Garage Door

Oct 25, 2003 4 Replies
P

I seem to have got my priorities the wrong way round.....



About 3 months ago I fitted an automatic door opener sourced from Screwfix. All working well etc, and now that the cold weather is with us it's bloody marvellous!



Now I've decided that I am going to change my Freelander to something a tad larger which can take the tool kits more easily (hint: Freelanders are not modelled on the Tardis telephone box - the space within them collapses rapidly as you add something to the load space).



I've now chosen the new car - Shogun Sport. Haven't got it yet but I hope to soon. The Shogun has rather a lot of room even without the rear seats collapsed.



Only problem is that the Shogun is that bit longer than the Freelander (which is what I want...). I've just measured the vehicle length, width and height in the garage and found that the up-and-over garage door is going to clobber the rear end of the Shogun - even without the automatic door opener paraphenalia, and with the Shoguns nose nudging the wall at the other end (I can't reverse it in unfortunately).



Looks as though I'm going to have to replace the up and over door with a roller door. Herewith the dilemma - I know you have to be very careful with those big springs on the up-and-over doors otherwise they could do you some serious damage.



Has anyone removed an up-and-over door before and got words of wisdom they could impart?



PoP



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B

Just remove as much of the tension on them first. A strong bit of robe around one of the end loops and tied off the suitable anchor spot can help you release the tension slowly.

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A

Are they the kind that hook to a point near the bottom of the frame at one end and to the shorter ends of lever sections pivoted near the middle of the frame?

I had to replace a couple of these and actually it isn't too big a problem.

The point to watch for is when you want to remove the door itself and the tracks because that's when you really have to watch out for the door weight.

.andy

To email, substitute .nospam with .gl

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P

Echoing Andy Hall's post (too lazy to retype it!) Are they the kind that hook to a point near the bottom of the frame at one end and to the shorter ends of lever sections pivoted near the middle of the frame?

If this is the case, open the door fully and prop it open with a stout piece of timber. Then undo the nuts on the ends of the springs which adjust the spring tension. You should be able to remove all of the spring tension and the springs should just be hanging in the air and can then be easily removed. BEWARE! the propped open door will now be EXTREMELY heavy! Close the door and remove the bolts holding it to its frame. Job done.

HTH

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P

Thanks for all the replies! Very helpful as always.

Since yesterday we've decided that the Shogun Sport isn't for us, so the job has gone away for the moment (virtually all reports available are negative about this vehicle). The Nissan X-trail is now looking the favourite contender - so I may yet have the same problem to fix.....

I guess I am surprised about the weight of the door - it's one of those simple pressed steel things. nothing fancy. But forewarned is forearmed!

Dunno what I'd do if a customer asked me to do this particular job (replacing sheet garage door). There are some jobs I'll take on on my own property which I won't touch on others.

PoP

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