Squeaky noisy rollers!

[andyvh1959]

Built my new 24 x 28 motorcycle shop garage, and used all new materials from Menards instead of doing another garage take down/relocation like my previous garage project back in 98. That was successful, but a lot of work to save $$$.

So the new garage got a brand new Ideal 7x16 steel insulated OH door. Great, all new hardware, nothing to fudge or repair to make it work right. The door was easy to install even just doing it myself with no 2nd pair of hands. But damn are those nice shiny nylon door rollers really squeal. When I 1st took them out of the package I thought great, new technology. I may replace all the rollers with new replacement steel rollers because these make so much noise.

 

[Bondo]

Ayuh,..... So Oil 'em,.....

 

[Wrench97]

Nylon or steel rollers?

 

[PhantomEB]

I swapped out my metals for nylon ones and usually every six months spray some kroil into the roller shafts.

 

[sberry]

Look for a scrape or rub. They sound like that.

 

[andyvh1959]

Well certainly, oil. Not that much of a duh. But nylon rollers, bushing style, should at least come from the manufacturer pre-lubed. Once installed there is little easy way to lube them (unlike the older steel rollers) other than dousing them with spray on white lithium grease, WD40, Kroil, whatever you want to use. I'm thinking the outer diameter of the roller is also squealing along the track itself, which the steel roller don't squeal that way.

If the nylon rollers are an upgrade, then they should be quieter out of the box. Otherwise people a lot less savvy than us on this forum would be calling the door manufacturer complaining. Having worked customer technical support in many ways, you don't want to deal with unknowing home owners any more than needed.

 

[SALIV8]

Have you tried lubing the horizontal shaft of the roller that moves in/out?

 

[andyvh1959]

I will. I'll drill a 1/8" hole into the hub of the nylon roller so I can insert a sprayer tube from either White Lithium grease or WD40 right into the shaft area of the rollers. Shouldn't have to do that, but i will to quiet these squealers.

 

[Wrench97]

Are you sure that's where the noise is coming from?
Probably easier to just swap them out.

 

[Chevy-SS]

Not WD-40, that's too light. I use "Chain Lube" in a spray can. It works great for every moving part on my garage doors, and for lots of other stuff too!

 

[spudley]

I think I bought the same door as my rollers also squeak. Otherwise the doors are fine.

But I wouldn't use WD-40, unless you like redoing it very often.

 

[andyvh1959]

Turns out the squeal/noise is not the rollers. And its not the plastic torsion tube retainers at each end just outside of the cables drums (Ideal door had suggested those may cause the noise). The loud squeal/noise is the inside diameter of the torsion spring contacting the torsion rod as the door goes up and down. With the door down, I found I can grab the torsion spring and slightly turn or move it without pressing it against the torsion tube and it makes the noise. So I tried some WD40 sprayed over the torsion spring and the noise is greatly reduced. So great, the noise is nearly gone, but the concern now is contact usually means wear. So over time will the harder spring material wear into the mild steel torsion tube?

 

[matt_i]

I think the choice of grease and WD40 are poor lubricants. I use a drop of oil. Take your pick from many, engine oil, machine tool way-oils, chainsaw bar oil, even a sewing machine oil from a Zoom Spout oiler would be better.

 

[andyvh1959]

I agree. I used WD40 at the time because it was handy. Going forward I'll find a suitable tacky oil, like motorcycle chain oil, something that lubes and is made to stay in place.

What is bothersome to me is my 25 year old Coplay garage door in the attached garage makes no noise from the torsion springs and torsion tube. So it may indicate Ideal Door designed the system using a torsion spring with a smaller ID (cost saving?) but in so doing it causes the spring to contact the torsion tube. That, or the Coplay components have worn in to the point that contact is minimal. All I know is the 25 year old Coplay door is FAR more quiet than the brand new Ideal door. Note too, I have never applied any lube on the Coplay door springs.

 

[LS6 Tommy]

Most of the time squeaking garage door rollers aren't the wheels squeaking on the shaft. It's the head of the roller end of the shaft rubbing against the inside of the track because the door doesn't stay parallel to the track as it closes.

Tommy

 

[nadogail]

WD40 sells a garage door lube, I bought some and like it.

 

[kaymccampbell]

I'm with nadogail. That WD garage door lube works great.

 

[andyvh1959]

I was careful to make certain the door tracks are perpendicular to the door, and parallel to each other, and the tracks do not widen or narrow as the door tracks up. I also made certain the cables were evenly tensioned even before I started cranking up the preload on the torsion spring. The door tracks up and down easily and evenly. The noise is all coming from the torsion spring on the torsion tube.

