Need springs what size?

[inline five]

Hey guys

My garage door spring broke and need to buy two new ones.

Attached is a pic of the tag that came with them.

Locally around $290 installed for someone to do it. Wondering if it's a DIY and how much I would save.

From what I gather it would be a .243 spring, 32" length, 2" inner diameter. LH and RH one each. Beyond that not sure and if it's available at HD or online.

 

[Tracs]

Hey guys

My garage door spring broke and need to buy two new ones.

Attached is a pic of the tag that came with them.

Locally around $290 installed for someone to do it. Wondering if it's a DIY and how much I would save.

From what I gather it would be a .243 spring, 32" length, 2" inner diameter. LH and RH one each. Beyond that not sure and if it's available at HD or online.

A quick google shows the springs at HD for $50 each. Stores may or may not have them in stock. Are you prepared to wait weeks for delivery?

So you are over $100 for material. Is your skill set up to dismantling the old springs, cables, drums, and installing new ones without taking your arm or face off when the re-bar you used to wind the springs slip out?

For under $300 I would just have someone come do it.

 

[rburke65]

It's been a long time ago that I worked with these springs, so take this with a few grains of salt! The .243 is the diameter of the wire of the spring. And I'D GUESS.... 32" long. That's about where I have to leave you. It was a good idea to retain that tag.

 

[Hot Rod Grampa]

Find a local dealer. Many stock common size springs, others can make them up from 10' long stock. There is a left and right, makes a big difference. You will need proper size winding bars. Understand that those springs will have the same energy as the weight of the door. Also you will have to unwind the existing spring with tension. Not knowing your skill set so those kind of repairs I cringed when customers wanted to do themselves. Quite a few times they realized they were in over their head and I would finish the job for them.

 

[BillK]

https://ddmgaragedoors.com/springs/garage-door-springs.php

 

[NUTTSGT]

When ours broke the Winter before I checked around to try to find one. I found a Wayne Dalton dealer that was about 40 minutes away and had the spring in stock. It was a few pounds off be he said that could be remedied with a little extra turning. . . give or take 5 lbs is what he told me.

I think it was a Saturday and he gave me a extra set of I-Drive remote openers as they were new old stock. I'd go back to that place in a heartbeat.

 

[Cjmac]

Hey guys

My garage door spring broke and need to buy two new ones.

Attached is a pic of the tag that came with them.

Locally around $290 installed for someone to do it. Wondering if it's a DIY and how much I would save.

From what I gather it would be a .243 spring, 32" length, 2" inner diameter. LH and RH one each. Beyond that not sure and if it's available at HD or online.

You might not want to hear this .. but I played with replacing a door spring just last year .. if you are not 100% confident in tension adjustment you could easily knock your *** of the ladder and launch your door .. serious injury risk!! It’s worth 2-3 hundred to have installed professionally while you watch and drink beer safely

 

[inline five]

I looked up HD but couldn't find what I was looking for as an exact match, maybe I was looking in the wrong place. I found yellow ones but wasn't sure what that meant.

So instead I found this site:

https://www.expressgaragedoorparts....MInI6Sj5b72QIVFIh-Ch1nrwicEAQYASABEgJGS_D_BwE

The owner answered on the first ring. It's a garage door co that also sells online. He was an installer and ordered me exact replacements. My setup was a little different than their examples so he walked me through that. Total was $115 shipped including winding rods.

At this point it's not so much about the $175 saved but I wanted to learn how to do this.

My door setup is complicated, I installed shelving above it which will probably have to be removed regardless, beyond that I'm looking forward to learning something new. I already own a 3/8" square socket (thanks Cman 300 pc socket set) so that should make it easier.

 

[inline five]

You might not want to hear this .. but I played with replacing a door spring just last year .. if you are not 100% confident in tension adjustment you could easily knock your *** of the ladder and launch your door .. serious injury risk!! It’s worth 2-3 hundred to have installed professionally while you watch and drink beer safely

I'm not confident but only because I've never done it before. I said the same thing about swapping out my transmission and here we are six years later still going haha.

 

[NUTTSGT]

If you're winding it yourself, be very careful. Those things will kick your ***, knock you off the ladder and scratching your head wondering what the hell just happened.

Yeah put some safety glasses on when you're winding that thing up.

 

[inline five]

Thanks Nutt I plan to be very careful.

 

[MagKarl]

You will need a set of winding bars, usually 1/2" diameter steel round bar fits well.

Make them ~ 2 feet long, 2 of them. It's a tedious job, quarter turn at a time, but not difficult.

