Raising horizontal tracks

[wef]

I'm ready to install two 9'Wx8'H Wayne-Dalton insulated garage doors series 9100. I want the door, when lifted, to travel vertically another 2' before turning horizontal to clear the car lift. Wayne-Dalton won't sell or even discuss the problem with a retail customer. I can halfway understand their position since a garage door can definitely do you serious harm. It seems to me that 10' rails is all I need but the installer I talked to and what I read online says the torquemaster has to be replaced and the rails angle should be adjusted by a trained specialist etc. etc. I already have a 7' 9100 and it is extremely light so I don't see any problem using the torquemaster that comes with the 8' doors and the door angle is sales pitch. Am I missing something here? Anyone been this route before?

 

[Schtauffer]

You will need to ditch the Torquemaster spring and install a real torsion setup which will accomodate the high lift track. If you use the Torqemaster, it will not counterbalance the door properly. Short answer, to hold the door open, you will need to overwind the spring, which means the door will want to fly up from the closed position-- the spring will be strong at the bottom and weak at the top. You can do it, but you would need to be a patient person to tolerate the way it will work.

A 9x8 9100 weighs about 82 pounds. You will need the following parts, per door:

highlift track pieces
One pair of OMI-54HL-LD drums (or equivalent)
One 207-27-2" spring
9'10" x 1" tube
End and center bearings
163" cables (assuming 24" HL; HL is measured from top of door to center of horizontal tracks)

WD's track is a little goofy-- you may need to do some slight modifications to get normal track to bolt up to WD's design.

 

[Zeke]

What he said. If you could adapt a 10' door set up to your normal 8' door, it could be raised up to be totally flat in the open position. Otherwise. 2' is hanging over the bend in the tracks. That's got to be problem in adjusting the spring.

It could be worse. How do some get their 8' doors up against a 12' ceiling? I guess I'd be calling a better company for the complexity.

 

[wef]

Good explanation Schtauffer, makes perfect sense. I think I'll hire it out.