 

[Dogmeat]

My torsion springs were rubbing the coils against each other, causing noise....I lowered the door & put some gear lube on the coils, and NO more noise, and the door worked smoother as well.....Quiet doors are great, except for the group "The DOORS"...they HAFTA be LOUD!! ("Doncha' love her madly!"...."Riders On The Storm")

 

[andyvh1959]

Gear lube? You used Hypoid gear lube on the torsion spring? Bet it works great but Hypoid stinks!

+1 on the Doors! Great tunes for the shop stereo. I have a 27" tall wood cabinet 80's vintage speaker hung in each corner of my shop garage. Great place to listen to the Eagles, Doobies, Zeppelin, Allman Brothers, have a cold one, do some wrenching.

 

[JamesW84]

Clopay makes ideal doors. Are you sure your bearing is seated properly in the spring? Not sure how the spring could rub anything if it's installed correctly (no offense).
I'm no expert, but I've installed 3 on my shop so far.

 

[Hot Rod Grampa]

With the door closed, the spring, if a conventional spring, should not have flex or movement. If you have an EZ set or some type of gear set up, you may have a plastic tube inside the torsion spring and yes they can be noisy. There is no way to put lube on the shaft inside the plastic liner. With the door open so the spring is stretched out, you could drill several small holes in the plastic tube and spray some lube in there to see if that helps. Good luck.

 

[andyvh1959]

Everything is in place per the instructions from Ideal. The door tracks up and down great. The noise is either the inner diameter of the spring rubbing on the torsion tube, or the spring coils rubbing on each other. Applying lube onto the the spring coils definitely makes it much quieter.

The 25+ year old Clopay door in my attached garage makes no similar noises and I've never had to lube the torsion springs.

 

[Blue XJ]

I replaced my rollers with urethane ones. They look similar to the material used in rollerblade wheels. Extremely quiet, and it's been 3 years now and I haven't had to do any maintenance on them. I think it was under $20 from Amazon.


After reading all the replies, I see my reply will not help!

 

[kald]

They make a garage door
lube that sprays as a liquid then turns into grease. It works well.
The door itself squeaks at its pivot points.
These doors will always make noises. Nothing you can do about it but try to minimize it a bit.

 

[AMCguy]

As the door goes up and down the coils of the spring rub against each other.
Mine was making a screeching noise until I moved the adjusting collar over a bit to give the coils a little more room to move.

Glenn

 

[scottydosnntkno]

I agree. I used WD40 at the time because it was handy. Going forward I'll find a suitable tacky oil, like motorcycle chain oil, something that lubes and is made to stay in place.

What is bothersome to me is my 25 year old Coplay garage door in the attached garage makes no noise from the torsion springs and torsion tube. So it may indicate Ideal Door designed the system using a torsion spring with a smaller ID (cost saving?) but in so doing it causes the spring to contact the torsion tube. That, or the Coplay components have worn in to the point that contact is minimal. All I know is the 25 year old Coplay door is FAR more quiet than the brand new Ideal door. Note too, I have never applied any lube on the Coplay door springs.

One thing to note, nowadays ideal IS clopay since clopay makes ideal doors. Ideal is just the Menards house brand

I have four ideal 5 layer handcrafted door on my house, and when ‘ideal’ send a factory rep out for an issue he was actually a clopay factory repairmen, and left me with a clopay corporate service card on my ideal door.

If you look close, the options and information are virtually identical between the two of them

 

[andyvh1959]

Good to know. I wonder if the 25 year old door spring coils basically polished themselves in contact during use to the point they don't squeal anymore.

 

[gnpenning]

Good to know. I wonder if the 25 year old door spring coils basically polished themselves in contact during use to the point they don't squeal anymore.

No. The person that installed the old door knew what they were doing, the new door, not so much. The mentality to just oil noisy springs shows a complete lack of knowledge.

 

[M-technik-3]

Changed mine out two months ago for sealed bearing nylon units and greased the shafts with whit lithium and it's been noticeably quieter than it had been. In fact the old steel wheels had sealed bearings but made noise when I spun them by hand not in the frame.

 

[andyvh1959]

Ok,...I'm the "guy" that installed the new door. My house had the 25 year old door in place when I bought it. I have found numerous indications in the house that less than stellar knowledge of how to do things right applied. So how could I have installed the Ideal OH door any different than the instructions indicate? The vertical door tracks are plumb, the tracks are 90 degrees to the wall and parallel to each other, the door tracks perfectly and easily, and the rollers are not the noise issue. So what did I miss to indicate I didn't know what I was doing?

The old door has a torsion spring at each end of the torsion tube, with the collars to insert a rod into, to preload the springs. The new door has only one spring and the "easy" system where you use a drill to turn an enclosed collar to preload the spring, and the spring has the tell-tale stripe on it so you can count the number of twists in the preload. Coplay/Ideal designed the spring/torsion tube system so one spring does the job of what two used to do (cost savings, simpler). Maybe I'll back off the easy set system and then reset it.