Raising The Garage Door Channels

[Glemon]

I have been reading through the archives, but still have some questions. I need to raise the height of the horizontal door channels to accomodate a lift. Need to go up about 14" (all I have room for). Single stall 9 x 7' door with twisty spring on a rod and a standard belt drive pulls from the middle back garage door opener.

As I said, read a lot and still confused, thought I saw an article by one guy who said he angled the channels rather than just extending them straight up and used his standard garage opener rather than going to a sidewinder thing, I would like to go that route if possible. Thanks, Greg

 

[harley jim]

Greg
Welcome to GJ
I did that once a long time ago. The cieling was a little low and the door rails dropped clearance even more.
I added about 18" to the length of the rail on the wall to move the door above the cieling rafters putting the door into the open attic. I cut an angle of about 15 deg. To allow clearance for the handle to miss the door frame as it went up then married them back to the top rails. I had to make a longer arm to attach the door to the opener and that took a couple of tries to get the geometry right.
Long story to say you need the angle if you have a door handle on the outside.

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[matt_i]

You should first look at the sheaves on the end, with the garage door fully up (max cable).

I'm going to guess at 6" dia, which at (pi * d) means you get approx 18" for one more turn of cable takeup.

If you have room on the sheave's spiral for 1 more clean turn of cable in a groove without pinching, overlaying or crossing an existing groove then you are ready to goto the next step. Otherwise sourcing new wider or larger diameter sheaves as compared to existing, is the first step.

 

[pattenp]

Actual garage door terms...
"twisty spring on a rod" = torsion spring
"sidewinder thing" = jackshaft opener
"sheave" = cable drum

 

[Walter_TA]

Hi

Go here pay the money.
https://ddmgaragedoors.com/diy-instructions/garage-door-high-lift-conversion.php

Be careful the twisty spring on a rod can kill you. Get the sidewinder thing. If you are not careful you will end up in hospital.

 

[BD1]

I suggest getting a price from local garage door people.


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[kbuhagiar]

This is one of those jobs that I was glad to farm out. The local garage door outfit charged me $500 total parts and labor to raise the tracks and run them along the ceiling. Money well spent.

 

[firebirdparts]

I angled mine up at about a 20 degree angle to get away from the lift; I just cut a little bit of the curve off with a saw, and drilled a few holes. They're not picky.

They don't make a cable drum for this scenario. If you do that, there's no way you can adjust the springs to get it perfect all the time. I adjusted mine to get it perfect when it's half open. I do not use an opener, but I think an opener could handle it.

It is possible to make it work well with a drum that is designed to do so, but I don't have such a drum and I don't care enough to make one.

 

[Glemon]

Thanks for the notes on the terminology, you knew what I meant and I learned something so effective communication, yeah. What do you call a conventional residential garage door opener? Just a garage door opener?. From the comments it sounds like I can still use it.

I have two open turns on the sheave or cable drum but will probably need longer cables.

I built the most of three stall garage and installed the three doors and openers myself, a year ago, so thinking I can figure out a modification to the door and opener. Just looking for a few been there done that tips.

 

[harley jim]

I didnt move my shaft/spring/ or cable drums. They stayed in the original location.
If you do move the assembly up to the top you will only need longer cables. The door will still travel the same distance from full shut to full open, the height of the opening. A larger cable drum is not needed.


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[Glemon]

Harley Jim--thanks, just looked at the whole thing and realized you are right, I wouldn't need to move the shaft springs and cables, that makes it considerably easier.

 

[harley jim]

Glemon
Your welcome
In reality everything stays the same your just redirecting where its going.


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[Glemon]

Right, I was thinking the door would hit it, but already pulled clear by existing channel, as you said just redirect it after that.