Jackshaft garage door openers - do they work?

[Mikea57]

I didn't even know this type of opener existed until I saw them here. I've got a friend that's in the garage door business and he says that they don't work and that all the companies are taking them off the market. I know that several guys on here have them though so I was just wondering if they work, how well and have you had any problems with them? I really like the idea of taking up practically no space and I was seriously thinking about getting one for my workshop since the door is so heavy now that I've put insulation in it. My son can't lower it because of the weight. He can get it up just not down.

 

[Bojans]

Have had mine since October and it works great, quiet, unobtrusive, generally nice. Not a problem with it (knock on wood). I have heard of many complaints about the I drive type openers but no complaints about the LM 3800.

 

[OldCarGuy]

Of the seven overhead doors at my retirement home garage complex. I have one chain drive, one belt drive, and five jack shaft openers. They all have their plus and minuses, advantages and disadvantages. I would say overall the jack shaft style wins out...

 

[colt340]

Mine has been up for 1 year and has been working great.

 

[flesburg]

I have the same LiftMaster opener as colt340 on three garage doors.
One of them is 8' H x 12' W and lifts along the wall to the 12' ceiling. Another
is 7' H x 10' W and lifts to a 9' ceiling. The third is a 7 x 7 for the Lawn equipment
storage room. Is the Lift Master a jack shaft, or chain drive from the motor to the spring loaded overhead shaft, I honestly do not know. I assume you are referring to the connection between the motor and the spring loaded lifting shaft.

I wish I had them on my attached garage. They are quiet, and they are fast, they have all of the safety equipment, and they do not intrude into the bay space. Love them.

I have seen all kinds of overhead doors with wall mounted devices that turn the shaft rather than pull the door up with an overhead rail, and they have all worked well.

 

[sberry]

I even converted one chain drive to a jackshaft type unit, they would be my choice.

 

[nate379]

Wish I had known about them earlier, would have done that in the garage. I only have a 9ft ceiling. Not worth it to remove and re-wire now though.

 

[Buckled]

I even converted one chain drive to a jackshaft type unit, they would be my choice.

How did you do that? Pics?

 

[sberry]

I will have to take one, but basically I put a small sprocket with same chain size I wanted to use on the opener unit and a sprocket the same size as the cable drum on the torsion bar and drive it the same as a ready made unit,,, but,,,, mine are comercial doors with solid bar and the opener was heavy duty. I have some doors with units I bought, basically copied them. In the end it looks similar to this one.

 

[jgira12]

Mine works great and I installed it myself as a replacement for a chain drive liftmaster, so most of the wiring was already there. one thing I don't like is the mandatory cable tension monitor. it limits how high your door can go as it is in the path of the cable and the track...bad design.

 

[JCByrd24]

Another very satisfied LM3800 user here. Mine runs two 9x8 insulated doors (custom) with no problem and super quiet. Everyone who see's it comments on how quiet it is. Another advantage, is the ability to high lift with it. My tracks are 5" from my 10' ceiling with an 8' tall door, on stock pulley's and hardware (~12" high lift). Modifying for even more high lift is simply a matter of new cables and pulleys. A standard opener will need a dummy panel and your tracks won't be 5" off your ceiling.

 

[nate379]

How do you figure that? My door is maybe 5" from the ceiling when open. It's close enough that there is maybe 1/2" between the door and the lights when it's opening.

Standard door/opener setup.

 

[IDASHO]

My LM 3800 handles my huge 18'x9' door without a fuss. And is SUPER quiet too. The nylon rollers in the track are louder than the motor

 

[JCByrd24]

How do you figure that? My door is maybe 5" from the ceiling when open. It's close enough that there is maybe 1/2" between the door and the lights when it's opening.

Standard door/opener setup.

My apologies, I was picturing extension springs with a standard opener. I believe extension springs do end up taking more head room in the standard install, correct? I suppose the opener isn't limiting headroom with a torsion bar door though.

I would still strongly urge anyone that is interested in a jackshaft opener to not be swayed otherwise away from the LM 3800.

 

[Daves75]

I'm not sure where your friend is getting his info, when they first came out Lift master had some issue's with the collar and cable tension device. The bugs have been worked out though, we install them daily with no problems.
Your friend my be talking about a recent tech bulletin, that LM put out for the overhead industry. I believe they have had some issues, on 12" radius track we firmly believe they have been installer issues though.

