Up and Over Garage Door

[DerbyBorn]

I have a Henderson door that is over 30 years old and doing well. It is the type with the coiled spring across the top and the conical cable rollers at each end.

I noticed that the rollers in the vertical track slide rather than rotate and I wonder if it is due to enthusiastic lubrication in the past.

I have given the tracks a good clean but it feels that there are slight flats on the rollers.

Would I have been better off not oiling the track over the years - and would this have encouraged the rollers to roll?

[Bob Minchin]

It would have been better to oil the roller pivot. If you now have flats on the wheels they are never going to be persuaded to roll now.

[Davey]

For what it's worth, when I wanted parts for a sliding Henderson door, I found them extremely helpful on the 'phone.

[DerbyBorn]

May replace them - just wary of the power in that spring.

[newshound]

Easy enough to say, but the rollers may have sealed, grease lubricated ball bearings. It's always a bit of a compromise how to lubricate things like this where dust is going to collect, over time, and where it is generally not practicable to clean everything thoroughly each time you lubricate. I find WD40 type sprays to be quite reasonable because if you spray liberally, the thin phase helps to penetrate debris so that it gets pushed out of the way if you operate the door a few times after lubricating. But there is no doubt that the thicker oil which is left behind will attract dirt as well as lubricate.

With regard to rollers sliding, if the door still operates OK I would not worry. You may wear flats on the rollers, but the number of operations which a door does is unlikely to wear out the tracks. Especially if you lubricate it regularly.

[Davey]

I believe there are Youtube videos showing that process, although I haven't checked that out. But it would be worth searching, or even asking Henderson.

[Brian Gaff]

Now they probably have grooves in them or flats.

Brian

[DerbyBorn]

They start off gritty due the the builder leaving them lying around.

[Tim Lamb]

In message , DerbyBorn writes

If yours is anything like mine the U shaped side guides can be moved away from the door/roller by undoing the bottom securing screw.

[Dave Liquorice]

Got one of those similar vinatge...

The roller "bearing" should have been lubricated not the track. "Bearing" nylon wheel on steel shaft. I think the rollers had ceased onto the shaft on mine so I replaced the shaft and roller each side, got them from eBay I think.

As has been mentioned be very wary of that spring. Somewhere there is a plain metal section with 1/4" ish holes every quarter or eighth. You can use a couple of bits of bar (6" nail?) to carefully adjust the spring tension or just stop it rotating to take up the slack when you lift the door to disconnect the wire loop from the roller shaft. The door is heavier than one might expect and will need some form of prop/support. The wires will also uncoil from the cones, can be a bit of a fiddle to untangle when it comes to refitting the loop to the shaft.

[Steve Walker]

Get a couple of helpers to keep tension on the wires while you lift the door a bit and then put a screw through each loop into the wood of the frame that the guides are screwed to.

SteveW

[Steve Walker]

Sorry, should have made that clear. The spring needs to be locked first, the tension the helpers need to apply is just to stop the cables uncurling from the cones.

SteveW

[Dave Liquorice]

I'm glad you clarified that. Without locking the spring the wire tension is very high and would require a fairly hefty screw to hold.

[DerbyBorn]

Tim Lamb wrote in news:M7r24VD0 $ [e-mail]:

[Andrew]

Been there and done it after one of the cables snapped.(*2)

A repair kit of two cones with pre-attached cables and a pair of new roller assemblies was about £25.

You need two people !!. Don't attempt it solo.

There is an allen grub screw to unlock the spring and you need two phillips screwdrivers or lengths of tubular metal (*)to retension the spring by twisting it up a quarter of a turn each then moving one bar at a time through the 90 degree spaced holes.

(*) A set of Astra Mk1 pad removal drifts is perfect, and also handy for knocking the spring pins in and out that attach the cones to the shaft.

(*2) If you have an up and over door, take a good look at the way the loop of cable is attached to the inner end of the two slider/rollers. Mine twisted

90 degrees every time the door was opened and shut and this wore through the cable. A big dollop of grease and a piece of plastic sleeve to do the rotating means it won't snap again in my lifetime.