Garage door extension springs

[joe]

I replaced the garage door extension spring with the same (I thought) strength springs now the opener struggles a little. The existing springs were "orange" so they were probably (maybe) 170# springs. I could only find brown 160# replacements so I used them. Would 20# total difference cause the opener to struggle?

OR.... The old springs were double..one INSIDE the other...not next to each other. The springs were quite old and I'm guessing, again, that they needed 2 spring to get that much strength. Looking at the pattern of the orange paint they used it looks like they were painted AFTER one was inserted in the other. Based on this I'm _guessing_ that the two spring together make one 170# spring. Or am I wrong on this and the old springs were actual two

170# springs!?

thanks

[Jeff Wisnia]

I can't answer your question authoritively, but what I did when I had to buy new springs for my garage door was use a bathroom scale plus a brick and a foot and a half piece of 2 by 4 to measure the weight of the door in the "almost" down position using the brick and 2 by 4 to create a lever which multiplied the scale capacity by two. Then I bought a pair of springs rated for that weight door.

Jeff

[avid_hiker]

I am no professional about garage door springs, although I do believe that you can adjust the tension of the spring at the end of the cable. I would not think that 170 -180 should be much of a difference/safety wise. This should take care of the prob.

[joe]

Turns out the old "double" spring was a 300# springs...the color coding was arbitrary back then. Picked some up at a garage door store and we're back in business.