torsion spring rewind DIY?

[GregPGH]

I put myself in a stupid position this morning by accidentally pulling my enclosed trailer out of the garage with a cardboard box sitting on the roof in the rear which managed to catch the rain gutter lip on the rear of the roof and lift the 12x12 garage door up higher than the opener lifted it to.

This caused the tension in the springs (I assume) to be fully released and resulted in the cables that wrap around the pulley on each side of the door to shift off the pulley and wrap around the shaft of the assembly that spans the door width. I managed to safely support the weight of the door, unhook the now loose cables from the pulley on each side, and gently lower the door manually with some help but now I need to rewind the spring.

I found a thread here with this link http://www.doorson-line.com/info/torsion_extension_install.pdf that essentially outlines what I believe I need to do, but I was wondering if anyone has done this themselves. I'm the second owner of the garage and I haven't had the chance to see if the instructions for this door were in the packet the previous owner gave me, but I'm wondering if they are basically the same across a few brands in regards to the winding recommendations. Unfortunately I can't locate a brand name on the unit anywhere but could post some pics if that helps anyone in giving me a recommendation.

I contacted the garage door company that is three miles from me who I was told were the original installers should I ever need help for a quote to rewind the spring and was a little put off by the $190 he quoted me over the phone because I assume its a 30 minute job but I'm not trying to insult any professionals here, just save a few bucks if I can do it safely. It appears to be a somewhat dangerous job if you aren't careful or overtighten the springs causing them to snap, but at the same time I would like to think its within my skill set if its simply a matter of turning it back 13 turns (example of what is in the attached manual) or whatever my model calls for assuming i do have the manual.

Any thoughts would be appreciated, while I'd like to save $190 and the headache of an appointment (I am in and out all day long) I also know I'll lose a 50 times that or more in revenue for the business that operates in this garage if I'm laid up for the next two months because I tried to save time and money doing it myself instead of scheduling a professional repair. The concrete pour next to the door tells me these springs might be pushing 15 years old if that helps anyone's vote, I say that but have only been here for less than 4 myself so I haven't a clue if they were replaced or their lifespan.

Thanks

 

[rwhite692]

You will need two lengths of 1/2" diameter steel rod. Just buy a 3ft length at the hardware store and cut it in half.

You will need to exercise caution and common sense. If you don't feel like you can do this, then you should call a professional.

That being said, when you get up there you will need to use the rods to unwind the remaining tension on the springs. (If you can't figure this out once you are up there on the ladder looking straight at it, then you probably shouldn't attempt it).

After you have all the tension unwound, fix your cable situation, then re-wind and be sure to check that all of your set screws are tight.

 

[Kevin54]

Check this out http://www.diygaragerepair.com/How-to-Install-Garage-Door-Springs-Door-Opener-s/291.htm

Be prepared to get blasted with replies as to how you will get injured, your arms will get caught and go flying across the room, the rods will beat you do death and so on and so forth.

Just use caution. You will get a few winds on it and it seems simple and easy. When you get to the last couple of winds there is quite a bit pf pressure on the spring so be prepared.

 

[Ironcrow]

If you can't find the right spec for the number of turns, don't worry. Once you are on a roll, it is easy to put, say, 13 turns on each side, test the door movement, put 1 more turn on each side, etc until it works right.

My bars are about 24 inches long with bicycle handlebar tape on one end (mostly so I don't mistake these tools for bar stock and machine them into something else)

 

[GregPGH]

Thanks everyone. I found the manual for my door / spring installation so I'm going to take a closer look at it tonight and go from there depending on how I'm comfortable once I read up on it.

I'm sure I will hear from the "you're going to hurt yourself" folks, but if I didn't have general common sense I'd never consider it. My only concern at this point (until I read more and they either grow or lessen) is that for all I know these springs are 15 years old and I don't know the lifespan. What would be good instructions for a new installation may not give the "years of experience" knowledge to see something amiss in the spring and have the professional stop and say "This spring shouldn't be rewound because ____" for example. I'd hate for it to break on me despite following the exact instructions provided due to its age.

I appreciate the feedback.

