Bam! Garage door over-the-door torsion spring snapped! How to replace?

See here yet?

OK. I was measuring the track radius incorrectly.

I'm supposed to measure from the BOTTOM of the track to the bubble level as shown in this picture:

So that's weird!

I'm not sure how common a 13" track radius is, but, it's going to affect what spring I get if I want to increase the duty cycle.

It's really easy. Just call Larry like I posted in an earlier post, he will help you out just by the model # of the door.

FYI: For a 16x7 door you need 32 quarter turns to wind it. The door should be able to be lifted with two fingers. If it's to "hot" (door goes up to fast) take a turn or two off. If it's heavy, add a turn or two.

Same-same. The ones with one spring can be converted into two, and the other way around.

Measure the length of 10 coils of the spring. Example: 10 coils measures 2 1/4" = .225 wire size. (See chart below for examples)

Don't worry about the duty cycle, at $35 bucks a spring you can replace it every 15 years (if the door lasts that long).

Interestingly, I've been on that site a lot as their DIYs are probably the best out there - and I'm likely to buy from them - as they're the most helpful - but - I had not been to that particular page.

They do start out contradicting themselves somewhat though, in that they say in that page you only need these 5 things: (1) length, (2) wire size, (3) inside diameter, (4) spring wind, and (5) type of ends

For a proper DIY, you REALLY need to know (at least) a dozen things: (1) length (mine appears to be 26.5") (2) wire size (mine appears to be 0.2343") (3) inside diameter (mine is 2" ID) (4) spring wind (mine is wound right) (5) type of ends (mine are standard) (6) door height (mine is 7' tall) (7) drum diameter (mine is 4.00 inches wide) (8) track radius (mine appears to be 13" which is a strange number) (9) bearing to drum distance (I can handle a 60"-18"=42" spring length) (10) door weight (I don't know my door weight yet) (11) twists (mine apparently was twisted 9 times) (12) cycles (I'm aiming for 20,000 or 30,000 cycles)

I'm going to call the DDM tech support folks tomorrow to figure out what to do about my strange track radius of 13 inches. Tech Support: 877-436-9446 · Orders: 800-383-9548 / 630-293-1312

$36.58 SPB-234-26-50L ID=0.234" & LENGTH=26.5"

If I want to increase the duty cycle, I can switch to multiple smaller shorter springs, e.g.: $21.08 SPB-187-17-75R & SPB-187-17-75L ID=0.187" & LENGTH=17.75"

Or, I can switch to a single longer spring: $45.09 SPB-243-32-00R ID=0.243" & LENGTH=32"

Or, I can switch to a single thicker & longer spring: $51.56 SPB-250-36-00R ID=0.250" & LENGTH=36"

Best of luck to you, BE SAFE !!!

Actually, 1 open and 1 close is 1 cycle ...

So, it looks like 36,000 is the way to go for trouble-free repairs.

It only costs about $15 more for the 36,000 cycles - but I'm still looking in case there are other drawbacks other than cost (sometimes there are).

I'm going to order the spring today. Thanks for all the advice. I'll let you know (with pictures) how it works out.

I was hoping the spring would have arrived before the weekend - but alas ... there won't be a garage door spring DIY until the spring arrives.

I ordered a SPB-250-36-00R to replace my old spring. The numbering system means: SP=spring B = 2 inch ID

The spring itself was $51.50 and the shipping was a whopping $22.50 plus I added the two 1/2" diameter

They admonished NOT using socket wrenches (3/8 open end wrenches and vise grips were what else is needed).

Here are the particulars:

1. Old & new spring ID = 2.0 inches
2. Old & new wire gauge = 0.2343" & 0.250"
3. Old & new length = 26.5" & 36"
4. Old & new wind = right hand wind
5. Door height = 7'
6. Track radius = 13" (only affects the duty cycle)
7. Door weight = unknown
8. Ends = standard cones
9. Drum = 4.0 inches diameter
10. Bearing-to-drum distance = 60"-18"=42 inches
11. Spring stretch ~= 36" + 9 turns = 38.25 inches
12. Old & new duty cycle = ? cycles & 34000 cycles
13. Number of cycles per day ~= 2
14. Door width = 8 feet
15. Total cost (so far) ~=

I just found out that the winding bars are actually an outside diameter on one side of 7/16" with the other end being 1/2". Go figure.

I'm getting estimates in the $165 to $180 range for the installation (with bar).

The door is apparently 135 pounds.

Most installers use a cordless impact driver, with 7/16" lags.

This is only a 30 minute job for a pro, you're making it too complicated!

I don't understand what a 'lag' is?

Are you talking about lag bolts?

If so, why would lag bolts be involved in switching out a broken torsion spring?

HERE IS A KNOWLEDGE BASE UPDATE (as promised) for ALT.HOME.REPAIR:

Perhaps the best argument 'for' a DIY repair is that we, the homeowner, should be able to select & install the best spring for our needs at the best price available (about $75 to $100, all told).

