Is a single torsion spring garage door supposed to have a center bearing?

[Danny D.]

Bad news.

It's worse than I thought.

Here are some pictures after I disassembled the garage door overhead apparatus and tried to shore it up with steel.

Here's the overall picture with the apparatus removed:

Here's is the relocation of the spring anchor plate: Here is a closeup of that spring anchor plate relocation: Here is a picture of my attempt to secure the right end plate: Here I try to shore up the left bearing end plate: The good news is that I have a new spring anchor plate bearing.

[Danny D.]

It does now!

Thanks to Dan Musick of DDM Garage Doors, who mailed me a free bearing when I showed him that picture above.

Interestingly, the center bearing at the spring anchor plate is exactly the same as the two end plate bearings.

[Danny D.]

It does now!

Thanks to Dan Musick of DDM Garage Doors, who mailed me a free bearing when I showed him that picture above.

Interestingly, the center bearing at the spring anchor plate is exactly the same as the two end plate bearings.

[Danny D.]

It does now!

Thanks to Dan Musick of DDM Garage Doors, who mailed me a free bearing when I showed him that picture above.

Interestingly, the center bearing at the spring anchor plate is exactly the same as the two end plate bearings.

[Danny D.]

Sorry about the duplicates. I'm having a problem with my proxy.

[Danny D.]

I bought some 5/8" nuts and bolted the steel plate to the garage framing so now the garage door is as tight as it will ever get.

The strange thing was that there was absolutely no substantial wood anywhere near the top of the garage door. Even the lag bolts of the vertical tracks, all of which I had removed when I removed the tracks, were barely holding onto skinny boards of wood.

Clearly the original garage door installers were faced with the same dilemma I was because they left the top three or four holes in the vertical track totally empty. That meant the last foot and a half wasn't secured to anything, and the bottom half was barely connected to flimsy wood. Now it's all tight as a drum!

There is now a center bearing, which, incidentally, is exactly the same make and size as the bearings in each of the bearing end plates.

Thanks for all your help and advice. a) I'm sorry people got angry when I didn't rip open the walls. b) I'm positive there is absolutely no substantial wood anywhere above and to the sides of the doorway. c) Ripping out the walls would have only confirmed what I knew (and what the original installers were faced with).

In the end, I had to decide between what Dan Musick recommended (e.g., steel bracing) and what some of you recommended (e.g., 3/4 inch plywood).

I went with what Dan suggested - and I'm truly sorry I bothered peopile when I didn't rip out the walls as some of you suggested so that's why I went dark when people got irate about that.

I thank you all for your help - and hope that any summary I can give will help the next person faced with the same or similar dilemma.