Garage Door Opener Problems

[Two_Car_Garage]

Hi,

so I came home today from work and the garage door would not open from the car.

I get inside and my wife says she could not open it either earlier. I get a ladder to inspect things and notice that one side of the chain is tight and the other loose. Turning the opener on just gives me a Hum sound. I get the chain adjusted again but nothing just hums.

I decide to completely remove the chain. The motor finally responds and it appears to go full cycle. I take a look at the sprocket and noticed it has play (both up/down and side/side).

Not sure if that is normal. I install the chain again and motor does not turn.

So under load it does not go and without load it goes. Tried the force settings but nope same response. Maybe there is a mechanism that prevents the motor to move with a loose sprocket.

I have seen a few youtube videos and it appears the sprocket replacemetn is widely available and should be easy DIY. But I was wondering....

Is there a way to know for sure a kit replacement will fix this issue? Should there be no sprocket movent at all? Thanks in advance.

 

[James-W]

Can you open the door manually? If you can't open the door manually then you have a door problem and not an opener problem. The door should open manually without too much effort. I would check that first before doing anything else.

 

[matt_i]

Without any other info it sounds like a bearing for the sprocket is compromised. However the tight/loose chain condition will lead you to the problem, especially if the door is disconnected from the track-trolley.

 

[firebirdparts]

That top shaft may never have been tight. Who knows. What you can see always seems interesting, but the real problem may be unseen.

I rebuilt one once with a rebuild kit. I found they use a plastic worm gear, and it wears out. So I say take it apart and look around. FWIW, you may be able to get the necessary parts for it if you want.

Also, why would anybody think the chain is interesting? A sprocket chain, if it's doing something, should be tight on one side. That's normal. If it's doing nothing, it should be tight on no sides. If it's tight on both sides, that's wrong.

 

[gnpenning]

What brand of opener? We already know it's chain drive.

Disconnect the opener and cycle the door by hand. You need to see if the door is balanced. You need to be able to stop with a roller above the radius and the door should stay. Each section should do this. The top section may creep.

Undo the screws that hold the cover on. Depending on the manufacturer will depend on what you will find. If its a Liftmaster brand and a bunch of white plastic particles are present you lost the gear drive. You can buy replacements. Be sure and replace both gears, and all the parts in the kit.

 

[scissorman]

Could very easily be a broken spring. Manually open the door and see if it's rather heavy. When my door broke a spring it would not open.

 

[tapered-pin]

Could very easily be a broken spring. Manually open the door and see if it's rather heavy. Qhen my door broke a spring it would not open.

this is what I would have thought also..

a traditional garage door opener is rarely strong enough to open a door that hasn't got a spring assist.

 

[kenners]

I had a chain drive opener that quit years ago. Thinking the brand could of been a Sears variety. There was a plastic cylinder piece that would spin. This cylinder had slots cut thru the exterior. The plastic cylinder had broken and without it spinning the opener would not operate. Thinking there was a light that would shine thru the spinning cylinder.
As mentioned before remove the cover and search for plastic dust/pieces.

 

[James-W]

Just do what I said in post number 2. If you can't open the door, or if it only opens with a great deal of effort, then you have a door problem and not an opener problem. You need to determine where the problem is before you can fix it.

 

[Two_Car_Garage]

Can you open the door manually?

Yes, door can be opened manually.

What brand of opener? We already know it's chain drive.

Undo the screws that hold the cover on. Depending on the manufacturer will depend on what you will find. If its a Liftmaster brand and a bunch of white plastic particles are present you lost the gear drive. You can buy replacements. Be sure and replace both gears, and all the parts in the kit.

It's a Liftmaster if I recall. It came with the house built around 2003. I have been there ~ 3 years and my guess is that it is probably the original installed from the appearance of it and the remotes.

Could very easily be a broken spring. Manually open the door and see if it's rather heavy. Qhen my door broke a spring it would not open.

Visually, I can not see anything broken on the spring. Not heavy to manually open.

Ok so I will try opening the case and see what shows up there.

