Need help calculating garage door torsion spring

[shodan]

I have just purchased a new home and it came with an uninstalled garage door.

The door panels came with vertical and horizontal tracks, complete spring assembly but no brackets nor cables.

First thing I want to do is calculate what spring I should have and then calculate what spring I have.

I'm going over there later today and I'll measure wire size, inside diameter and length.

I calculated that the door weights 229 pounds and it is 9 feet wide and 8.125 feet high.

I forgot to measure track radius and I'll get that later tonight.

For now I would like to know, how can I tell which spring I need based on my values of door size, weight and track radius ?

Thanks
JF

 

[LB-1911]

The information below should be of use.

Introduction to Garage Doors
http://ddmgaragedoors.com/index.php

Garage Door Springs
http://ddmgaragedoors.com/springs/garage-door-springs.php

Find My Spring Database™
Scroll down the page @
http://ddmgaragedoors.com/springs/standard-torsion-springs.php#database

 

[gilbert0]

You can try contacting DIY Garage Door Parts for help. Their DIY videos are excellent!

Good luck!

http://www.diy-garage-door-parts.com/how-to-videos/

 

[upndown]

Need a little more info! Weight seems a little high for a 9x8 door. Is this a new door, Insulated? Weigh each individual section, then all the hinges on a bathroom scale..there's your weight. measure your springs.. length, ID, 20 coil count. Sounds like you may have a Hodge Podge there. Some one thought they could save some money, bought a bunch of odd pieces, that's why it was never installed.

 

[shodan]

Hi,

http://ddmgaragedoors.com/ is indeed great and I learned a lot from them but I can't figure out how to use their "find my spring" database to computer which spring I need for my door.

It seems to only work if you already have the right spring and it just broke or something.

I have a spring but I'm not sure it's the right one.

I have taken some measurements of the tracks and spring.

The track radius appears to be 13 5/16".

The wire diameter is a tiny bit less than 0.250" (10 count at 2.5" and 20 count at 4 15/16).

There are two springs they each measure 33.75" long (full lenght minus the last turn) and the inside diameter is 1.75".

My door is heavy because 3 of the sections are basically just a big piece of glass.

I forgot to measure the length of the vertical track, not sure how much lift I have.

It wasn't installed because unfortunately, the friend who sold this house to me, has died from cancer before the garage was raised.

 

[Spottty]

I had an issue with my door not opening or closing well.


I called a door guy. $75 and I have both my hands because I didnt touch the spring. Those things are super dangerous!!!

 

[lt1driver]

get a pro, springs can cost you fingers etc. or a best mega pain and special tool needed to do right. best money i ever spent paying guy to do...quick, done right and no danger to me...good luck

 

[upndown]

Sorry to hear about your friend! Unfortunately without a weight on that door everything is just guess work, glass makes a BIG difference.

I would get all your measurements together, vertical tracks as well as radius, door weight, drum size, etc. Not sure what hardware you Do have, but you are obviously missing some pieces, then call a local door co. Tell them what you have and they should be able to tell you what you need. Might be a good idea to buy your parts from them as well, just in case there's any errors. Alot easier than shipping **** back and forth to an Online supplier!

Hell, I would even get them to quote you an Install price, you might be surprised.

 

[shodan]

I have called 3 door companies, 2 said we only install our doors last said 500-600 (and I will need 54" high lift, so it's going to be even more than that)

The drum, I stupidly forgot to measure, I assume it is 4", will need to measure when I go there again.

The door is definitely 229 pounds, I even have photographic evidence !

http://imgur.com/a/zjXLN

There are also pictures of the rest of the hardware.

I'm at least missing, the cables, mounting brackets, hinges, rollers. (And since I want 54" lift, I need a different drum and a bracket to hold the piece of track between the vertical and horizontal).

 

[oishearsy]

You can try contacting DIY Garage Door Parts for help.

 

[jimindm]

That does not appear to be a typical garage door. Most people do not want that much glass in their garage door. Is it for an application other than a garage? I would not want that much glass in a typical garage door.

What kind of guy was you friend. Did he scavenge and scrounge, and just make stuff work? If he bought that door locally, and I would have a hard time believing that he did not, there is likely a garage door company in your area that has the pieces that you need. It just looks like a door that has been custom made for something other than a garage application.

By the pictures there does not appear to be the space needed to mount the hinges found on a typical garage door. If the door was a special order, maybe all of the required operational pieces are special, and can not just be bought off the shelf.

You are missing quite a few pieces. Are you wanting to use this door? I would look into an off the shelf door at a box store. It may not cost much more than the pieces you need to make your door usable.

I would bet a a few calls to door companies in your area, will get you what you need. My bet some one in your area sold that door to him. You may have to drop his name and address to jog memories of the right people. Also it is hard to believe that the whole door was not together. Meaning everything to install it. If you can not find it on site, there is a garage door company out there with a box of hardware they want to get rid of, due to it not working on typical doors.

To answer your question of the springs. I have two doors very close to the size of yours. They are not full of glass. Just insulated, aluminum doors. They have one spring. You have pictured two springs. That set up is what I have on my 8.5X16 door. I would imagine the weight would be close.

 

[Kevin54]

Is there a name on any of the door panels giving an idea as to where it came from? Is this a brand new house, or just a new house to you?

If it is a brand new house, I would get in touch with the contractor who built it and see where the door came from and why you have a bunch of mismatched ****. Cables aren't a problem, rollers aren't a problem, brackets aren't a problem. The problem lies where the door wasn't put up in the first place, and you have two torsion bars. You don't know if the rails are even for that door.

I'd almost be tempted to just scrap that **** and have a door company come and put in a brand new door to your specs and call it a day.

BTW.....if you put you area of location in your profile, it may help to answer future questions. Not even a city, but just a state or providence would help.

 

[jstroede]

Well I see a lot of parts there to work with. The full vision sections look like they might be Overhead model 511 sections. How many total sections do you have? It is hard to see in the picture, but it looks like you have 1 insulated section and 4 full vision sections? How thick are the sections? 1 3/4"?

If you want high lift, the springs and drums are useless. Ignore them and work with what you have. Are you wanting to try and fabricate the high lift yourself? How tall is your current vertical track, and how long is the horizontal?

Those full view sections are $$$$$$$$.

John

 

[shodan]

Thanks for all the replies.

I really want to install these doors because of all the natural light they bring, heating and cooling will be a ***** but I plan to use close celled urethane for insulation to compensate the heat conductivity of the door.

The garage is newly built but the architect was my friend, the person who raised and put together the garage was his nephew but he doesn't know about the door.

I haven't found the rest of the hardware but I haven't searched everywhere, there's just so much stuff.

I know the drums are useless but I was hoping the spring would be good enough. The doors will be motorized with a liftmaster 3800 and I'm hoping it will be strong enough to lift them easily with the increased load of a weaker spring.

That's mainly the reason why I am trying to figure out which spring I need for this door, what the strength of the spring I have is and what spring strenght I need for high lift. That way I will know how much extra stress that will put on the motor. If it's less than 30 pounds I will keep the springs, if it's more then I will get new springs.

 

[upndown]

Generally springs are calculated for a standard lift door, which is what you have. Not for High Lift. Even if the opener would lift the door, you wont have enough spring to keep the cables on the drums in the open position.