Greg

 

[57210]

The main thing that I know , is to always make sure that you insert the rod as far into the hole as you can. Only then do I move the other rod. Just take your time and be cautious.

 

[RattytatTom]

Thanks everyone. I found the manual for my door / spring installation so I'm going to take a closer look at it tonight and go from there depending on how I'm comfortable once I read up on it.

I'm sure I will hear from the "you're going to hurt yourself" folks, but if I didn't have general common sense I'd never consider it. My only concern at this point (until I read more and they either grow or lessen) is that for all I know these springs are 15 years old and I don't know the lifespan. What would be good instructions for a new installation may not give the "years of experience" knowledge to see something amiss in the spring and have the professional stop and say "This spring shouldn't be rewound because ____" for example. I'd hate for it to break on me despite following the exact instructions provided due to its age.

I appreciate the feedback.

Greg

Just finished up the same project. Follow all precautions. This was a great resource:
http://ddmgaragedoors.com/diy-instructions/replace-garage-door-torsion-springs.php#introduction
I would watch all the videos. Then watch'em again.
I had a great local supplier who sold me replacement springs; he even did a demo in his shop on a one garage door setup!
He told me the average springs nowadays last 6-7 years. He also said that when one spring breaks, the other usually follows. Mine had two large springs and I spent the money and replaced them both. Dont be in a hurry! Have someone there with you in case something happens .
After doing it, I would have been pissed if I had paid someone to do this.

 

[rwhite692]

.....He told me the average springs nowadays last 6-7 years.

Really? Torsion Springs?

Wow. If that were the case I'd expect we'd be seeing a whole lot more failures.

 

[tdkkart]

He told me the average springs nowadays last 6-7 years.

Wow, that means I got more than twice the life expectancy out of the springs at the old house before I sold it.


GregPGH: Common sense?? Remember,you were the one that screwed up the door in the first place........be careful and you'll be fine.

 

[Ironcrow]

The number I see often is 10,000 cycles. A bigger, longer, heavier, larger diameter spring cost more but lasts longer as the stress is not as high. Smaller springs are cheaper so that's what most of our suburban plywood mansions get.

 

[Stuart in MN]

The number I see often is 10,000 cycles.

I had a spring break on my garage door a year or two ago, and the repair guy told me the same thing (I would have replaced it myself but it was 20 below that day, so it was well worth paying someone else to do it. ) Knowing how old the original springs were, I did some calculations and decided that's just about how long mine lasted.

 

[A29]

I've had one break. They make a lot of noise too. I was making coffee one morning and thought someone fired off a shotgun in the garage.

 

[tatra]

we now lubricate the springs at work and have noticed an increase in life........we have lots of overhead doors...............

 

[Daedalus]

When I installed my door I used a couple long 3/8" driver extensions to wind the springs. Luckily they were a near-perfect fit in the collars for my door.

 

[Poncho Villa]

we now lubricate the springs at work and have noticed an increase in life........we have lots of overhead doors...............

Do you use a heavy grease or just some kind of spray lubricant? I replaced a pair of 10 year old springs about a year ago so I'm interested in doing anything to increase the life (other than leaving the door closed!).

 

[rwhite692]

we now lubricate the springs at work and have noticed an increase in life........we have lots of overhead doors...............

Really? Never heard of this...how does "lubricating a spring" enhance it's lifespan?

 

[kbs2244]

Plain old motor oil works fine.

What you have to realize is that the coils of the spring rub against each other whenever the door is cycled.
Dry, rusty springs create a lot of heat and wear with this rubbing.

Lots of oil just smoothes things out.

 

[PassnThru]

I have also released and rewound my torsion springs on both doors. Get the appropriate sized bar stock that fits snugly in the hole, cut to a length that will give you some leverage. It does get tight at the end. And yes - many people will tell you that you will kill yourself, your family, and a few baby seals doing this yourself. Treat the torsion spring like you would treat a coil spring and you should be OK. In a word - respect.
Actually, the first time I did this I used a punch and a phillips screwdriver. The next time I needed to do it I invested in some appropriately sized round stock.

 

[OccupantRJ]

Check out this link on the door springs.

http://www.truetex.com/garage.htm

 

[sberry]

Most of the time you do not need to rewind the spring if I visualize this right. You can use floor jack under one side of the door to release tension and re-install the cable if it was not broke.