 

[Hot Rod Grampa]

Liftmaster units can be repaired with the available kits. Biggest thing to remember is you have to time the opener with the chain in reference to open or closed. Yes there is adjustment in the limit switch but it's a lot easier to get the timing close. Lubricate the gears well before closing the cover. If you can, get the kit that has a new shaft and top retainer. Sounds like yours is compromised.

 

[James-W]

What is the cost of a repair kit compared with the cost of a new opener? Unless there is a substantial savings in repairing the opener, I would just go with a new opener.

 

[gnpenning]

I buying in boxes of 5. With out looking it up I think they are around $35 a piece plus shipping. That's a complete assembly including shaft Hot rod mentioned.

You decide James on value.

 

[Two_Car_Garage]

Liftmaster units can be repaired with the available kits. Biggest thing to remember is you have to time the opener with the chain in reference to open or closed. Yes there is adjustment in the limit switch but it's a lot easier to get the timing close. Lubricate the gears well before closing the cover. If you can, get the kit that has a new shaft and top retainer. Sounds like yours is compromised.

Yep, that is the plan. I am planning to get kit 41C4220A which seems to be widely available. Don't know for sure if it will fit as Liftmaster does not return any hits when I search in their website. I'll return it if it does not fit and look at my options again

What is the cost of a repair kit compared with the cost of a new opener? Unless there is a substantial savings in repairing the opener, I would just go with a new opener.

~ $25 for the repair kit vs a new opener ~150 or if I want to upgrade to a better/quieter unit ~ 200 + install. Never installed one myself so not sure If can DIY. So substantial savings IMO

 

[gnpenning]

That works for a wide range of older and newer openers. One of the pluses of Liftmaster.

 

[Two_Car_Garage]

That works for a wide range of older and newer openers. One of the pluses of Liftmaster.

Success!!

After I got the package with the repair kit, I went ahead and opened the opener case. I did not find any white shavings and the gears seems to be ok but there was a lot of gray dust/shavings sitting on top of the big gear probably coming down from the bearing or something on top (not sure if there is a bearing under the sprocket).

Trickiest part was getting the trolley. I was having trouble with it because I was not sure where it had originally been released. And I had moved it a few times when playing around with the chain. I had to ask my wife where shoe first unhooked it and after that it was easy to relocate the trolley to it's orignal position and the rest was easy peazy. No force nor any other adjustments were needed.

Thanks all for the tips.

 

[gnpenning]

Glad you got it up and running.

There is a bushing that the shaft rides in. I've seen a few bad enough to separate the shaft into 2 pieces. They had plenty of warning.....

A little surprised you didn't see something that would say, this is the problem.

 

[matthkerr]

Success!!

After I got the package with the repair kit, I went ahead and opened the opener case. I did not find any white shavings and the gears seems to be ok but there was a lot of gray dust/shavings sitting on top of the big gear probably coming down from the bearing or something on top (not sure if there is a bearing under the sprocket).

Trickiest part was getting the trolley. I was having trouble with it because I was not sure where it had originally been released. And I had moved it a few times when playing around with the chain. I had to ask my wife where shoe first unhooked it and after that it was easy to relocate the trolley to it's orignal position and the rest was easy peazy. No force nor any other adjustments were needed.

Thanks all for the tips.

Sorry for bringing this post back to life: Link of the repair kit, please? I'm having a similar problem with my Liftmaster opener. A friend recommended me these garage door guys that can help fix it fast but I'm trying other options, me fixing it myself even though I'm really bad at machine work but I'll try.

 

[nadogail]

Because of the way the Liftmaster Rep withheld information about their known problems with radio interference in my local area, the next Liftmaster purchase for one of the 7 garage doors I am responsible for will be predicated on future weather reports.

That is when Hades freezes over, and then only maybe.
__________________

 

[Two_Car_Garage]

Sorry for bringing this post back to life: Link of the repair kit, please? I'm having a similar problem with my Liftmaster opener. A friend recommended me these garage door guys that can help fix it fast but I'm trying other options, me fixing it myself even though I'm really bad at machine work but I'll try.

It was not that hard. I went back to my Amazon orders and here is what I got:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00ZTIG2NW/?tag=atomicindus08-20