Repairing Garage Door Torsion Springs and Cables
Introduction:
This is a one-step professional guide to help you replace or repair the overhead spring or cables in your garage door. So, you won’t end up in an emergency room of a hospital.
Gather all the tools:
Before starting the repairing, gather all the tools or supplies that are required for the job such as:
- One or two 10” vice grip
- Adjustable wrench
- Two 1/2*18 winding bars
- Socket wrench
- Sockets
- Ladder
- Rag for cleaning hands
- 36” steel rod that can be cut into half
- Brackets
- Double-life torsion springs
- Lift cables
Before replacing, measure old and new spring:
How to measure the old or new spring?
The step by step method of measuring your spring is given below:
- Measure your old and new spring to make sure both of them are equal in size. Do not touch the inner winding cone of the spring because some of the springs just move by the touch of your hand. Place the two springs on a board and hold it from the outside.
- Measure the lengths and inner 20 coils to for wire size. Measure the inner winding on both springs.
- Stand both springs side by side in direction pointing at you. Take a close look at both of the springs.
- Take the new spring and put it at the left side of door. You will notice that the winding of the torsion spring will point in the direction of right centre of the door. This is the right torsion spring that will go in the upper left bracket of the door.
- Take the next spring and place it on the right side of the door. You will notice that the winding of the torsion spring will point in the left center of the door. This means it is a torsion spring that will go on the upper right bracket.
Mark the shaft of the torsion spring:
If your old and new springs are of same size then next step will be to measure the torsion shaft:
- When the cables are still tight on the drum, mark the shaft of the torsion spring and drum with the help of marker or file. If one of the springs is wounded on the drum or cable then do not touch the drum. The drum could easily spin and cable will rip through your bone and skin.
- If both of the springs are unwound and cables are not on the drums then wrap the cables on the drum before marking. These markings will help you in leveling of the garage door after the installation of spring.
Remove the old spring:
If the spring is not broken and still on the cables then the next task will be to remove the old spring.
- Never touch the screw set without properly inserting the iron bar. It will cause the twisting of the wrench and breaking your bone at 10 spots.
- Never wind or unwind the torsion spring with the help of screw drivers.
- To safely remove the spring, always use a wind bar that is 18” long.
- Before loosening the spring, test the fit of the winding bar on the cone. Move the cone down and make sure the set of screws are positioned tightly. Put the ruler between the winding bar and garage door. The distance should be between 2 inches. If it is greater than 2 inches then either call someone else to remove the spring or ask someone to hold the bar for you.
- To save you from any inconvenience, it is advised to mark the winding bar with tape before removing the torsion spring.
- Taping your bar will help you to clearly see how much of the bar is penetrating the cone and will help you wind the new spring.
- Now it is time to unwind the old spring. Position yourself on a firm ladder beside the garage door. Insert the winding bar into one of the holes of the cone. It should click when the winding bar will hit the core. Now grasp the other end of the bar and with the help of a wrench, loosen the set screws. The torque will transfer to the bar.
- Even a properly tightened spring will loosen with just one turn of cone. After one set screw is loose, keep the bar in one hole of the cone at all times until the spring is unwound.
- If you have removed all the set screws and the spring is still on the cone then pull down the bar. Be prepared because the spring will get loosened at any time.
- If the garage door has fallen off on the floor but the cone still doesn’t move then use a hammer and hit it on the swollen part of the shaft. Keep the bar firmly inside the cone. The cone may break, explode or fall down from the bar due to hammering.
- When the cone is free from the bar then lower the bar and let it sit upon the garage door.
- Now it is time to insert the second bar in the hole of the cone. With one winding bar in each hand, raise the bar enough to pull out the first bar from the cone.
- If your shaft is out of shape then you may need to hammer the winding bar to unwind the spring.
- Repeat the above steps by inserting a winding bar in each hole of the cone.
- Unwind the other spring if it is still wounded in the spring and not broken.
Conclusion:
I hope this guide was helpful for removing the damaged or broken garage door spring. This procedure is only for torsion springs. So, if your garage door has spring other than torsion then this might not be helpful for you at all. Follow all the safety instructions while removing the torsion spring.