I have a Sears 1/2 hp opener an older model (12 years). All of a sudden the door only raises 2 ft then shuts. I have changed the down and up force without any change. I have taken the chain off to assure it is not binding. I notice that the travel limit switches don't even come into play. Any ideas before buying a new one? Thanks in advance Mike
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I had one that did that about 4 months ago. The customer got a new door opener and call me to install it. Before I did the job I wanted to figure out why it did this. I checked out everything, every thing was fine just like your. I then thought it may be the eyes not lining up or loose, but no the lights on the eyes worked fine. So I thought I would change them out. Got the new eyes out of the new door opener kit, it was nice cause the door opener was almost the same as the old one. I changed the eyes and boom worked great. So the customer said I could keep the new door opener, since she liked the one that was installed better. The one she got was cheep from the home center. I said fine cause I have a new opener minus the eyes and the whole job took 30 min.
A new set of eyes at the home center were about $30.00.
Thanks hope that helps. DD
This one didn't come with the sensors.
I take it the door opener is the chain/cable drive unit. It has a nylon worm gear that will wear out eventually. Look inside for the white nylon gear. It should have white lithium grease on it. When worn the teeth on the worm can ride up on top of the teeth of the worm gear. This can cause a bind. You can order a new worm gear. It is easy to install.
One other problem that may cause a bind is the top bearing just below the sprocket. It has a lot of side force and will eventually wear out or be pulled toward the chain.
Try the door manually to see if it's binding on anything.
Rich
Thanks for the advice. I took out the worm gear and tried it, same thing. Is there a way to bypass the electric eyes. The manual talks about an accessary kit to add one. It never had them, but it acts like it needs them hooked up?
I didn't realize you had the electric eyes...........Clean the lenses and re-aim. If this doesn't work you can temporarily re-mount the eye and receiver a couple of inches apart. ......just to see if it works.
He doesn't have photo-cells as he stated in an earlier post & they were optional. However, even if he did have them they would not be the problem since they don't ever stop a door from opening & will only reverse a closing door. So that means it's either in the board or the motor, but I would suspect the bearings in the motor are bad. Personally I would suggest to replace the whole opener. They're not worth that much time & effort.
Doordoc
Correct you are. He does have an option to hook them up. That means the electronics for them is already on the board. Could there be a micro switch to enable this option? If the option plugs in does that complete the connection that enables the electric eye circuit?
Yours might not, but if there is anything in the path of mine the door will not operate - they do not reverse it the STOP it! The door will reverse only if it comes in contact with some thing!
Yes the electronics are already on the board & on his opener the photo-eyes simply get connected to the approriate screw terminals. Once they are connected they would automatically work & there isn't any switch that has to be turned on by the user.
Doordoc
It's been a while but if you took the worm off wouldn't the motor also be separated from all the electronic controls (limits) ?
The photo eye circuit would still be in place. Maybe you should look for shorts around the screw terminals for the photo eyes.
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