Garage Door Wont Stay Up

[Steve]

I have an up & over metal garage door that stays up when I open it most of the time. The problem is that every now and again it drops down again, by anything from about 6 inches to 2 or 3 feet. This often happens some time I have opened it and carried on, happily believing it has decided to stay open. It's already taken a lump out of the top of my head and it's only a matter of time before it drops on to the roof of the car as I back it out. This would not be a good thing.

Its the type that has a large metal spring just above the door, the full width of the opening. At each side of the door opening is a vertical track in which a nylon wheel attached to the garage door runs. There is also a taut wire running from a reel on the end of the big spring to help pull this wheel up.

The big spring was dry and rusty so I gave it a good soaking in WD40 and that seemed to improve things for a while, but the problem soon came back. I've sprayed everything I can see with WD40 but it's still not right. Any suggestions would be welcome.

Thanks

Steve

[mrcheerful]

WD40 dries out so won't last very long. The springs get weaker with age, sometimes you need to give them an extra turn to help the door stay up.

[Rob Morley]

A stout bungee between the top of the door and an eye on the wall? :-) There's probably some way of winding more tension on the spring, but as it's heavily corroded I'd worry that it might break, releasing a considerable amount of energy when it did and possibly sending pieces of hard steel flying through the air with some force.

[Doctor D]

My mother in law is waiting for her damaged garage door to be replaced. In the meantime I've made her a prop which slips between a notch in the door and another in the ground to hold it up on windy days.

[Tony Williams]

When it is up and horizontal our garage door seems to be held there more by balance than the springs. A downwards pull on the bottom edge seems to be needed to tilt the balance. In which case it might be worth experimenting with weighting the top edge.

[doozer]

Many moons ago (I was a child DIYer) I was fixing just such a garage door, with my accident prone father, which had exactly the same problem. I found out first hand just how much power is in the spring when we slipped while re-attaching the wire to the wheel. The wire became wrapped around two of my fingers and very nearly pulled them off. Luckily the wire came free just before it pulled my fingers into the box containing the spring and I got away with some very painful bruising.

Anyway, we tried adding a couple of extra twists to the spring but it just broke so we replaced it. I don't remember where we got it from though. Give it a good coat of grease once you have it in place.

Finally, always work with the door propped fully open. Sounds like a stupid bit of advice but having the door closed is why I nearly could only count to 8.

Graham (10 years without a visit to the A&E department and go> I have an up & over metal garage door that stays up when I open it most

[Alex]

Steve i need the make of door ,from you discription ,it is likly to be a Henderson or Cardale,but could also be a King door.If it is a king door just get rid of it they are dangerous to repair.Let me know and i will send you detailed instructions.Also the age of the door would be helpfull.

Grease is not a good lubicant for door springs and runners as it attracts dirt and dust.Most manufactures use duck oil,but any quality penatrating oil with good moisture dispersing properities will do.

[Andy Hall]

How old is the door and the spring?

If more than about ten years then probably new springs would make sense.

THis firm has most things and gives helpful advice as well.

I've bought replacements for mine and also helped a neighbour with his. Springs are not hugely cheap or expensive either, but probably that's the solution. Worth a phone call at least.

[John]

They are adjustable - Mine is superbly balanced and well lubricated. However, they are dangerous to work on. Find the tensioning instructions and do it a bit at a time. Take care that nothing slips off the sprung shaft whilst the Allen screw is loose.

[Steve]

Thanks to everybody for the quick and comprehensive range of advice. I have now oiled the spring with a 3 in 1 type oil and have succesfully increased the tension on it so that the door (Henderson, by the way Alex) stays up just fine - long may it last.

To anybody reading this who wonders how you re-tension an 8ft spring with taut wires attached, I would say the key word is CAREFULLY. I slipped a couple of times and fortunately got away with a few minor cuts but I agree with doozer that the potential is certainly there for a serious injury.

Thanks again.

Steve

Steve wrote:

[Homer2911]

Look in Yeller Pages for a door repair company. They refurbished/retensioned my mechanism for about =A330 some years ago

[Steve]

[zymurgy]

Ouch. This reminded me of :

Also beware of your loft hatches, I had mine come down on my head as (unbeknown to me) it had a faulty catch. Until this point I thought seeing stars was just in the cartoons, along with the comedy head lump.

Cheers,

Paul.