Garage Opener Install - limited length from wall to beam

[Cox SMTP central]

Does anyone have a solution to center mount a garage opener for a 17' x 7' garage door where the distance from the front wall of the garage is 8' - 4" from a steel ceiling beam the runs the width of the garage? The garage door company has used a side mount chain drive opener for the past 10 years since the house was built and I have the following recurring problems with this type of setup. - Side mount pulls on door unevenly and causes problem with adjustment. - Garage will only open within 10" of door opening because not enough pull clearance. The door company has indicated going to a gear drive opener and still having it side mounted will improve the pull by about 6 inches, but I would prefer to get the opener to the center of the door. I have been told that it is not a good idea to cut into the beam. Any ideas - any new openers out there?

[Punch]

I have been told that it is

do not cut into the beam, and yes there is a door opener buy Wayne, you do the search.

[RikC]

I saw a show that had a motor mounted to the wall instead of the ceiling. It went on the center of the header on the same wall as the door. Looked pretty cool.

HTH

rik

[Frank K.]

It may require that you replace the door, but it will do the job.

Frank

adjustment.

[Doordoc]

It's not easy but you can cut the rail on a standard opener & make it an "L" shape. Use a steel plate to hold the rails together at the "L" with room on each side of the corners to put a bolt on each side of the rail. Then you use either a case hardened collar (that can turn freely on the bolt), a pulley, or sprocket on each bolt w/ the chain between the bolt & rail on the inside of the "L" & the chain outside the bolt on the outside of the "L". The actual motor would be parallel to the door. If it is done right it works quite well & the door should open all the way.

Side mount openers work OK but not great if they are done right & if the door works smoothly and has torsion springs (springs on shaft across top of door). They do not work well at all on doors w/ extension springs (stretch along the tracks). Normally when we do this we use a screw drive opener though w/ the screw facing the jamb. This is to prevent items or fingers, etc from getting caught in the chain as it goes up & down along the wall a sprocket.

As to cutting the beam that depends on the type & soundness of the beam. It has been done in many areas but it would be impossible in this forum to say whether the beam could be cut or not. If you know any engineers ask them or if the original builder is still around they be able to give advice on that issue.

Doordoc

[Doordoc]

At 8'4 from front to back the door would hang at least a foot into the opening. Standard openers are approx 10' long so he would need to cut approx 1'8 off of rail. The motor head is more than a foot long, so the arm would run into the motor head before the door got close to clearing the opening. A standard garage door opener is made to open up to a 7'6 tall door. So yes you can cut off up to6" (+/- 1") and still have a 7' door open all the way.

Doordoc