garage door is 16' and made out of wood with aluminum reinforcing bars running lengthwise. It's 3.5 years old and I can very easily shut down open it with one hand with the opener disconnected so it's very well balanced.

Would love to get your thoughts and opinions on raising the opener and the connecting 'rod' (not sure what it's called) versus moving it over to the right.

 

[rslaback]

It isn't that simple. That lift rod changes angles when you open the door. It lays almost horizontally when the door is up. If your lucky that means that the door only opens half way. If your not that means it binds on the top lip of your door and bends it all to hell. I suppose if you lengthened the track on the opener it might work.

Look into a jackshaft type opener.

 

[garboui]

If the opener is going to be in the way, isn't the door going to be in the way too? I'd vote for just going high lift.

 

[tomsmith]

Hmm .. good point on that lift piece changing angles with the opening of the door. I should have thought about that.

I'd love to get a jackshaft opener, but finding someone to do it in Kitchener/Waterloo area in Ontario is proving to be impossible. I've asked 4 local companies .. 2 sounded completely disinterested, 1 said they don't carry that type and the last one said they'd call me back with a quote. 2 weeks later, nada.

I would do it myself, but that torsion spring makes me super nervous and I'd be afraid of messing it up.

Different problem with high lift .. the cheapest quote I got was $1800!! I dunno if that's reasonable but it sure is more expensive than I want to pay.

 

[rshadd]

Perhaps a wall mount opener like the Liftmaster 8500?
http://www.liftmaster.com/lmcv2/pages/productmodeldetail.aspx?modelId=19724

 

[rslaback]

Hmm .. good point on that lift piece changing angles with the opening of the door. I should have thought about that.

I'd love to get a jackshaft opener, but finding someone to do it in Kitchener/Waterloo area in Ontario is proving to be impossible. I've asked 4 local companies .. 2 sounded completely disinterested, 1 said they don't carry that type and the last one said they'd call me back with a quote. 2 weeks later, nada.

I would do it myself, but that torsion spring makes me super nervous and I'd be afraid of messing it up.

Different problem with high lift .. the cheapest quote I got was $1800!! I dunno if that's reasonable but it sure is more expensive than I want to pay.

I bet you can tackle a torsion spring. They need to be respected. Have two good pieces of rod, go slow. It's a lot like using a lot of tools. Use it wrong and it might rip your face off. Use it safely and carefully and the likelihood of face-off-ripping decreases substantially.

 

[LB-1911]

Different problem with high lift .. the cheapest quote I got was $1800!! I dunno if that's reasonable but it sure is more expensive than I want to pay.

You may find this of interest.

High Lift Garage Door Conversion
http://ddmgaragedoors.com/diy-instructions/garage-door-high-lift-conversion.php#concl

 

[Zeke]

Until you solve the door track height problem, the opener is not the biggest problem. That is unless you have a 30' long garage. There are a lot od GD guys on the board, but I don't think there's much of a problem raising the motor head up as long as you modify the tracks accordingly. That is to say at an angle rather than going vertical at the wall.

If that works.

 

[elm_street]

I'd love to get a jackshaft opener, but finding someone to do it in Kitchener/Waterloo area in Ontario is proving to be impossible. I've asked 4 local companies .. 2 sounded completely disinterested, 1 said they don't carry that type and the last one said they'd call me back with a quote. 2 weeks later, nada.

Just out of curiosity who did you ask (pm me if you don't want to post it)? I'm in the market for a new garage door and opener and I was hoping to get a Liftmaster 8500 but this sounds like bad news for me in Waterloo Region.

 

[rslaback]

As long as the lift goes in the middle and he doesn't want to work with the door open, I don't see a problem.

 

[garboui]

Hmm .. good point on that lift piece changing angles with the opening of the door. I should have thought about that.

I'd love to get a jackshaft opener, but finding someone to do it in Kitchener/Waterloo area in Ontario is proving to be impossible. I've asked 4 local companies .. 2 sounded completely disinterested, 1 said they don't carry that type and the last one said they'd call me back with a quote. 2 weeks later, nada.

I would do it myself, but that torsion spring makes me super nervous and I'd be afraid of messing it up.

Different problem with high lift .. the cheapest quote I got was $1800!! I dunno if that's reasonable but it sure is more expensive than I want to pay.

Have you tried car-wal for an estimate. I know they do a lot of things and were pretty competitive in price for my door when I bought it (Hamilton).

 

[Matt M PA]

When I installed the openers in my detached , I wanted clear space above one bay for my midrise lift. The tracks are far enough apart that they wouldn't be in the way.

The company that makes my openers, Sommer, allows for installation all the way to one side. If you search for posts by my name, you'll find a pic.
So, I installed the one opener with the arm connecting in the upper right hand corner of the door. Sommer said that the key to this was the torsion spring as opposed to having the longitudinal type springs.

I'd look into doing this either with your existing opener or a new opener...both of which would be cheaper and easier than moving tracks. You'd have clear space directly above.

 

[FriendOfYours]

If it were me I would ditch the opener and not spend any money at all

I'd rather open the door by hand a couple times a day and have some more tool money in my pocket

 

[RKA]

I would do it myself, but that torsion spring makes me super nervous and I'd be afraid of messing it up.

You can mount the opener and test it out. If the door is balanced properly, you won't need to touch the torsion springs. If the door balance needs to be tweaked you can call a door company out for a service call. Shouldn't cost much if they are just adjusting the balance.

