Garage Door Spring Help

[autobody]

My father has a house that he uses to store a couple cars for the winter. The garage door tension spring was disabled because we had the door come off the track. He now insists that he can reattach it himself, something I have heard is not a good idea, even for a skilled DIYer. I told him to spend $100 and have a professional come out to do it, but he probably wont. Has anyone done this before or know any tips/tricks not to have the thing take his head off, in case he gets to it before I get someone to fix it. Thanks. I will probably just tell my mom to send someone to do it while he is gone.

 

[brwbier]

Their are two kinds of torsion springs. One is called easy set and is adjusted with a drill motor. Not a problem for most anyone. The other uses two bars to wind the spring, not really a difficult project but you have to be very carful and the bars for turning have to be the right size and you have to pay attension at all times. Don't pull the wrong bar at the wrong time.

 

[ghnl]

Torsion spring - springs wound around a horizontal bar above the door - are difficult &/or dangerous to adjust without proper tools/knowledge. If one is dead set on DIY, here's a page with info: Garage Door Tension Spring Replacement

Garage door extension springs are fairly easy to replace.

 

[Gary S]

I've done all kinds of garage door springs. It takes some common sense. If you don't have common sense, hire someone to do it for you. It is really very easy.

 

[nissan_crawler]

I've done all kinds of garage door springs. It takes some common sense. If you don't have common sense, hire someone to do it for you. It is really very easy.

This. The people getting hurt with torsion springs are the ones that are using screwdrivers and **** to wind them, and standing with their face right in front of it. Then they wonder why they get scalped and scream that door springs are dangerous. You don't stare down the barrel of a gun, right?

Use the proper tools, don't stick your body inline with where the tools will fly if something goes wrong, and you will be okay with some common sense.

 

[TudorWagon]

When I bought my house, with its 12x12 wooden garage door and (at the time no other entry to the garage) I was sitting on my couch watching TV one night and BAMMM!!!! -- it felt like a bomb went off outside, Opened the door, looked outside -- saw nothing. The next day I go to open the door and it didn't want to go up. So I pulled the emergency (power outage) cord and tried to lift it. Got it to go up about a foot or so. Wedged something under the door and crawled in to find one spring had gone.

$750 later I had two new (special order) springs installed. I then worked to put another door into that door so I could go in and out without opening the big door. Well... that changed the weight of the door and the springs had to be adjusted.

Having done it at work many times I made a pair of rods to adjust the springs. I used 18" pieces of rebar, turning them to the right diameter. Hardest part is standing on the ladder 12' in the air with these ****** springs "right there" and, loosening the set screws and turning those springs and then tightening them again.

Easy, yes, but nerve racking no matter how you look at it. You MUST pay attention to every move you make -- and be capable of doing so. Also, make sure you count the number of turns by counting the spiral rings of paint. These make sure you balance the left and right spring tensions.

 

[Stuart in MN]

I installed my own doors and didn't have any particular problems with the torsion springs. On the other hand, some years later one of the springs broke, and I chose to have a garage door company replace it. The repair guy got the job done in about 20 minutes and the price was surprisingly reasonable.

 

[Identaltech]

I've done all kinds of garage door springs. It takes some common sense. If you don't have common sense, hire someone to do it for you. It is really very easy.

I second this.
use the right tools and make sure the rod is fully inserted in the hole before removing the first rod.
yes if you dont use common sense it can hurt or kill you.
but so can your lawn mower if you stick your head under the deck while its running

 

[kbs2244]

The secret tool for doing this job is a file.
The set screws ding up the shaft so you cannot adjust things.
Use the file to smooth the shaft so you can move things around.

 

[h2kgenesis]

... Has anyone done this before or know any tips/tricks not to have the thing take his head off...

it's really important to have the tools for the job, a special tensioner is necessary to twist the spring

 

[h2kgenesis]

I installed my own doors and didn't have any particular problems with the torsion springs.

friend did his own job, had his arm broken when the coiled spring let go and twisted his body.... up using the wrong tool

 

[KevDawg]

I installed two garage doors on the weekend, we wound up the spring using two large pieces of rebar that fit in the holes perfectly.

Overall its a little un-nerving but I think most DIY'ers shouldn't have a problem with this.

Make sure you know if your spring is left handed or right handed.
We put up two of the exact same door kits and one spring was right handed and the other was left handed. the left handed spring had red paint on it.

 

[D50boy]

I redid the tension on my garage door. It got hairy at the end since I was doing it by myself with a couple of ratchet extensions and two pair of vise-grips. It could use another turn, but I opted to crank up the power on my door opener.

Take the cars out, don't stand where something can be flung at you, watch your fingers.... and if you can get someone to help, make sure they are safe. Springs can be scary objects.

 

[tcianci]

Does the door use torsion springs or extension springs?

 

[nissan_crawler]

it's really important to have the tools for the job, a special tensioner is necessary to twist the spring

What? since when?

friend did his own job, had his arm broken when the coiled spring let go and twisted his body.... up using the wrong tool

As I stated, wrong tools and body inline with them.

I redid the tension on my garage door. It got hairy at the end since I was doing it by myself with a couple of ratchet extensions and two pair of vise-grips. It could use another turn, but I opted to crank up the power on my door opener.

Again, wrong tools.

 

[D50boy]

True, wrong tools- but it got the job done in a bind. Can't say you hadn't pryed anything with a screwdriver before.