 

[AMCguy]

I've installed many garage doors. Spring winding is dangerous. On a 12x12 door it will also require considerable physical effort.

I would get help to raise the door and support it in the open position. From there you may only need a couple of winds. You can do that with your bare hands. Hold the end of the shaft with a pair of vice grips wedged against the wall and put the cables back on. Release the vice grips while controlling the shaft allowing the cables go tight. You can now lower the door UNDER CONTROL. This will wind the spring for you.

 

[MBeaty]

I would get help to raise the door and support it in the open position. From there you may only need a couple of winds. You can do that with your bare hands. Hold the end of the shaft with a pair of vice grips wedged against the wall and put the cables back on. Release the vice grips while controlling the shaft allowing the cables go tight. You can now lower the door UNDER CONTROL. This will wind the spring for you.

I have not seemed to ever have luck trying this method. I think part of the problem, is that as the spring winds it changes in both diameter and length. Once the tension spring has wrapped numerous times, its length increased by the distance of a few coils.

The last door I tried to tension in the up position seemed to work, but every time the door was going down, it would stop a few inches from the bottom as the spring bound on itself. Its length was trying to expand, but due to the spring end caps being tightened down, it could not.

Yes it does take some effort and one needs to be smart about doing it to avoid injury, but I was honestly surprised that it was much easier than I was anticipating and this was a double width insulated door.

Good luck on your project!

 

[AMCguy]

I have not seemed to ever have luck trying this method. I think part of the problem, is that as the spring winds it changes in both diameter and length. Once the tension spring has wrapped numerous times, its length increased by the distance of a few coils./QUOTE]

I recommended this method on the assumption that the winding cone and set screws were left alone. If the original settings were changed he need only align the set screws with the dimples they originally created.

 

[nissan_crawler]

Yes it can be done, and if one is smart about it, it's not that big of a deal.

As said, they usually take 1/2" diameter rod. Make sure one rod is fully seated before removing the other. Don't use screwdrivers and prybars. Don't stand on a ladder directly facing the adjuster with your face directly in line with the rods and adjuster...see where this is going? I like to put the ladder parallel to the door so you're looking at the side of the rods in front of you, and you can "climb them like a ladder" to wind it. This way, if things go bad, the only thing in line with the scary stuff is your hands.

99% of the people that get hurt doing this stuff, earned every bit of it.

 

[sberry]

I had to re do one where it came off due to something getting kicked under the door on one side, as I mention in earlier post we jack one side, what I failed to mention is we clamp above a roller on the other side, lift just till the tension come off. It is an almost compulsive temptation to want to fool with the spring wind, not always needed.

 

[Robert Gift]

WEAR GLOVES and goggles and thick winter coat and hard hat.

If something slips or goes wrong, there will be less chance of your being injured.

When one spring broke I wound our springs well aware of the danger.

"99% of the people that get hurt doing this stuff, earned every bit of it."
Funny and true!

 

[ddawg16]

Am I missing something or is this being made more difficult than it needs to be?

I put mine up by myself....I raised the door into it's raised position (yea, it was heavy)....got the bottom as close to the torsion rod as I could....wound the cable around the pully....put a couple of tension turns on the spring.....tightend the nuts......then on the other side just wound the cable around the pully nice and tight.....

Took all of about 10 minutes.....

I can't imagine trying to tension the spring with the door down....yikes...

 

[cravingspeed]

Do you use a heavy grease or just some kind of spray lubricant? I replaced a pair of 10 year old springs about a year ago so I'm interested in doing anything to increase the life (other than leaving the door closed!).

I watch a pro install the doors on my shop and he said spray them with WD40. That's what he always uses.

 

[MBeaty]

I recommended this method on the assumption that the winding cone and set screws were left alone. If the original settings were changed he need only align the set screws with the dimples they originally created.

That is good thinking with that one. What got me on the last one was that the spring was not the exact same length as the original, so I could not use the previously made dimples as a reference. When I met the garage repair guy to buy the spring, he went to his truck and cut a new spring from a very large coil and it was not exactly the same.

