Broken garage door spring

Just had a torsion spring go on a double car garage door. I did all the reasearch and knew how to measure and get all the info, but when I priced the springs and would be at $100, just for springs I called and got several quotes and they went from $190 to $400. I called the $190 guy and he was here in 30 minutes, took 2 hours, and away he went.

A couple interesting things were: a) He replaced the springs with the door in the up position, which meant no pressure on the springs. He said he always did it this way becasue it was much, much safer. I watched and it was.

b) He carried springs in 10' lengths in his truck and then just cut them to the exact length. Put new end caps and hardware on and reassembled everything.

I do alot of things myself, but this was not one I really wanted to tackle from what I had read, but watching him do this with the door in the up position sure made a lot of sense.

I commend him on how he disconnected all power sources, clamped the door to make sure it did move, and wore glasses. Very professional and nice guy.

Reply to
Big John
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Replacing garage door springs is one of the few tasks where you might NOT want to make it a do-it-yourself project.

Unless you have the specialized knowlege and experience, you can either kill or severely injure yourself if you mess up.

As the poster indicates, most urban areas have competent professionals who can do the job for a fair price.

Beachcomber

Reply to
Beachcomber

Replacing a spring isnt rocket science . It is something most anyone could learn with say an hour of instruction and supervised experience. It is something that you dont want to screw up. I did and put a steel bar you use to adjust it with through the ceciling. I knew what I was doing I just let it slip out of my hand. I must admit I didnt know you could cut them to length, that news to me.

Jimmie

Reply to
Jimmie D

Hey Jimmie,

You sound knowledgeable, my question isn't rocket science either. Can you help me convert my springs. I want to change one 140 pound 8x7 garage door with 400-8 drums from 10,000 to at least 25,000 cycles? Door currently uses two springs measuring .187 wire x 18.5 length x 1-3/4 inside diameter. What would the dimensions for 25,000 cycle springs be?

Thanks,

George

Reply to
George

Hi George, I never worked on them long enough to get that envolved with them, Worked about six months and never saw anything that had to be figured out like this. The boss probably knew how but after 20 years he had it all in his head, I doubt if there was anything he hadnt seen before. I imagine he is retired now with his sons doing the work, Im sure they have a copmuter program to work something like this out if there is actually any call to do this. Like I said an hrs instruction for replacement and repair not design. Well after 6 months there I got a job with Raytheon doing missile maintenance. After 19 years I still dont have to know how to design a missile either.

My question is why would you want to replace them before they needed it. I would get the life out of what I had already paid for before I replaced them. I think the ones you have would probabaly last about 15 years.

Reply to
Jimmie D
1-3/4" x .207" x 28.5" wound 7.9 turns with 400-8 drums will give you 25,000 cycles.
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Rich ==================================== Garage Door Parts, LLC
Reply to
Rich

That would be for one pair of springs with the dimensions specified.

==================================== Garage Door Parts, LLC

Reply to
Rich

So I have a broken torsion spring in my overhead 16 foot door. I called several door repair companies and got quite a range of prices to repair. Anyone have a spring replaced lately, what did the job cost?

Reply to
RW

Location? Double spring? Single spring?

What was quote range?

Six years ago I paid $285 in SoCal for a double.......now I do them myself :)

cheers Bob

Reply to
BobK207

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Reply to
Richard J Kinch

Richard J Kinch wrote in news:Xns987CC43178784someconundrum@216.196.97.131:

Cool site, thanks for the link.

Why does that Bridgeport machine weigh 2400 pounds? That seems excessive, but then again I don't do metalwork.

And I'm going to guess by the cabbage palms, flat neighborhood and solidly constructed garage that you are a fellow Florida resident.

Ed

Reply to
Ed

Good industrial machines are made from cast iron. They have to be heavily made to withstand a lot of stress and not flex. You can also put some rather heavy work on the way to mill and with a cantilever it would be very stressful on a lesser base. Also, it must be solidly in place and not prone to tipping.

Reply to
Edwin Pawlowski

Ed-

cuz it's a serious tool for serious work

Reply to
BobK207

If you are talking about a long spring on each side of the door, replace it yourself. Its easy, raise door, prop it up with some 2x4s and replace the sucker while the door is up. Just be sure to use the the same connection method as before. While you are at it, replace the other one or your door wont open evenly. If you got one of those shafts above the door with a wound spring, hire someone. Why do you ask the price on here. We dont know, call local contractors, choose the cheapest that offers a warranty, ask for references. Asking prices on a newsgroup is just plain stupid. For all we know you live in Europe and need the price in pounds, not dollars.

Mark

Reply to
maradcliff

About $200 for a torsion spring. Don't know about materials.

You "could" do it youself as there's only a few things that could go wrong... it's only a spring right? The worst thing is that you lose your grip as your tightening it and whap yourself in the chin and lose your lower mandible and have to eat from a straw the rest of your life.

Then there's always death, but that's not as bad as losing your lower mandible. My opinion though.

HIRE IT OUT, and ask around if the price really bugs you that much.

Reply to
kellyj00

In IL it ranges from 180 to 200. Very dangerous if you are not experienced in putting one on.

Reply to
Tom

Not as stupid as going into a long question about what kind of spring he has, when he clearly said he has a torsion spring.

Reply to
trader4

If someone explained what a torsion spring is, we might all know.....

Reply to
maradcliff

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