JackShaft Garage Door Opener

[ryn004]

Hi everyone,

I'm about to buy an automated garage door and stumbled across the wall mounted Garage Door motors, instead of using the conventional ceiling mounted motors.

Do these wall mounted motors serve the purpose, that is don't cause extra stress on the shaft since its operating only from one end?

 

[dave*99]

The Liftmaster 8500 jackshaft opener works great. I have one and many folks on this forum do also. Quiet, smooth and so far trouble free for 5 years.

 

[naturalgas]

Average size door I think they are nicer. I have 2 and also have 2 conventional. One door Is 18x10 and the jackshaft was not recommended . The 2 jackshafts are quieter and have a solid automated locking pin that slides into rail when closed for great security. Not like that with a conventional opener. I also like the different light set up you can locate where you want it.


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[albaran]

I have had mine operating a very heavy and wide door for about three years now with no problems. It is a lot quieter than the overhead ones also.

 

[ronr80]

I have the same one has above and love it ,

 

[Labradorian]

Hi everyone,

I'm about to buy an automated garage door and stumbled across the wall mounted Garage Door motors, instead of using the conventional ceiling mounted motors.

Do these wall mounted motors serve the purpose, that is don't cause extra stress on the shaft since its operating only from one end?

I put two of these Liftmaster 8500's in my garage a couple of years ago. I like them, quiet, can control them through an app on your phone with the extra accessories available from lift master.

The only negative thing I will say is(from experience)........make sure when the doors are moving freely in the full range of closed to open. The way these openers work is they turn the shaft. the shaft turns the pully with cables....garage door hangs from the two cables. If the garage door is binding at all when it is open, the opener will sometimes try to lower it and instead unravel the cables. Also when balancing the door with the springs, I found that making the door slightly heavy so it falls slowly when you let it free fall is best for these openers. A traditional opener is physically connected to the door with a shaft while with these openers the doors "HANG" on the cables.

I hope this makes sense.......Just some installation advise. Otherwise I really like them.

cheers

 

[wssix99]

Do these wall mounted motors serve the purpose, that is don't cause extra stress on the shaft since its operating only from one end?

The door is counter-balanced, evenly on both sides, by the torsion spring. The garage door opener is relatively low power. Most of the stresses play between the heavy door and the beefy torsion spring along the shaft. The stresses of the opener to one side are relatively insignificant and are a rounding error in the big "equation." (The torque of the opener is actually counteracted by a very small "L" bracket and a single screw that attaches to the door blocking.)

 

[wssix99]

^ That being said, installing a torsion spring garage door is a little more involved and dangerous. (If not done properly, it can severely maim the installer.) If this is a concern for you, some doors now come with E-Z wind springs that are much safer to install by yourself.

 

[tgj7]

I had two professionally installed last year, the motor is < 3A, so the door needs to be balanced just right. You can add a battery backup to it, that's nice if you generator is in the garage.

 

[ryn004]

Thanks for the replies I guess its a no brainer to go with the LM 8500 for my 10.5 x 8 feet door

 

[Samgelinas]

I installed 2 on them like 3 weeks ago in my garage.

I love them, they're really quiet.

If you are a bit handy, install them by yourself, just read the instruction they are really simple.

 

[ryn004]

I'm having a new garage door installed soon but everyone locally supplies ceiling mount motors. So I guess I'll have a try myself after to door is installed.

 

[crocket468]

I installed them on my two 9x9 doors, absolutely love them, very quiet and super easy to install. I ordered mine online, saved about $250 total over buying them local IIRC.

 

[HoosierMark]

I have three of them. I bought them from an area supplier. They were installed late summer of 2014. I love them. My electrician actually installed them, he said they were easy. (I live in a rural area where the tradesman often do work outside their field of specialty without issue.)

 

[Scott H in Wheaton]

$290 each / $580 pair on Amazon.com, search Liftmaster 8500

 

[cookiemech]

I installed these openers on my 10' x 8' "commercial" (because of their size) insulated aluminum doors several years ago. They are vastly superior to the Wayne-Dalton openers (which also operated on the torsion rods, but from the center). Quiet, smooth, excellent.

Careful setup is important. I am fairly obsessive with almost everything and like to make everything in my garage "just so" (apparently, a lot of people on this forum are similar), and I recall spending some time making sure that the torsion rod was level, the door was well-balanced (spring tension just right), and so on. The results were worth it.

 

[MagicMarker]

I have an LM 8500 on one side and conventional on the the other side. LM8500 is the way to go.

 

[Fcvapor05]

nearly every roll up door I've ever seen in an industrial setting uses an opener like this, mounted to the wall in either the center or on one side. I wouldn't hesitate to use them.

 

[kdouglas]

Put in two 8500s. 9x12 door and 14x12 door. Nice and quiet. Also for $50 you can buy wifi ability and use Mcq APP and have ability to open and close doors with your phone (also shows if door is open or closed which is great because my shop is 150 feet from the house and I don't need to go back out).

Great to have when you buddy calls and is at your house without calling /your not home, and wants to borrow something. Open the door for him, then half hour later you can double check that he closed it like he told you he would.

 

[NewShockerGuy]

Love my 8500's.

The MCQ app is nice as noted above. We were in Spain one time and the dog walker couldn't get into the front door while we were away. She sent us a text message and I was able to let her into the garage by opening the door with my phone, then closing it once she was done... all thousands of miles away..lol

Get the 8500's you won't be disappointed at all.

-Nigel

 

[Spire]

Installed 8500's on 18' x 11.5' low head room commercial doors. Had to install the 8500's upside down due to rotation, but they work GREAT!

That's a lot of door, so balance and spring tension were critical.