I've got a sectional metal garage door at my house and today one of the two cables on either side of the door broke. I lowered the garage door and took off the good one so I could take it to Home Depot and get a new one but when I did the torsion spring spun around and lost all of it's torsion. I was wondering if anyone knew anything about how much pressure/how many twists to give the spring after I attach the new cables. If I have a guy come out to fix it they want $120. Which I'll pay if I have to but I can't see this being all that difficult. I just need some pointers.

Thanks in advance,

Randy

Let see I had to figure this out when I built my trailer, I used the garage springs on the back door. You have to preload them with the door down then you have to figure out how many turns it takes to get the door up then pre load the spring a couple turns more that it takes to get it up. Some one will probably chime in with a more exact way to figure the turns. They also have a ton of different springs but you already have the right springs.
DON~~~

Count the number of coils on the other spring and match that on the one thats unloaded.
Sometimes you can measure the linear distance instead of counting. Measure the loaded spring, mark that measure on the unloaded and start cranking until they match.
With a garage door, I imagine they need to be pulling the same or your gonna cause problems with it opening and closing.

I just did this at one of my dads rentals. What you do is paint a line down the spring, then twist till you see seven parts of the line. The line will start to wrap around like a barbershop pole. Once you have seven "stripes" your good to go.

About the only advice I can give you is BE CAREFUL. There are warning labels on the torsions for a reason. Probably not that hard to do IF you know what you're doing. Not trying to discourage you but $120 could turn into a trip to the hospital

Heres what I did...

put a strap on the door and to the floor tie down opened the door about 8".

Pre wrapped the wheel with the wire with about 2 turns of tension on it and hooked it to the door to see if it was tight enough..

It wasnt, stuck a socket extension into the adjuster in the middle with a breaker bar (this takes 2 PPl)... cranked it to get a couple more turns....

My spring lost the tension ( I had loosed it to try and tighten it) (do not loosen the springs it doesnt work that way)


At the point of my spring coming undone I took it to the shop and paid $160 for them to fix it lol

Hope this helps a little

Capt

That's what the GF just told me. I called around and found a small local garage door repair guy and he said he'd do if for $100 cash and be here in an hour. Eff it. At least this way it'll be done right and I know I'm not going to get hurt.

Thanks though guys. This place is better than google.

Ask him how he does it and report back.. If anything, Im curious how they do it.

Will do.

set up a video before he gets there and post it up... I have been wonderingthe same thing

Capt

Not that hard.. tools needed.. (1)- 4-6' step ladder. (1) wrench to fit the square headed bold on the springs and pulleys, (1) large vise grip, and (1) c-clamp and (2)- 1/2" steel rods about 18" long...

.Close the door..push it all the way to the floor, and lock it there with the c-clamp on one of the side rails above a track wheel..If there is any tension on either of the springs, this will need to be released first, by inserting a rod into the knuckle at the end of the springs, holding it FIRMLY, then loosening the small setscrew bolt, and then unwinding the knuckle/spring hand over hand with the two rods..after both springs are unloaded,and both spring set-screws remaining loose..pick a side (Doesn't matter which) and make sure the cable from the bottom of the door is in the grooves on the pulley correctly.. put slight pressure on the pulley as if you were trying to lift the door up and lock the shaft if place with the large regular vise grip, with the handle against the wall/door header to keep the slight tension on the shaft to keep the cable engaged on the pulley and in the grooves...next loosen the set screw on the opposite side pulley and repeat cable wind and groove placement, while applying same tension; tighten pulley set screw.. You are now ready to reload the springs...Every door will be different, and I had never heard the (7) stripe trick, but whatever ,using your 2 rods, wind each side equally, and locking the spring in place with the set screws,,, count your turns, and apply equal amounts of winds to each side..Pretty easy if you follow this procedure.. it has worked for me for years..

That is exactly how u do it. The 7 stripes thing is what a garage door guy said to do. That way you know it's got enough tension on it.

Schmidty knows his chit. That's exactly how the guy did it. $100 and thirty minutes later it's working like a charm.

$200 cash per hour ain't too bad.

It was worth every penny to me. The door works better now that it ever did.

The self satisfaction of doing something yourself fades away quickly when you break it.

I hear that. I had already "fixed it" twice before myself. Now it's good

Here is the 1st in a good series on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DbiERklj8Y...feature=related