Buy one and don't look back!

 

[Daves75]

I will have to take one, but basically I put a small sprocket with same chain size I wanted to use on the opener unit and a sprocket the same size as the cable drum on the torsion bar and drive it the same as a ready made unit,,, but,,,, mine are comercial doors with solid bar and the opener was heavy duty. I have some doors with units I bought, basically copied them. In the end it looks similar to this one.

This looks like an H style or GH style operator? commercial unit?

 

[jgira12]

I'm not sure where your friend is getting his info, when they first came out Lift master had some issue's with the collar and cable tension device. The bugs have been worked out though, we install them daily with no problems.
Your friend my be talking about a recent tech bulletin, that LM put out for the overhead industry. I believe they have had some issues, on 12" radius track we firmly believe they have been installer issues though.

Buy one and don't look back!

As an installer perhaps you can expand on the tension device. My 8' door is limited to how far it can go up by the location of the tension device. Is there a 'work around' to defeat it? I have no interest in raising the tracks. thanks

 

[sberry]

I don't recall what models they are, I wish I would have bought another one when I did as I got a deal. I need one more 14 ft unit, I had a line on a couple but need to follow up. I have one door we still roll by hand, its occasional though and I rarely open it all the way so its not a huge deal but would be convenient to have power. One of these days I will put some effort forth and find one. Yes, its a commercial unit, the doors are too, high cycle springs.

 

[skeletonizer]

Yeah, I have two LM3800's and love them.

Quiet, small, and far more attractive than conventionals.

 

[GarageDetailer]

The Jackshafts have been out now for several years and have great reviews on the web. I have them installed in my garage and love them.

The 3800 series is being replaced by the 8500 series with MyQ® technology. This will allow you to see the status of your lights and garage door on your smart phone. The motion actived light is also a handy feature. I wouldn't hesitate to buy them again.

 

[AndyL]

As an installer perhaps you can expand on the tension device. My 8' door is limited to how far it can go up by the location of the tension device. Is there a 'work around' to defeat it? I have no interest in raising the tracks. thanks

Pics...

My hunch is you have 10" radius or OHD brand elyptical. Most doors have no issue with this. You may need to move it down so it doesn't contact the drum - but the bottom roller will never pass the apex of the track radius.

 

[Shrimp92]

I ordered 4 liftmaster 3800s, seller said 3800s are getting replaced by 8500s. I said ok. I'm love technology so was excited to see that the my Q was part of the 8500 motors. Here's a picture of the app, I have 2 12x9 and 2 12x10, they have no trouble lifting the doors, although I did get a bad control panel on one door, but liftmaster sent me a new one in a week. I like being able to see when my doors were opened and being able to open them remotely and it saves money on the clicker remotes. In order to use my Q you have to buy the internet gateway. They initially had a monthly charge, but have since removed it and it's totally free.

 

[LX-Markham]

I've got a friend that's in the garage door business and he says that they don't work...

If your friend is in the 'biz', why was he so vague with this absolute statement. Did he offer a reason or some sort of explanation why they "don't work"? To say they don't work is absurd.

 

[BFBOB]

What about locking the door?
A regular opener that runs on a track on the ceiling with an arm attached to the top of the door inherently locks the door shut. Looks to me like the jackshaft openers don't. So they immobilize the jackshaft - that just means the thief has to lift the door with no spring assist.
Kinda defeats one of the purposes of an opener (convenience) if you have to go to the door, unlock it, then open -- and then close it, wait around for it to close completely, and then lock it.
Or am I missing something?

 

[Bojans]

5 years on my 3800 -quiet, fast, secure with the automatic deadbolt and I have never had a hiccup (knock on wood).

 

[Stuart in MN]

If your friend is in the 'biz', why was he so vague with this absolute statement. Did he offer a reason or some sort of explanation why they "don't work"? To say they don't work is absurd.

The original post was four years ago - he may have been referring to those Wayne Dalton openers that everyone was having problems with at the time.

 

[Stuart in MN]

What about locking the door?

As mentioned they have a deadbolt to lock the door closed. http://www.liftmaster.com/lmcv2/productdetail/19724/elite-series-wall-mount-garage-door-opener/

 

[LX-Markham]

The original post was four years ago - he may have been referring to those Wayne Dalton openers that everyone was having problems with at the time.

LOL, totally missed that. I read the entire thread.

