Garage door closes eratically

[Don Weiner]

My garage door no longer closes smoothly. When I manually close the door, the force needed varies from almost none to quite a hefty pull. When the garage door opener closes the door, the whole thing bucks and shakes. I've lubricated the tracks, wheels and axels with no luck. The door is not warped and the tracks are not bent or buckled. When the door is full open, the springs sag about the same amount, so I'm assuming that the tension is about the same in both springs. It seems to hang up when the wheels are on either side of the bend in the track.

Any ideas?

[m Ransley]

The spring should be adjusted so there is equal force needed going up or down , Maybe have someone manualy open-close it while you look for any binding , if the springs are correct. Adjusting springs is best left to a pro or you can get hurt easily.

[ng_reader]

Don,

I had the same problem. But upon further inspection one of the metal wheels was jumping the track. Not every time, just some times.

I had to use my 24 oz framing hammer to set something right, but it was somewhat destructive, unfortunately.

It's working fine now, but the best advise I can suggest is to keep the track free, clear, and well lubricated.

Good luck.

[Michael Baugh]

I'm not impressed with the idea of lubricating the track. That lubricant just seems to accumulate grit.

[G. Morgan]

Subject: Garage door closes eratically Newsgroup: alt.home.repair => Don Weiner My garage door no longer closes smoothly. When I manually close the door,

Torsion springs or extension? What size door? Is it insulated?

By context I assume they are extension springs, so are you pulling the door down from the center?

Don't lubricate the track - shoot some lithium grease or oil into the rollers. Lubricating the track does nothing.

[sales]

Make sure your tracks are level, plumb and not too tight against the door. Grab the stem of each roller and twist it, you should be able to turn it freely by hand. Use your door manually to see it it binds at any particular point along it's travel, then check the rollers again while the door is bound to see if you can still twist the roller stem. Once you figure out where it's binding you can make the approriate adjustments. Then again you could also have a bad pulley or the cable is not riding on the pulley correctly...

Rich

[ng_reader]

Morgan's response to lubricate the rollers is better put.

[curmudgeon]

Had the same problem and on close inspection found that the ball bearing hub on the pulley attached to the spring had failed. The force then required was causing the motor to stop the up and down movement after a few inches of travel.

[doordoc]

Good call & that would be my first guess also. With the door open, pull the cable off of the pulleys one at a time (put vice grips under a roller to keep the door from falling)and check to see if they spin smoothly. If lubricating (lightweight oil) doesn't help, replace them.

Doordoc

[Don Weiner]

G. Morgan wrote in news: [e-mail]:

Thanx All for your suggestions. It turns out it was a bad bearing in one of the pulleys. I replaced all 4 of them and it works fine now.