Garage door is tilted

[Ray K]

My sectional, single-car door is tilted so the right end touched the driveway before the left end, leaving about 5/8" gap at the left end for bugs and wind-blown debris to enter the garage. The tracks are perfectly plumb, so the problem seems to be with uneven tension.

Does it make a difference if I try to raise the right end by shortening the cable (thus putting the spring under greater tension) vs lengthing the spring by moving its free end further back away from the door?

I can manually stop the door at any height and it will remain there, so the combined tension on the two springs is right.

Thanks,

Ray

[Chris Friesen]

Are you sure the concrete under the door is level?

Chris

[Ray K]

Acutally, at the left end it is a bit low. But when I put a level across any of the door's sections, clearly the door itself it tilted. And with the door down, the easily visible gap between the left end of the door's top and the track is much greater than the gap at the bottom.

Ray

[Art]

Do not release a cable unless you know what you are doing. Garage doors can be incredibly dangerous.

[Ray K]

Art,

Thanks for the warning. I do the adjustments with the door fully up, so the tensions in the springs and cables are very low.

Ray

Art wrote:

[Ray K]

I finally got it pretty level by increasing the tension on the high side and reducing it on the low side. I changed cable length on one side and moved the spring anchor point on the other. I thought I had tried these things a couple of days ago without success. While not perfect, the door will stay the way it is now.

Thanks to all for your comments.

Ray

[Richard J Kinch]

Your most likely problem is simply that one or both of the drums slipped on the torsion shaft. In that case the correct repair is to lower the door, properly unwind the springs, reset the drums on the shaft, and rewind the springs.

[AZ Nomad]

Call somebody with the right tools and experience and get the broken spring replaced.

[Ray K]

There is no torsion spring. It's the more conventional design with the two straight springs.

[Ray K]

Neither of the springs is broken. It's just a matter of adjusting the tension in them properly.

[trader4]

Also, is there a decent rubber seal strip at the bottom? That will make up any small difference. If the rubber is stiff and brittle, time for a new one.