One garage door cable came off...need help

[buening]

I admit I haven't messed with garage doors much. Last night the door went haywire and racked itself on the way closed. In the process one of the door cables unspooled from the drum. I now think I need to get the door closed to attach the cable again. Will the torsion spring need to be rewound again? If so I may farm the work out. If it is as simple as lowering the door and reattaching the cable in the drum then I may tackle it. The other cable is still attached, but I think the two are independent of each other (2 springs). Can anyone help?

 

[bb1970]

I thought I was going to kill myself the last time I fooled with a garage door spring. Those thing have some major tension on them. I never did figure it out. My door on the house garage is 16' wide. And heavy as hell. Had to call a repairman. Be very careful.

 

[Jack Olsen]

I'll work on a lot of things. But I've heard some real nightmare injury stories about garage springs. Proceed with caution -- or call a guy.

 

[Kevin54]

Look closely at the torsion spring and make sure it did not break and cause the cable to jump. When the cable jumps it will normally be one of two things.....either the spring broke and unwound (you'll have to look close to see it) or one of the wheels in the track gave out and bound the door. You can check the spring by turning it by hand one way or another. Then look at the wheels and see if the rod didn't slide through the wheel itself and caught on the door track. After a few years some of the bearings go bad in them if they don't have proper periodic lubricant.

 

[buening]

Thanks guys. I don't think I want to mess with rewinding the spring, if that is what is needed to get the cable back on the drum. I'll check to see if the spring broke. I have a feeling the track came out of alignment, as the door doesn't want to manually close all the way and the bottom of one track is slightly twisted. The bottom of the left track is what is twisted and the right cable is the one that came out, kind of opposite corners so to speak.

I came out in the garage last night after my wife saying that the door wasn't closed. I looked and the door was cocked in the opening and the right cable was wrapped around the torsion bar...completely off of the drum except the end of the cable was still attached to the drum.

 

[ImportTuner]

I had the same exact problem about 2 months ago .. I called the local garage door guy (he was out within 1.5 hrs) and he swapped out the spring and adjusted every (spent 2 hrs.) and cost me $100 ..

 

[sberry]

There was another thread with thorough explanation on it a while back. Not sure where it is, we just did one recently. Its usually ones first instinct to want to mess with the spring, almost a compulsion but may not be necessary.

 

[SportFury59]

Depends what kind of torsion springs you have. If you have the type that you have to wind/unwind with 2 half inch diameter bars it can be dangerous.

If you're lucky and you have the newer EZ set springs you can use a cordless drill with a 7/16" socket to wind or unwind without any problem.

 

[ddawg16]

I had to remove my garage door when I demo'd my old garage....it's always easier to take something apart than put it together....

Anyway....the way 'I adjusted' it was to raise the door all the way up. I loosened the screws on the cable wheel....wraped the cable around it real snug.....then turned the torsion bar a few turns so that it had what felt like enough tension...then I tighted the screws on the cable wheel. On the other side I wound the cable around the wheel...got the cable nice and snug so that both sides looked to be the same...then tightened the screws.

Seems to work fine....I did have a problem at first...but it was my fault...I had the rails a bit too close together so the door was binding on one side...the other side would go down...the cable would pop off the other side and everthing got screwed up.

Bascially...you don't want to engage the door opener until you can easily raise and lower the door by hand without any binding....

 

[nate379]

I don't get why people fear a garage door spring. You guys are doing home wiring, plumbing, welding, etc but a spring scares you?

 

[Falcon67]

I don't get why people fear a garage door spring. You guys are doing home wiring, plumbing, welding, etc but a spring scares you?

It goes WoooooNNNGGGG and it's gonna GET me!

 

[Git]

I don't get why people fear a garage door spring. You guys are doing home wiring, plumbing, welding, etc but a spring scares you?

I agree. I had a torsion spring break and the hardest part was actually finding a place to sell you a new one.

How to Replace Torsion Type Garage Door Springs

 

[Doug I]

nate - some of those springs have A LOT of energy stored in them. If one isn't using the correct tools to hold/adjust the spring and it goes wrong then as Falcon says it'll go WoooooNNNGGGG and bits of fingers and hands could get caught up in the mess. Getting blood off an expoxy/polished floor is easy but it tends to soak into any unpainted sheetrock.

If one knows what one is doing and has the correct tools then it's not so much of an issue.

Sometimes some things are best fixed with a checkbook.

 

[katit]

After I paid to the guy to adjust a door I figured that I need to DIY if I want it right. Takes some time to learn about everything but it's much easier then other stuff you guys doing. Dangerous? Yes and no. If you do it right - there is no risk. I've done cables, rollers and bearings on my 16x8 insulated door all by myself. I adjusted tracks and squared door so it's perfectly balanced. Took me few hours but now I can do it any time no problem.

All you need to know:
http://www.truetex.com/garage.htm

Cmon, it's not god's who do that stuff. What I can't/won't do myself is tinting. That requires experience. Garage doors - piece of cake.

 

[katit]

Oh, and to get back on topic.

Cable is about $8, replace both as it will require unwinding spring(s) anyway.
Cable pulley fixed to the shaft. Both pulleys have to evenly hold door. So, when door down under it's weight you need to put some tension in cable by swinging pulley until you feel like door almost wants to go up (no spring tension yet). Do the same to other side. Now put tension on springs so you can raise the door. Make sure when door in top position you have same amount of slack/tension on cables and if not - make sure shaft parallel to the ground and try to adjust cable on one side a little. When cables good in both up and down positions - release spring tension and if you have 2 springs - do adjustment properly by applying tension to each side (see link)

 

[kbs2244]

The thing to remember is the springs are under tention when the door is down.
They are relaxed when the door is up.

Do your research well.

But, if it is your first time, I would hire it out and be there to watch closely.

 

[buening]

Thanks for the help! I just called a local garage door place and they said it'd be $60 to do the work. I don't have the solid steel bars to wind the spring up, so by the time I drive and pay for the bars I'd probably have half of that $60 in supplies. I may hire this one out since I've not done the work and just watch the repairmen do the work. After watching, I should be better prepared to do the work in the future if its needed. It's definitely not rocket science, but I would like the door adjusted as well to make sure it's balanced correctly and not overworking my opener.

 

[mooman]

Smart Man!!

 

[sammerdog]

fwiw - it's not that big of a deal if you're cautious. Good ol Menard's now stocks the torsion springs. $35 neighborhood.

3' of half inch stock will set you back $3. Cut it in half and you have your two 18" winding bars. Set your ladder off to the side as you wind just in case you lose your grip or sneeze and you'll be fine.

....oh yeah, and have TWO 7/16ths wrenches in your pockets. That way when you drop the first one as you're adjusting the lock bolt, you'll still have a second one in your pocket.......

 

[buening]

LOL, if that is the case I'll probably need a pocket full of wrenches! I seem to be all thumbs when in a pickle

 

[buening]

Just got it fixed. Had I known that the spring did not come unwound when the cable comes off I would have done it myself. He simply put the cable back in and on track, and then put an extra half turn on the spring because it was out of adjustment (prior to cable issue) and then he was off. I was expecting to have to wind both springs up to the 7 or whatever turns it was that I read and do all of the adjusting. Nice $60 for a 5 minute job.

 

[Kevin54]

At least nothing was broke and it was a simple fix.

 

[sberry]

Had I known that the spring did not come unwound when the cable comes off I would have done it myself. He simply put the cable back in and on track,

Like I said before, there is almost a compulsion to want to fool with the spring, its difficult to get around the thought that you might not need to. There was a thread on this earlier.