Up & Over garage door adjustments?

[Mike Halmarack]

I live in a small community. We all have garages with the same type of sheet metal up and over doors. Mine stops opening easily at about 2 thirds open but I'm fairly content to use a walking stick to push it the rest of the way up.

My 86 year old lady neighbour has a similar problem, plus when the door is opened fully, it tends to drop down towards the closed position for some of the way.

the mechanism has metal rod arms that runs up and down a channel on each side of the door frame and a heavy looking coiled spring the runs horizontally along the head of the frame for most of its full width.

It looks like the spring has a tensioning fitting at one end with holes in it for some kind of levering device.

Can anyone please suggest a DIY maintenance procedure to help fix these problems?

[Chris Green]

You have to be *very* careful with adjusting these.

First thing (which is relatively easy and risk free) is simply to clean and lubricate everything, in many cases this is all that's needed.

If the big tension spring really has lost some of its spring then my first advice would be to get a 'professional' in to do it. It may not really be a professional but it will be someone who has the right tools and who has done it before.

If you want to do it yourself (and this is uk.d-i-y) then:-

Find instructions for the adjustement, it may take a bit of searching but I eventually found some for mine (Yes, I read all the warnings but still did do it myself).

Get the right tools, in particular spanners, allen keys, etc. that fit as well as possible, you don't want anything that's a bad fit and might slip.

Stand on a very safe platform of some sort so that you're not stretching to do the job.

Follow the instructions carefully.

[Dave Liquorice]

Your problems sound very much like the ones I've had. Check that the rollers that run in the channels actually roll and not slide(*).

You may find that lubrication of all the arm pivot points, the rollers and spring shaft bearings is all that is required. Use a drop of real oil on each, not something that evaporates and leaves a sticky gunge behind like WD40...

(*) Replacements are available (eBay etc). The E clips that hold and set their position which also positions the door in the opening, can be very good at ping fuckit when removing them, especialy in a ram packe full garage. DAMHIKT... You'll need something to take the weight of the door and lift it slightly at one side to take the tension off the wire that side. Provided you always have one wire attached I don't think you need to jam the the spring. A 6" length of

6 mm is steel rod (aka a 1/4" flat or PZ2 screwdriver) will do that. You need two so you can add a bit of torsion, insert the "stop" bar, release the torsion, to ensure the spring/stop bar are jammed into place.

[Dave Liquorice]

The mechanisum is fairly simple to understand just be *very* wary of that BFO spring. Hence my previous comment about making sure that any stop bar is jammed/held into postion by the springs torsion. Something just poked through could fall out. The door is surprisingly heavy without the spring taking its weight via the wires.

The other bit that can be fun is getting the wire back onto the cone but provided that you haven't lost or gained the number of turns it should just go back naturally as the door is opened from fully closed.

[Andy Burns]

I'm sure you'll find websites for e.g henderson doors out there ... with a warning that a *lot* of energy is stored in those springs, so treat with care ...

[Mike Halmarack]

Thanks for all the advice but there's too many disturbing possibilites for an old dodderer. I'll oil what movinng parts I can get at and if that doesn't improve the situation, I'll recommend calling "The Man".

[Andrew]

I had to release the tension on mine when one of the cables snapped where it loops round the lateral door slide roller.

Re-tensioning needs needs the correct sized allen key and a pair of short bars to progressively wind up (or down) and then while holding the inner bar inside the spring with one of the pair of 'tensioners', tighten the allen key. The holes are at 90 degrees to each other so you rotate the bar about a quarter of a turn then insert the other rod/screwdriver (whatever) and remove the first one, then rotate another quarter of a turn. If he just wants to slightly increase the tension just a quarter of a turn might be all that is needed. Take care !.

Difficult to describe without a Youtube video, but once he gets the knack its easy, but also easy to hurt himself.

I used a pair of punches intended for knocking out the tubular spring clips that Mk1 Astras used to locate brake pads. A pair of screwdrivers that will fit snuggly in the winding holes would be ok.

If the door doesn't go right up, but stays up if it is pushed with a stick, then probably all he needs to do is to lubricate the two slider channels and make sure the little wheels that slide and rotate inside these channels are clean and slidy. A can of spray grease is ideal.

[Andrew]

Buy a can of spray grease. Wonderful for jobs like these because you can force it into parts that an 'oil can' cannot reach.

[williamwright]

Also it's great for getting a campfire to light.

Bill