For example, my old 15000 cycle torsion spring is $41 at prodoorparts: Garage Door Tension Spring 2" x .234 x 26.5" Right Wind - $40.99

But a 35000 cycle replacement torsion spring is only 20% more at $49: Garage Door Tension Spring 2" x .250 x 36" Right Wind - $48.99

I would think we typical homeowners would opt for the latter, while a (presumably) typical installer would opt for the former (for reasons other than getting us the best spring & best value for our money).

One GREAT argument against a DIY repair is that the job is dangerous. It 'is' dangerous. That's why most homeowners opt to pay about $150 to $200 (out here in the Silicon Valley anyway) to have it done.

Another argument against a DIY repair is the knowledge needed. Luckily, replacing a garage door torsion spring is relatively simple (it has its moment of drama though).

Nowadays, excellent DIYs abound, but the mainstream is what I'll reference here.

The canonical DIY (a must-read novella) is by Richard J. Kinch:

That special tool is a set of ~18" long 1/2" diameter winding bars.

I've found that two winding bars should be around $8 for a set; but many companies charge more than twice that; so here's a link to the company with the most reasonable winding bar prices:

Apparently 17" bars are sometimes substituted for 18" bars merely to better accommodate shipping box sizes.

Commercial garage door torsion springs often don't come with the cones but residential torsion springs almost always are sold with the cones already attached.

All you really need is the following information:

1. Inside diameter (always embossed on the end cones, e.g., 2")
2. Untensioned length (you measure only the spring, not the cone)
3. Wire gauge (i.e., the diameter of the wire, e.g., 0.2343")
4. Wind direction (use the tried-and-true right-hand rule)
5. Cone type (most are 'standard' cones but oddballs exist)

There are other specifications which are important but which are not necessary if you're simply replacing a broken spring.

I've found, by calling companies that some "salespeople" will talk 'colors' painted on the springs and cones rather than sizes and duty cycles when asking you for details. My advice is to use paint color only as a doublecheck of your math (e.g., right-wind cones are usually painted red and gold spray on springs is sometimes an indication of the 0.250"wire gauge).

In my research, I found OLD threads where most of the thread was from people saying it couldn't easily and safely be done as a DIY repair. Those older threads imply it must have been harder to come by information, springs, & calculation tools in the past.

But now it's easy to buy a single spring on the web. It's easy to calculate alternative replacement sizes. It's easy to buy the right tools. And, it's easy to find excellent step-by-step DIYs on the web.

My conclusion: Times have changed!

You no longer have to impersonate a licensed technician in order to have a single garage door torsion spring shipped to your home.

For example, here is a typical price list for a wide selection of two inch residential garage door torsion springs to fit my door. (remember to add about 10% CA sales tax & about $20 for shipping).

Or more ...

By way of partial proof, here's a 'special' $200 deal for my area:

I arbitrarily called about a dozen local (408 area code) garage door repair outfits yesterday to obtain that $150 to $200 price range.

Incidentally, I MUST say, I had the most interested phone call yesterday to "Tiffany" at 408-335-0145 when I was shopping for local repair costs for my research summary to you guys at alt home repair.

That outfit literally called me back twice to get my business!

First, they called back to lower the price of the service call from $50 (just for the estimate) to $30 and to offer to refund that lowered price service call if I got their $150 to $250 service - and then - when I still declined, Tiffany called back today saying the new manager just authorized her to drop the service call fee altogether.

At that point, I 'could' have taken then up on their offer (just to get a more specific estimate for you guys) ... but ... I didn't really want to jerk them around so I politely declined (but thanked them nonetheless).

I mention this because many people reading this will want to have someone do the work for them - so it's good to know you still 'can' get a free estimate in the Silicon Valley (but only if you play their game).

On Sat, 10 Nov 2012 15:54:12 +0000 (UTC), "Danny D." wrote:

Thanks for all the garage door spring info. Nice job. Around here - north of Chicago suburbs - it seems most home repair contractors do free estimates. In fact, they PAY to give estimates if they use a referral service like Service Magic. They have mixed views about Service Magic, and so do I. It does save the home owner time in finding contractors. But in talking to some of the contractors, it works like this. If they get the job, the SM referral fee is nothing to them, as it gets paid out of job profit. If they don't, some resent the fee, others just see it as a business cost. There's other issues I don't mention now. Anyway, although it probably pays to check around and get multiple estimates, damn if I don't nearly always end up hiring the first guy out. Maybe I've just been lucky, but it's worked out well. More likely the first guy out is a hustler, does the most work, runs his business the best, and can offer a good cost for good work. Just guessing, but it seems to generally work that way. Five out of six of the last jobs I contracted went to the first bidder. Keeping to garage doors, I was expecting to pay about $2k for a new steel door - just going by what a workmate paid for a similar one about 5 years ago - but the first guy I called was over here in an hour, and bid $900. He's had a local business with a good rep for a long time. Looked no further. He was slow getting out to do the job, because he was busy. But I told him up front there was no hurry, and do it by his schedule. So $200 for a new spring sounds high to me, but as you say, you live where you live.