Nothing to be afraid of. Don't let the naysayers talk you out of DIY if you're confident.

 

[mmb617]

My Wayne Dalton springs are internal to the tube and don't use winding bars to tension them. I was under the impression all WD systems are that way but I could be wrong. The link BillK provided has a tutorial on how to install and wind that type of spring. Much safer to DIY than the type that uses a winding bar IMO.

I have 3 doors that use the internal springs and 1 high lift door with the external spring that uses a winding bar to tension and that one is scary, the WD's are much easier.

 

[ItsNemo]

I really don't like hiring contractors (if some of you haven't already noticed) but this is one where the money is actually worth it. That said, $190 is pricey. Last time I had someone out to fix a snapped spring it was only $150 CAD including materials.

 

[kenners]

Measure depth of the hole where the winding bars will be inserted. (either use winding bar or small screw driver) Mark that depth on the end of the winding bars with a sharpie. You want to be assured that the bars are FULLY inserted before you start to rotate the spring.

 

[mikegt4]

I take my broken spring(s) to the local Overhead Door dealer and he matches it up. Having the spec. tag will make it easy. I have done at least a half dozen over the years. The last one that I replaced for a std. 16' wide residential door cost me $56. Installation was easy, lots of good info here already. If you don't feel up to doing it yourself that's OK. Just watch the installer do the job and you can do it yourself the next time.

 

[inline five]

Measure depth of the hole where the winding bars will be inserted. (either use winding bar or small screw driver) Mark that depth on the end of the winding bars with a sharpie. You want to be assured that the bars are FULLY inserted before you start to rotate the spring.

Awesome tip thank you.

Should be here tomorrow!

 

[inline five]

My Wayne Dalton springs are internal to the tube and don't use winding bars to tension them. I was under the impression all WD systems are that way but I could be wrong. The link BillK provided has a tutorial on how to install and wind that type of spring. Much safer to DIY than the type that uses a winding bar IMO.

I have 3 doors that use the internal springs and 1 high lift door with the external spring that uses a winding bar to tension and that one is scary, the WD's are much easier.

It's almost 15 years old so maybe an older design. Definitely uses external springs.

 

[mmb617]

It's almost 15 years old so maybe an older design. Definitely uses external springs.

My garage doors were installed in 2004 so they are right around that same age. I guess I was wrong in thinking all the WD doors used the internal spring setup.


It's said you learn something new every day, so now I'm done for today. The pressure is off!

 

[nes999]

I had a spring break over this past winter. He had the spring on his truck and cost around 200 bucks. Within 12 hours my door was back to working.

Sent from my VS988 using Tapatalk

 

[miragesmack]

I redid my springs on my 80 year old wood door. First, springs are color coded, so if it's not too old, there may be a splash of color on the end coils. Second, you don't have to be exact on spring rates, but want to use your best estimate. I went to a garage door installer and got their advice. Lastly, you should run a safety wire through the spring, then tie it off on both ends to something. That will contain a spring if and when it breaks. Do that before you install and you should be good. New springs won't break right away anyway, they need to fatigue a bit first.

 

[Bluedodge]

Take your time, respect the springs, keep your body off to the side, and you'll be fine. Have a second 7/16ths inch wrench in your pocket. That way you're covered when you drop the first one by accident....

 

[inline five]

So it took under an hour to do the actual replacement. The issue was I had shelves above my door that interfered with the winding, so it took some time to get those out of the way. Then it took me and hour and a half to find my missing extension and garage door opener that I lost. Nothing can ever be easy.

 

[gnpenning]

I redid my springs on my 80 year old wood door. First, springs are color coded, so if it's not too old, there may be a splash of color on the end coils. Second, you don't have to be exact on spring rates, but want to use your best estimate. I went to a garage door installer and got their advice. Lastly, you should run a safety wire through the spring, then tie it off on both ends to something. That will contain a spring if and when it breaks. Do that before you install and you should be good. New springs won't break right away anyway, they need to fatigue a bit first.

For anybody reading, this information is for extension springs not torsion springs.

If you have extension springs without a cable running through,follow the above information.


OP glad you have it working. How did the door balance?

 

[inline five]

OP glad you have it working. How did the door balance?

Pretty well, I did the recommended 31 turns for my door size.

 

[miragesmack]

For anybody reading, this information is for extension springs not torsion springs.

If you have extension springs without a cable running through,follow the above information.


OP glad you have it working. How did the door balance?

Yeah. My bad, I want paying attention to him have torsion springs. My house long predates those suckers.

 

[gnpenning]

You gave useable information to those with extension springs. Don't worry.