Hate it when somebody digs up an old thread

 

[HeadsUp]

If your friend is in the 'biz', why was he so vague with this absolute statement. Did he offer a reason or some sort of explanation why they "don't work"? To say they don't work is absurd.

I'd be willing to bet the reason the OP made the statement due to the fact that the LM3800 was not available yet.

Edit: Doh, Stuart beat me to it. Darn old threads!

 

[kgorman]

8500's and they work great. Use iphone app.

 

[sneasle]

Time to resurrect this thread.

Just bought a new house and am considering putting one of these in. My door appears to be a torsion spring type, but I do believe there is another style that looks similar that is not compatible with the Liftmaster 8500?


Are there any other installation tips/tricks I should be aware of with these? Want to make sure that when I start it I can have it done over the course of the weekend, and not end up having to call a garage door guy the following Monday.

 

[Aaxmym]

I've had my LM3800 in place for about a year. The only issue I've had with it right from the start is that sometimes it takes a few presses of the in-car remote button to get it to open. The wall-mounted interior remote works like a champ.

 

[toyoguy81]

I installed the LM8500 last month with internet gateway. So far so good on 1 12x10 OH door, internet gateway is awesome, send you an alert if motion is detected due to remote light coming on or if door opens and closes. Pretty sweet, quiet and takes up little room, I love mine.

 

[davintosh]

I figured there would be a HAMB thread or three on this topic. I've been thinking of installing a jackshaft opener in my garage, and have looked at the LM8500, but I've also seen some info online about modifying a standard opener to drive the jackshaft. The biggest obstacle to doing it is figuring out a lock for it; the LiftMaster units come with a deadbolt that locks the door, but they don't offer much info on how they work. Is it a solenoid-operated deal? If so, what triggers the solenoid?

 

[LegacyIndustrial]

I'm not sure where your friend is getting his info, when they first came out Lift master had some issue's with the collar and cable tension device. The bugs have been worked out though, we install them daily with no problems.
Your friend my be talking about a recent tech bulletin, that LM put out for the overhead industry. I believe they have had some issues, on 12" radius track we firmly believe they have been installer issues though.

Buy one and don't look back!

Jackshaft openers are designed for high-lift, tilt-away and vertical lift.
There isn't a manufacturer out there that will warranty any cable issues on a standard lift or low-head room using a jackshaft.

If you go this route, below a high-lift, make sure you add a set of pusher springs to the track. These will keep pressure on the cables, helping them stay on the drum.

The trolley opener is ideally suited for low head room and standard lift track configs.

 

[tdkkart]

Jackshaft openers are designed for high-lift, tilt-away and vertical lift.
There isn't a manufacturer out there that will warranty any cable issues on a standard lift or low-head room using a jackshaft.
If you go this route, below a high-lift, make sure you add a set of pusher springs to the track. These will keep pressure on the cables, helping them stay on the drum.
The trolley opener is ideally suited for low head room and standard lift track configs.

If it weren't for the mis-informed.........

I've got 4 Liftmaster LM3800 jackshaft openers on standard lift doors with no extra equipment whatsoever, and all are setup to allow full clearance in the door openings. I installed them myself and they have been working flawlessly for the past 5 years.

 

[LegacyIndustrial]

Please contact one of the big manufacturers and ask them if they recommend or will warranty this set-up.

Again, they are designed to lift a door with pressure on the cables.
I am glad it is working well for you and you likely have just enough pressure at the turn to keep them intact. After some time, the cables start to take a set and the likelihood diminishes.

If it was not a real problem there wouldn't be a market for "pusher" springs.

Here is some info from Chamberlain:


Do I need pusher springs for my LiftMaster Residential Jackshaft Opener (RJO) Model 3800 and 8500?
Published 12/24/2009 09:40 AM | Updated 04/11/2014 09:32 AM

What are Pusher Springs and When Would They be Necessary for an Install?

What are pusher springs?

Pusher springs are springs located on the back end of the horizontal door track. Pusher springs are typically used to help get the door started down. They also help keep resistance on the cable during the closing of the door.

Do I need pusher springs for my LiftMaster Residential Jackshaft Opener (RJO) Model 3800 or 8500?

You need pusher springs if your door resists closing on its own when the unit starts to close the door. Also if your door tends to trip the cable tension monitor on the initial close and the cable is the proper distance from the wall, pusher springs may be necessary if resetting the up travel to a lower level does not fix the issue.