Garage door opener only travel about three inches

[Alex Cicco]

Hello,

I am running into serieous trouble. Thank you in advance for your kind help.

My garage door opener is a Genie Norelco Trac-Drive Model 250 (an old model). The trouble started when one of the spring broke. At that time, the door was in almost closed position. I got two springs from home Depot. The original springs were for 140 lbs doors, the new ones I got is for 150 lbs (I hope there is no big trouble for this choice becuase Home Depot is running out of 140 lbs ones).

So, the current picture is: Door was nearly completely closed, one spring broke and the other spring was in extended position.

As you can see, I am a novice and did several stupid things: Since one old spring was in its extended position, I thought I would need to lift the door up in order to dissemble the remaining old spring and put two new spring back. So, what I did was to push to button to open the door, and in the meantime, try to lift the door from the side where the spring was broken. I though I could help the door back to its open position. This did not work. The opener only move a couple inches then stops.

Then I realized that there is a emergency pull that disengage the door from the opener. I also discovered the function of the two limiting switches.

So, I disengaged the door from the opener using the emergency pull. I was also careful to make sure that the moving-end of opener was touching the limit switch as if the door is completely closed. My intent is to let the door opener retract back to the box hanging on the ceiling. Right now, the opener is almost extended toward the door--I will call this LOCATION A.

When I push the button, hoping that the the opener will travel back to the box. However, it travels back towards the box for only three inches. When I push the button again, it travels back to LOCATTION A.

I hope the opener (disengaged from the door) can travel its full range back to the box. But right now, it only move in a very limited range (three inches). Probably, I should reset something?

Your input is highly appreciated. Thank you very much for all the help.

Alex

[Art]

There is nothing more dangerous to work on then a garage door. Be careful. I almost killed myself once screwing around with the springs.

[TCS]

NEVER work on the springs. They are loaded with lethal force and unless you live a hundred miles from civilization there are plenty of companies that'll make a housecall to fix things without ripping you off. Nobody should ever learn solo how to do the job.

That doesn't mean that there aren't ripoffs out there. Avoid any company that hasn't been in business at least 5 years. Avoid all with their company name starting with a string of 'A's. Get a quote first and don't feel bad about turning down unresonable offers. IE: it doesn't cost $100 to come and make a housecall. Pulleys on both sides don't normally have to be replaced and they don't cost $50 apiece nor does it cost $70/side for labor. To replace both springs and realign/lubricate/etc. shouldn't cost much more than $250 total.

[Joe]

Your on the right track. The door does need help on the broken spring side to get it to the full open position before you can change the spring.

150lbs. should be fine, but you may have to add a little slack to the cables to compensate.

The problem that I see is your opener, if it only moves three inches, but the motor continues to run, the "tape" is stripped. The "tape" I am referring to is that piece of plastic running down the rail with an elongated hole about every inch of it's legnth. If it is indeed stripped, you will have trouble finding the part. It is not impossible, but they are getting very rare. If it runs three inches and stops, it may be a minor limit adjustment.

[Doordoc]

Most likely a gear or the plastic tape inside the rail is stripped or broken. Your best bet is to replace the unit & be glad yours lasted as long as it did. Most of them did not & these trac drive units were only made a few years. What looked good on paper did not pan out when the unit was put to everyday use.

Doordoc

[Art]

Also watch out for a yellow page ad that says $29 service call. It is a comeon. I had guy come and want to replace all the pullies for $700 when all I needed was a spring. For $700 you can get a whole new door installed.