Garage Door Problem - I need your help!

[skcj213]

I am having an issue with one of my single Ideal garage doors that I can't seem to get figured out. I am using a Craftsman (Chamberlain) Garage Door Opener. Both the door and opener are a little over 7 years old.

A few weeks ago I began having a problem with the door only opening about 12" then stopping. Closing the door and reopening would sometimes correct the issue and the door would open fully. The problem started as intermittent and got worse over a few days to a week. I initially thought the problem was with the opening force setting on the opener and as the door has aged and become more difficult to open the force wasn't set high enough. However, after incrementally setting the force higher while trying to get the door to open the sprocket on top of the opener twisted off.

With no functional opener I released the door from the opener and noticed that the door seemed to be binding at about 12". I could drop the door back down and retry opening and sometimes it would free up and go ahead and open.

When I received the replacement part for the opener I made the repair and hooked everything back up and back off the opening force. Of course, I got the same result. The door would open a bit and stop. On a whim, I shifted the door a bit, about 1/2" from one side to the other and it started opening fine.

That lasted about a week. This morning when I went to leave for work the same thing happened again. The door went up about 12" and stopped. I closed and tried again with the same result. I gave the door a tug and moved it a bit in the same direct that I had a week earlier and it still would not open. Needing to get to work I pulled the release so I could manually open the door. When pulling up it bound up at about 12" and would not open. I dropped it back down and immediately pulled up again and it opened just as it should. So, I dropped it back down reattached the opener and it opened just as it should.

Obviously something is binding but for the life of me I cannot see anything that could be causing the door to not open. So far, I have checked the spring and it is not broken and has the proper amount of tension, all of the rollers seem to be free and rolling smoothly. The lift assist cables don't seem to be binding on anything. At this point, I am at a loss for what to check and hoping that one of the knowledgeable people here can offer some suggestions.

Thanks in advance for your help!

 

[smoke_31]

Have you checked the track bar from the opener to the wall above the door to ensure that the bolts are tight and not binding? My only other thought is to check to make sure the brackets holding your garage door panels together are tight and the panels are not binding on each other.

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[skcj213]

Thanks for the response Smoke. I am pretty sure the brackets are tight but I will check this evening when I get home.

 

[smoke_31]

Is your unit a belt drive? I was just thinking that the pulley on the door end could be binding as well.

It has to be a point of contact and you said the rollers were good so other points would be the arm connecting the door to the track arm between the opener and the wall, the opener pulleys or the door panels binding on themselves.

I'm just spit balling.

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[skcj213]

Thanks again Smoke.

The opener is a chain drive. Maybe tonight I will try disconnecting the arm connecting the door to the track arm and manually opening the door to see if it still binds. I will also double check all bolted connections to make sure they are tight. It's not like I just put the thing up and it has never worked right, the worked fine for 7 years. Makes me think there is something broke or worn. Just can't seem to find anything that looks bad.

 

[RegeSullivan]

Check to see if the top panel of the door has any excessive bending when the door starts to bind. I had one do that and the top panel was broken on both sides of the gdo mount.

 

[skcj213]

Thanks RegeSullivan, I will check that this evening.

 

[Norm01]

Check carefully that no hardware holding the tracks to their brackets came loose, one of the rollers may be hanging up on one. Also check your manual locks, sometimes the can be not fully unlocked and will bind in the track.

 

[Always_Thinkin]

My experience was similar. I lubed the rollers in the track and the hinges. Mine were binding because of corrosion.

 

[skcj213]

Check carefully that no hardware holding the tracks to their brackets came loose, one of the rollers may be hanging up on one. Also check your manual locks, sometimes the can be not fully unlocked and will bind in the track.

The locks are definitely not the issue, already checked them. I will check all fasteners on both the track and door to make sure they are tight.

This is a little frustrating. Garage doors aren't that complicated.

 

[Jeff Ivers]

I have had a problem when the door panel was binding on the door frame - couldn't identify the problem without having the door all the way up and examining the frame where the edges of the door ride. The frame had been wrapped with aluminum and the door had worn through the aluminum.