The sad part of the whole thing was that there is no reason a spring should break in the first place. If the number crunchers had done their job properly, they could have easily spec'ed a spring that would have an infinite fatigue life in operation. I guess it is just one more way they can make a little money.

 

[GregPGH]

GregPGH: Common sense?? Remember,you were the one that screwed up the door in the first place........be careful and you'll be fine.

I'm not looking for a character evaluation, I'm looking for someone with experience with a similar situation so I'd appreciate we stick to constructive advice if you don't mind. It was a bonehead move - I said that up front, but its irrelevant at this point and if you've never had one I hope your impeccable luck continues.

 

[GregPGH]

To spare tdkkart from having to tell me how little common sense I have yet again (take no offense please, at this point I'm going to let that one slide and say rushing through this is making me look terribly bad), I'm just going to say I'm an idiot and get it out of the way. While I'm actually not actually a *****, after starting this thread and almost having a repair company come out for what is no reason at all, I'm going to say the lack of time I devoted to this both in the garage and in research almost led me down the wrong path and I wasted a lot of your time starting this discussion. But after glancing at the tremendous amount of responses I have to say GJ is again THE source for just about anything I can imagine and now another great thread about torsion spring repair and maintenance... that wasn't needed but I'm sure will be referenced and educating to more than just me in the future.

Something wasn't sitting with me... and that was I never heard a whole lot of racket after the mistake pulling the trailer out. My only indication that there was a problem was because I was staring in the mirror of the truck watching my clearance and saw the door lift a few inches as I crept out of the garage telling me something was wrong and to stop right away... but no noise. Thought the dual exhaust buried the sound, but with the windows down, I should have heard something....

I also should have had a hard time unhooking the cables from the cable drums to untangle them, but I didn't because they were not holding the pressure of the springs to keep them from unwinding. My initial thoughts were that there was no tension because they had already unwound before I got up there, but after going out to take a a picture after agreeing with sberry as he basically confirmed I cried wolf too early. As I snapped the photos and loaded them onto the computer to post - I realized panic and rushing caused me to justify tdkkart's quick assessment of my mental capabilities.

This is the culprit door. Doing an apples to oranges comparison of the other springs made me think something was wrong for no reason in my moment of panic on Thursday thinking I did something bad.

This is the photo that led to the "duh" moment just now as I took it / looked at it on the computer. That funny looking Liftmaster box and chain connected to the spring / shaft assembly might as well have a light bulb over top of it in the photo. Since the opener was connected and never releases, the spring didn't unwind itself after the slack was taken out of the cable tension allowing it to uncoil / tangle itself when I tried to lower the door without the culprit trailer in the way.

This photo helped confuse me - its a 10x12 door in the back side of the shop so I was comparing the look of the springs thinking mine had unwound (I never saw one unwound before) but its simply a different spring due to the size, lack of opener, and who knows whatever other reasons I'm unaware of.

The panic set in after seeing these torsion springs for the first time years ago in new construction and the owner saying "I'll never touch those things" because of the danger risk involved in them that has remained with me ever since. My shop is stuffed to the gills at the moment and with the snow melting telling me my boating customers are basically a week away from beating down my door for their projects, so my resulting sleep deprived mind started this whole mess of confusion by taking me down the wrong path as I thought "Great job Greg, this is exactly what you don't have time for now."

So - before I head down another wrong path, here are my thoughts on what I need to do in order to fix the situation. I believe I need to mark the cable drums where they are, loosen the set screws on the cable drums so they spin on the shaft, cycle the door opener so its in the lowered position (left in the up position once the cables were removed and the door was lowered manually), wind the cables on each drum and make sure they're level / setscrew is in the proper place which should line right up I'd expect. See anything wrong in this plan? Once its all up and running a lube job on the springs will be in order, great tip I learned out of all of this making it worth the embarrassment.

Thanks for all who have posted here - and my appologies for wasting your time on a topic that went far deeper than it really needed to go by me assuming the springs had come unwound. I believe I've pulled my head out of my ... long enough to get to this point, but if I'm heading down the wrong road still please set me straight before I mess with this sometime in the next day or two.

