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Garage door spring?

HELL BOUND

HELL BOUND

Well-known member
Joined
May 27, 2020
Member Number
1574
Messages
481
My garage door spring just broke in half and no local stores have one. Of course we are getting a snow storm tonight thru the next few days. I ordered a new spring but it won't be here until next Monday. My question is can I just put the adjuster on the end where it broke and make it work for a few days so my wife won't have to park outside? In the little bit of info I can find the length is for longevity of the spring. So in my head it will still work but wouldn't last ten years like the original. Am I wrong? Am I wasting my time.
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The spring should be equal on both sides so you don't lift the door at different rates. I wouldn't do it.

Of course, my luck is the worst. If I did it I'd be buying a new door.
 
Dookey said:
The spring should be equal on both sides so you don't lift the door at different rates. I wouldn't do it.

Of course, my luck is the worst. If I did it I'd be buying a new door.
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I never paid attention I allways thought doors had 2 springs for that reason but ours only has one spring on the one side. Its been like that since new that I know of. My luck is like yours and that is why I'm leary to f with it.
 
I looked into repairing my own. For about the same price as parts, I had the door repair company show up and done in less than an hour
 
HELL BOUND said:
I never paid attention I allways thought doors had 2 springs for that reason but ours only has one spring on the one side. Its been like that since new that I know of. My luck is like yours and that is why I'm leary to f with it.
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Interesting. I say go for it. What could possibly go wrong? :flipoff2:
 
I've done it in a pinch. It'll get you through the week but once those springs break the whole thing is pretty much shot and it'll break again pretty soon. Good luck trying to swap out that end piece though, it's a motherfucker and a half
 
My little guy goes down for a nap in a little while so ill go give it a shot. Ill report back as to how it goes.
 
Had this happen a few times

I unlatch the auto opener and lift manually until we gat it fixed. Lifting it the first few feet is the heaviest and you might have to hold it open at the top but the garage is still useable
Closing it takes some finesse without slamming it at the bottom

If you replace yourself use extreme caution. The further you wind it up the further it will throw the bars that you use to leverage the spring. Two people helps. One to turn the spring, one to set the jam nuts.
 
77fixer said:
I looked into repairing my own. For about the same price as parts, I had the door repair company show up and done in less than an hour
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This.

I've had over 4 springs break, in the 27 years I've lived in my house. Every time I watch the door repair company deal with it, I'm glad I did.
 
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When mine broke, the garage door guy came out and installed a little block thing between the 2 broken halves of the spring and rewound it until he could get my new spring.

it had 2 holes in it the same size as the spring windings, and had a set zcrew for each.
 
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I wouldn't bother trying to put the end back into the spring halfway
most of them won't have enough wraps to the spring, you lift the door and the cables fall off because the spring runs out of poop way too early

just pop the cables off the door so they don't get kinks in them and run the door manually for a few days until your bits show up
 
Be careful installing spring(s), you could lose an eye or hand for that matter-
 
Dibs on your stuff.

Fuck garage doors, pay someone to mess with that. Cheaper than the hospital bill.
 
Just overlap the broken spot and put 2 or 3 cable clamps on it. Should get you by for a week that way.
 
Life is dangerous, OMG don't drive on the freeway you will die instantly, DONT FILL YOUR GASS TANK!!! it will blow up!!! get in a car accident, both cars are going to blow!!! better run!!


Use your head, Use 2 bars to tension or untension a garage door spring, One bar you will use to move the spring, the other rests against the wall while you re position the bar that you will use to tension the spring, It's a slow process and yes it gets tight, but if you are confident in your abilities then go for it. In a pinch I have used the broken spring, It sucks but its better then lifting a dead weight graage door, My parents have an older solid wood door, Had to use a floor jack and jack stands to get it up far enough to crawl out. No way anyone could lift it.

It's great to ask Questions. but also in your head you should have an idea if you are within your level of abilities or not.
 
77fixer said:
I looked into repairing my own. For about the same price as parts, I had the door repair company show up and done in less than an hour
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I had one done last year, I think it was like $200. Money well spent considering what happens with them when you dont know what you are doing.
 
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[486 said:
;n248730]the fuck happened to this place?
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It's the middle of the day. The only people posting are yuppies with white collar jobs, retired old men and us.

If it were 2AM 2BB would be on here telling us how he uses a screwdriver and a zip tie to wind these.
 
Ok it took 2 mins to pop off one end roller and old spring. Was a bitch getting the spring off the adjustment collar. Had to use a grinder and big tongue and groove pliers to unscrew the spring. Just got the adjuster back on the rest of the spring. That was a pain in the ass. The other pain is trying to keep tension on the ends with the cables. I ended up duct taping it to the door so it would stay tight. My 2 year old just woke up so ill have to wait a couple hours until my wife gets home to wind it and see how it works.
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Pukemaggots said:
Did you make sure to order the correct colour spring?
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Yes orange 2.73 x2 x38 left hand wind. its one of the biggest ones they make. Makes since being only one spring for the door. It even came with some rods to wind it up. 60 bucks.
 
The new spring you bought, hopefully you bought the one that's more expensive and stays good for 10x the amount of uses?
Someone did some calcs on the tension from springs + the bars you use to wind them. The result was that if you slip up, the bar flies at about the speed of a .45acp, but with the extra energy of that entire rod. Easy broken arm or fatal if struck in head. Be careful with these things.
 
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[486 said:
;n248730]the fuck happened to this place?
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There are three things I won't fuck with:
1) Overhead concrete
2) Garage door springs
3) The Dutch
 
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