Garage door springs

[oldgoat]

Has anybody changed out the springs on a garage door? A friend had his break and they wouldn't sell him another set and quoted him $175. to change them out. His is the kind that is in the center of the door and you used a bar to tighten the tension up. They told him the springs were only good for about 5 or 6 years.

 

[nissan_crawler]

I have. If that quote is $175 for springs and install, tell him to get his checkbook out, IMHO. It's time consuming, and you need to be pretty careful (although with care they aren't quite the killer everybody makes it out to be). Personally, unless he's flat broke, it would be worth the $175 to me.

If he needs to save the money, there's no reason to be scared of doing it himself.

The breaking is the scary part. I had one break, which caused the cables to snap, which let the shaft spin, which snapped the other spring, and somewhere in that mess the force caused the center support between the springs to rip out of the stud, bending the shaft. Thank god the door was going down and I was outside when it did it. I still needed new shorts, but at least they didn't have garage door parts stuck in them.

 

[6t7gto]

I agree with Nissan.


david

 

[kbs2244]

I just did this yesterday.
Spring broke over night.
I have re-torqued mine before but never replaced the springs.
So for $175.00 I watched a pro do it.
Now I know how, and I will go to Menards and spend $70.00 for a pair of springs next time.
BTW it isn’t that hard.
Release the tension on the non-broken spring.
Loosen all the collars.
Slide the shaft about a foot to the right to get the left spring off, and then about a foot to the left to get the right spring off.
Take them to the store with you so they can match them. There is only about 1000 different kinds.
The secret tool is a file to smooth off the ridges and gouges in the shaft so you can thread them through the bearings at each end.
The 5 to 7 year life is about right. They are twisted tight when the door is down, so most of their life is under tension.

 

[CraigFL]

The problem some people have when replacing them is they get overanxious and don't put the round rod securely in the hole. then, when they try to wind it up it can slip and break their collar bone or worse...

 

[Aircooled]

The most common thing I run into is people substituting the winding bars with their best screwdrivers...not quite the leverage they need.