Garage doors

[Kurt Ullman]

The cable that attaches to my garage door and then to the pulleys has come off and wrapped itself around the bar or whatever it is that the pulleys are attached to at the top. Is this something an amateur can try to fix? If so, any tips would be greatly appreciated.

[Joseph Meehan]

My suggestion is to hire a professional. Those springs are very strong and can be dangerous if you don't know what you are doing. Right now you are looking at something that is also broken and that makes it more dangerous. I am also taking into consideration the fact that you asked. If you are uncertain, have it done.

[BobK207]

I'm sure you'll get all sorts of warnings about how dangerous garage door systems can be. They involve very large forces & stored energy, they can hurt you. If you're not experienced, mechanically inclined / handy....the chances are good that you might get hurt, worst case you might get badly hurt or killed.

That said, DIY garage door repair is possible IF you're handy, careful & have tools.

here's a very useful link to garage door info provided by Richard J. Kinch

In fact his web page is so good I refer to it when I occasionaly have to do door work....... to refresh my memory, so I can think through my work sequence.

If you read, understand & feel comfortable with the info he provides by all means you can proablably do it yourself.

I've done a few doors / springs & just recently had to re-adjust some torsion springs. I have some proper home made winding rods, I'm reasonably strong & the srping almost got away from me.

You\\'ve got to BE CAREFUL if you have any doubt hire somebody or get an experienced person to help you.

cheers Bob

[Kurt Ullman]

Not really. It looks like the cables just slipped off the pullies. I take it that this involves more than just wrapping the cables back around the pullies and that things will have to be played with that are likely to bite me.

[Tony Hwang]

Hi, Do you have spare finger of two? I'd call pro and let him handle it.

[Richard J Kinch]

This is typically due to insufficient winding of the springs. In that situation the springs go limp near the top of travel, then the torsion is off the bar and thus the tension is off the cables, and the cables flex off the drums. If it was working OK before, and nobody touched it, it is likely that the setscrews on the spring-winding cones, or on the drum, slipped on the torsion bar.

Depends on the amateur. Someone else posted a link to my page.

[hallerb]

look for worn bearings in the pulleys, they can cause drag that makes the cables come off.

this happened here recently.

be certain to add safety cables so when a spring breaks it cant hit anyone or anything

[Rich]

Easiest way (for a novice) would be to get some winding bars and remove the tension completely from the springs, when the tension is off you can unravel the cables then start at "Step 5" of the instructions at

You might want to consider using "cable keepers" to help keep the cables on the drums. You will find them here: Cables come off the drums due to a magnitude of reasons, most common is the door could have gotten "snagged" on one side while the electric opener was closing it or the door was closed on something underneath it causing one of the cables to go slack momentarily. It doesn't take much to throw a cable off the drum. It's also possible that one of the drums simply slipped on the shaft, that's easy to determine by putting a level on the door while it is in the closed position after the tension is put back onto the springs.. Like I said, there are many reasons as to why this happened, the trick is to find the culprit inorder to prevent it from happening again.

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

[Kurt Ullman]

Thanks to all who replied. FWIW: I have decided that I am attached to my fingers and other body parts and thus will call in a pro.