 

[sberry]

Did only 1 cable come off or both? As aguess I would say you have high cycle springs, pretty good size for that big of door. My scanner is dusted or I would copy instructions from a manual for those. That looks like a pretty good door, that is a solid shaft i assume? The hubs have keys in it.

 

[OccupantRJ]

Most of the time you do not need to rewind the spring if I visualize this right. You can use floor jack under one side of the door to release tension and re-install the cable if it was not broke.

I have done this very thing on several doors before to keep from rewinding the spring when the cable just jumped off the pulley. This was on 9 X 7 doors each time.

 

[ovilla]

Wow! 33 posts so far and nothing but words of encouragement without any naysayers on yet. I think it's about time that folks stop freaking out about winding springs and focus more on ensuring the right tools are being used and that safety is being considered.

 

[buening]

Yeah I had a cable come off only one drum and could not get an answer from someone here as to whether the spring would need rewound. I couldn't tell if the springs acted independently (two bars) or if it was a single bar. I hired a guy to come over only for him to wind the coil enough to slip the cable back on. Nice waste of $80 for a 5 minute job. I've since bought my own bars and did it myself when it happened again since my track came out of adjustment. If using 18" long bars, the force to wind the coils really isn't that high when you get to the +/- 8 winds.....unless you are a tiny fella.

As for the comment about winding the coils with the door in the up position, that isn't possible at least for my door. I have about a 5" gap from the inside face of the wall above the door to the end of the door in the up position. There isn't enough room to get any kind of range of motion since the spring is up above the doorway.

 

[GregPGH]

Did only 1 cable come off or both? As aguess I would say you have high cycle springs, pretty good size for that big of door. My scanner is dusted or I would copy instructions from a manual for those. That looks like a pretty good door, that is a solid shaft i assume? The hubs have keys in it.

I ended up taking both off to get the door down, both "came off" the cable drum and needed unhooked / rewound. Still haven't tackled the job but need to open that door again eventually.

When you say high spring cycles are you telling me it looks like the spring has been given a workout or is rated for being cycled a lot? Just curious as to what the term means in this sense.

Its a solid shaft coupled in the center, keyed as you suggest.

I almost started the project the other day when I had a few minutes but when I went to cycle the door opener to the down position it only went 1/2 of a rotation before reversing 1/2 rotation to where it started from. I took that as a sign of "further complexity" which translated into more time than i had to invest in it and walked away. When I initially jammed the door / the cables came off the drum, I tried lowering the door with the opener a little to get it low enough to use the supports that were long enough to hold the door while I tried to fix it and it did the exact same thing. I assumed it did it then due to having too much resistance from the cluster f*ck I had created, but with no weight on the opener now I'm starting to wonder if I somehow damaged it too. I'm going to have to read up on the Liftmaster manual as well, but shouldn't this opener cycle the same as normal whether or not the weight of the door is hanging on it or the cables are unhooked? I really need to find the time to invest in this before i make the phone call that will turn out to be a 30 minute / $200 stupid repair similar to the $80/5 minute one mentioned earlier.

Thanks for the door manual offer by the way, but I found one that covered the springs in my "new home owner" package the original builder gave me.

Thanks again for all the replies.
Greg

 

[nathank]

DON'T TOUCH THEM.... DANGER!!

LOL, I kid I kid!!!

My wife backed into her brand new garage door the other day :-(
Same thing happened that you are explaining here. I just had the door company come out to jack with it. I watched them do it, and there was nothing to it. I would easily try this myself next time. They just threw the cables on, lowered the door and wound the springs a couple of times, bent the door back in shape and collected my $70.

 

[Kevin54]

When you say high spring cycles are you telling me it looks like the spring has been given a workout or is rated for being cycled a lot? Just curious as to what the term means in this sense.

I'd say he means that because the springs are not laying straight. If you look at new springs when wound or unwound they lay fairly straight across the bar. Yours are to the point that they are sagging in the middle. I'd say your springs are getting to the point that they are getting near the end of their usefullness.

You may be better off biting the bullet and getting a garage door person in and give the garage door a tune-up. Not that you can't do it yourself, but in an hours time they can be in and out, replace rollers, replace springs, and have the door timed out. Well worth the couple of hundred for many more years of use.