 

[68rustang]

If you are having trouble finding somebody to do a jackshaft opener try some commercial door guys. Either way you are going to want a high lift door as well.

 

[KiltLifter]

+1 on the 8500. I've looked at the instructions and you don't touch your spring, it has a remote light that you can mount anywhere and because it turns the torsion shaft it lifts the door from the bottom (via the cable) instead of pulling from the top. Other nice features like an electronic deadbolt and optional internet operation with a $40 module.
It will be the opener for my garage expansion project.
Saw them at http://www.northshorecommercialdoor.com/residential.html for $300.

 

[duc916]

I would cut the end off the tracks on the ceiling and use the pieces to relocate the main tracks closer to the ceiling. It can be done in a weekend and you do not have to mess with the spring, just tracks. I bought all three of my liftmasters 3800 off ebay from a dealer, about $285 each. Installed them myself, no issues.

 

[mike_81]

why not go to the lift master website and search for dealers?

http://dealerlocator.liftmaster.com...terloo,+Ontario&searchradius=25&search=Search

 

[jstroede]

I would cut the end off the tracks on the ceiling and use the pieces to relocate the main tracks closer to the ceiling. It can be done in a weekend and you do not have to mess with the spring, just tracks. I bought all three of my liftmasters 3800 off ebay from a dealer, about $285 each. Installed them myself, no issues.

Bad advice. You absolutely should change the springs and drums when doing a high lift, and in most cases you need to move the whole torsion shaft assembly up.

John

 

[DeliveryGuy]

I would cut the end off the tracks on the ceiling and use the pieces to relocate the main tracks closer to the ceiling. It can be done in a weekend and you do not have to mess with the spring, just tracks. I bought all three of my liftmasters 3800 off ebay from a dealer, about $285 each. Installed them myself, no issues.

You absolutely WILL have to mess with the springs. If you convert your door to high lift, the springs are no longer compatible, and will need to be replaced.
Just move the operator off center. I do it all the time, professionally, and it will work just fine as long as the door is in good working condition.

 

[Chitown_hillbilly]

I just installed 3 garage doors and 2 liftmaster 8500's and it was pretty simple. I've installed other garage openers and the 8500's are so much easier than the traditional style.

 

[kbs2244]

We have plenty of threads on going to high lift tracks and a phony door panel on top to solve this problem.

It seems to be the easy and cheap way to do it.

 

[Todd.Brock]

I spied some type of variable speed DP in the corner, minus a cover. If you can work on a reeves pulley setup, then you can handle a LM 3800 or 8500 or whatever the hell they are now. If you can't swing the hi lift, go the GDO route. That will at least open up the center for a car to fit in between the tracks. Only real downside would be is that you have to have the garage door closed when every want to lift a car more than the height of the door.

 

[taumac]

Hmm .. good point on that lift piece changing angles with the opening of the door. I should have thought about that.

I'd love to get a jackshaft opener, but finding someone to do it in Kitchener/Waterloo area in Ontario is proving to be impossible. I've asked 4 local companies .. 2 sounded completely disinterested, 1 said they don't carry that type and the last one said they'd call me back with a quote. 2 weeks later, nada.

I would do it myself, but that torsion spring makes me super nervous and I'd be afraid of messing it up.

Different problem with high lift .. the cheapest quote I got was $1800!! I dunno if that's reasonable but it sure is more expensive than I want to pay.

My question is cant you just get to extra pieces of track and cut to your need and that the height problem fixed. As for spring, remove the tension and when all said and done have someone come out and retension the spring .

 

[Red Box]

Another vote for the Jackshaft here. Got mine from DDRgarargedoor. Installed it myself. Very easy and quiet. Remember that you will need a 110VAC receptacle nearby for power. Remote light is handy. Put it wherever you want.

 

[upndown]

On a torsion spring door, you can mount that opener anywhere side to side, as said before you can't raise the opener that high without adding highlift.. wont work! No matter how high you raise that door, you will need to recalculate the springs and cables. It can be done! Good luck

 

[ilbcrzn]

you could purchase a springless door opener that mounts above the door and runs on just the rails alone. That way you have all the room to the ceiling. I know they make a residential one, I had a customer who had one.

 

[Spudland_Dave]

you could purchase a springless door opener that mounts above the door and runs on just the rails alone. That way you have all the room to the ceiling. I know they make a residential one, I had a customer who had one.

Link or Pics? I wouldn't mind a backup plan for my openers.

Having installed my doors and openers myself, I can tell you, the EASY part is installing & setting up the LM8500..the hard part is having a door installed & setup properly for it. Not that its HARD work, its just one of those things that comes with being a professional..I've had some GREAT help from some door guys here, they knew what the issue was all along, had a guy over to the house for another reason who did garage doors professionally for 12+ years and he diagnosed my door issues within 45 seconds of looking at them...he's coming over this afternoon to hopefully put this garage door issue thing to bed for me once and for all.

 

[QIHoustonb4]

+1 on the LM8500. If the door needs to move up, you could look into the 30" radius track. Need more? Extended or Hi lift.

 

[UroWerks]

I have seen the liftmaster 8500 installed Id say that would be your best option here.

 

[johnsmith22]

Love to hear about that you do this yourself. But i prefer to hire a technician for any garage door repair and install service.

 

[Responder]

+1 on the LF8500's. I have three of them and they work flawlessly. They were very easy to install as well. Tension should be set with your centre mount opener now. May have to tweak the springs a bit but that is not difficult. Just have to be careful, as we do with almost everything that we do!

Good luck with the project!