Garage door shaking/bouncing when closing

[Nam11b]

All,

First real post here, but I thought this was a good place to ask the question. Bought a house this past spring and one of my pet peeves are the garage doors. One of them is nonfunctional and requires a drive replacement, the other bounces and shakes when the door closes. All the rollers are round (no flat spots) and the track appears to be straight with no defects. When I manually close it or open the door, it appears to act normal. Any ideas on why this bounces or something else to check. It seems to hang up more on the left side, but that could just be the opposite side hanging up. I can post a video later if anybody think it helps.

 

[Crusarius]

Check to make sure the opener is actually perpendicular to the door and centered. I had that problem on a house I bought. I replaced the garage door opener and inadvertently fixed it when I realized the opener was off about 6" causing the door to bind.

 

[Leaflessshadetree]

Check the top panel above and below where the opener is attached. I've seen where the opener was attached too low and would pull the door more back rather than up when the door was closed. It caused stress and binding and eventually split the structure of the door.

Also check (and lube) the bearings, and track. Especially if it has metal rollers.

 

[TLCObsession]

Belt drive on the motor sometimes causes this - worn or glazed belt, no tension etc. With a chain drive opener, sometimes the driveplate will bind on the rail. make sure it is clean and lightly lubricated.

 

[redpines]

Check the sheave wheels the cables go around.


I had a shaking door once due to the bearings in the wheels disintegrating. The cable jerked as the resistance changed. Only would happen going up because there is more tension on the cable when going up.

 

[Dcampbell98xj]

Sounds to me like either the pulleys are bad and causing the door to shack side to side or the tension on the springs are not equal causing one side to pull more then the other.

 

[jbmatth]

I had something similar with an old screw drive, I replaced it with a belt drive, bought all new nylon (if I'm remembering right, they were the best ones lowes carried) rollers, and used garage door lubricant on all of the joints and it went away. It is way quieter now and is much nicer and smoother. Good luck.

 

[upndown]

Main question, is this a Torsion or extension spring door? If it's extension spring it's usually worn sheaves! Unlike Torsion, there isn't equal tension at the cables. Worn bearings Will cause jearky operation.

If it's torsion spring, check for worn End Bearings..Good Luck

 

[Nam11b]

Thanks for all the responses and I will run through them today.

The garage door is a belt drive with extension springs. I had already thought about replacing the springs because they look heavily worn. Can I switch to torsion springs?

 

[BEAVO]

i just moved into our new house a month or so ago....while our door goes down it kinda bounces a little.... while watching i noticed the center of the track the chain goes down kinda flex's. so my plan is to attach some type of support and see how that works

 

[upndown]

Pretty much any door can be converted to torsion springs. You need to look at the condition off the sections, see if it's worth the cost. Also are you going to do the conversion? If not get a quote for repairs as well as replacing the doors, you may be surprised.

 

[NewEdgePerf]

With a chain drive opener, sometimes the driveplate will bind on the rail. make sure it is clean and lightly lubricated.

That is what solved the same problem on my garage door^.

 

[404]

Generously lube every pin, hinge, roller bearing, roller shaft, and inside the track. Move it by hand a few times. Some oil will drip off for a few days, so park outside if you care about that. See what that does for it.