*BANG* (Garage Door Spring)

Joined
Jun 12, 2004
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Location
Athens, GA
I'm pretty sure the universe/2020 is playing with me like a cat plays with a mouse before it kills it. Came home from work this morning, opened the garage door, parked the car, and hit the close button as I walked into the house. No sooner did I get the door shut than a massive BANG from the garage. I walked back out thinking I was going to see the door laying on top of the car or something similar. Nope, just the spring finally decided to sprung.

Quick internet research and I'm replacing the one spring (cheap builders) with two smaller springs. That way, they're unlikely to fail at exactly the same time and I'll have a little assistance with getting the door open the next time one breaks. As it was I almost thought that I wasn't going to be able to get the car back out, but with the help of the opener I was able to get the door up and back down one last time so I could park my car outside.

Replacement springs are fairly cheap so I'll have yet another thing to do this weekend, along with driving up to Myrtle Beach to drag the suicide Civic back home.


Ohh 2020, what a little turd you're being.
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Had the same thing happen, spring went thru the back window and I found it about 75' out in the woods, don't forget to get a safety cable that runs thru the center of the spring.
 
The springs on my doors are from 1958! They have lost their spring and will no longer hold them up. I have never seen any others like mine and have no idea how to change them.
 
Originally Posted by Chris142
The springs on my doors are from 1958! They have lost their spring and will no longer hold them up. I have never seen any others like mine and have no idea how to change them.


Must be quite a bit more ductile and just lost their spring as opposed to breaking like a 'harder' spring would.
 
For those with old time systems and crappy looking doors, best to refit with modern doors and systems. It will up your property value. Home inspectors like to harp on doors " exceeding their useful life".
 
Mine just get cycled to death. It's the most used door in the house. Plus, my 16yo will absolutely not go out in the garage to get pet food in the evening, with the door open. That thing gets run up and down more than any other door in our neighborhood. Some of it is my fault, I actually keep cars in the garage as opposed to keeping all our junk out there and putting the cars out in the driveway.

From what I've read, torsion springs are usually rated for about 10,000 cycles. So 14 years on the house, 714 cycles a year, 1.95 cycles a day. Yep, that fits.
 
That's one job I'd have a professional do. I saw 2 men with broken forearms in a very short period who had been changing torsion springs.

Might have been during disassembly, but I never asked exactly when it happened.
 
Just went through the same thing this week. Door is 20 years old, busted a torsion spring on one side.

Could have done myself, but elected to pay the repair company for service this time due to other time constraints. Replaced the pair, but went with a lower level spring replacement. Door is 20 years old, bent up a bit, and we are thinking we will replace in the next one-two years...
 
Originally Posted by bobbobtar
Had the same thing happen, spring went thru the back window and I found it about 75' out in the woods, don't forget to get a safety cable that runs thru the center of the spring.


Had one of these extension springs break in a 1 car garage and unbelievably it fell straight down and didn't hit the car. The replacement springs got the safety cable.
 
The replacement springs actually come with the bars to tighten them. Yea, they're under a good amount of tension, but as long as you take some safety precautions, standing off the the side, making sure you always have one bar fully seated, etc its not too terrible to do.
 
I agree with ecotourist. Let someone who does this every day handle it. It's been a while but I don't remember it costing a lot to have this done.
 
I've change a couple torsion springs. For winding bars, I just bought a steel rod at the hardware store that fit the hole....think it's 3/8". Pay attention to what you're doing & it'll be fine.
 
A pair of real winding bars are like $12, this job can easily be done safely.
 
Yes, its a lot of potential energy, but, I've seen some of the people that put these things up and build these houses. Not taking anything away from them, I'm sure they have some specialized skills, but its not rocket science. I'm completely confident in my abilities to do the job.
 
I think about it EVERY time I open and close my 16ft wide, 40+ year old, ~250lb wooden garage door. It's got double torsion springs. In 10yrs I've had the springs replaced, the tube the springs ride on and all the pulleys and cables.

It can't even lift it on one spring.

I'm dreading it because I told myself the next breakage = new door.

The nice thing about having torsion springs replaced professionally, is they'll adjust it perfectly. It would probably take me all day to do it, if I could do it at all.
 
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Yea, I think 99% of people don't realize how heavy garage doors are. I know my wife didn't. When I told her I might have a problem (not being able to get my car out to go to work) she was very confused. 'Just life up the door (Dummy)'. She almost didn't believe me when I told her 'easier said than done'. Although, once I got it off the ground and could get a good grip on it, it was not terribly hard to push against the running opener. The first couple inches are just awkward. Also not something I would want to do several times a day.
 
When I was renting a small house the spring on the garage door broke and put a small dent and scratch on my Audi GT. Car had no other body issues. What a great car.
 
Originally Posted by ctechbob
I'm completely confident in my abilities to do the job.


I would bet you are completely competent to do the job, but geeze, with the "luck" you are having recently, do you really want to go there? Prayers sent!
 
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