Noticed the other day that one of the two springs that balances my garage door is broken.  Guessing this will probably burn out my opener before long.



See the pic below.  Is this something I can handle myself, or do I risk ripping off a finger or arm?

lot of people don;t like to do it because they think its dangerous.  You can call a door guy and pay 300 and he will be done in 15 mins,or DIY yourself for 50. It really not too hard.  Just need 2 correct size rods to inset into the holes to tension the spring.

Im cheap and short on cash, so I guess it is worth it.  I suppose if I have two rods, if I lose my grip and make sure one rod is always in one of the holes, it cant run away from me.



This is an overhead door brand door.  Do I need to get parts from them, or would Home Depot have that sort of stuff?



How much tension should be applied?  Should I replace, or re-tension both springs?



 

It is, indeed, potentially dangerous, and I know a person who lost half a hand to one, and a friend-of-a-friend lost an arm to one.

However, I've done a couple of them, and in my non-professional opinion, if you are handy, mechanically-inclined, can handle paying attention to what you're doing and work safely, there's no reason why you can't do it safely.  At least one rod always has to be in place, and keep your body parts out of the spinning line-of-fire.  Keep hands, clothes, etc. well away from the spring itself as well.

When I did mine the first time, I went to Home Depot, bought a 2' long bar of the right diameter, and cut it in half for the rods.

If one broke, the other is probably quite fatigued as well, you would do well to replace them both at once.  Replacing the cables while you're at it isn't a bad (or expensive) idea, either.

I have not seen them at  HD or lowes, but i was able to find them at a smaller chain in my area.   They are pretty generic.  Remove and replace and then loosen the set screws and insert rod one at a time and tension it.  Test door and see if it needs more or less.

Youtube is your freind

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luQR0KGgXgo

I do them myself, but I'm very careful. They scare me.





I would just do them both while you are at it.  Overhead Door should have the parts.  Call them up they will want the thickness of the each coil and the overall length. (or something like that).  





When I un-tension the good one I try to start with one of my rods damn near up to the frame so it can wedge against it if the tension is too much to hold.  Be very careful not to get your hand in between the frame and the rod. Keep your head and other body parts out of the path of your rods and always have an escape plan.  The standard size garage doors are not that scary, but when you get into the bigger commercial doors it can get dicey.





As far as the tension, I tighten mine enough that when I open the door with the opener disconnected the door will just stay at chest height.  It won't drift down or up.  This will take a little trial and error.  I try to keep the springs equal as I tighten them.
This may differ from how the pros would do it, but we had a lot of roll up doors at our old airport and this method has served me well over the years.
 

In order to find the right spring you need to know a few things about your old one. Frist you need to know the size wire the spring is wound with second you need to know the OD of the spring third you need to know the length of the spring and lastly you need to know if the spring is a left hand or right hand wind. DONOT repeat DONOT use any spring that does not match yours to the letter as you will not be able to keep the balance equal and the door will not track right and will hang up. As far as the tension wind the spring 1/2 turn  more than your door is high. In otherwords if your door is 8 feet high you would put 8 1/2 turns on the spring note when winding the spring you will only wind it a 1/4 turn at a time with means you would need (34) 1/4 turns.

Now you said that you door has two springs which means that the cables, drums, shaft are still under pressure DO NOT take any thing apart until you let the other spring off being sure to count the turns. A trick I like to use when rewinding the springs is to lock the door down with a pair of vise grips clamped to the track just above a roller. Also use two pair of vise grips to hold the shaft tite in place to aid in winding and make sure your cables are in the grooves on the drums. Now for the part where this door repair/installer tells you to pay someone to do it since these spring are under serious pressure and can and will seriously injure or kill you or someone around you. I have seen winding bars thrown through block walls when a spring plug broke and people cut very badly by the door cable and spring when it broke during winding.

A little motor oil would have help that spring live longer

I've installed several w/o training.  It wasn't too dificullt with a bit of mechanical experience.  Just google it "Garage door torsion spring installation".  Also spray WD40 on it a couple times a year.

For me it was easier to just have someone come out and do it instead of finding a supplier that carried the springs, figuring out what spring rating id need, and doing all the work of getting it properly tensioned.
I wouldnt consider it much more dangerous than other tasks, just pay attention to what your doing and use the right tools.

Ive done everything from laying tile, hanging doors, wiring, plumbing, and lots of auto repair, so im not exactly incompetent.

Listen to this guy. I repaired garage doors in Northern Va for a time. I had a few emergency calls were wives would call me to come out and get the door repaired before their husbands got out of the ER.

IF you know the process and you are careful (very careful) you can do it yourself. But you need the right springs for the door other wise it will be too hot (quick to come up) or to cold (heavy and hard for the opener to handle). I put the wrong springs on a door once and when I took my vice grips off the roller to hold it down. The door flew up and knocked me off my ladder.

I suggest a balanced, well installed door to be able to be lifted (with out the opener) with two fingers, and stop 3 times on the way up and down. This will insure a long opener life. Also safer for animals and kids.

When you get it all installed, however you do it. Make sure you lube your springs with silicone spray every 3 months or so. I know a lot of people who suggest lubing your track, but I do not suggest it. It only attracts dirt and sand into the bearing on the rollers and kills them quicker.

I used to work in R&D at a major garage door manufacturer.  You would be amazed at the number of people a year mutilated because they wanted to change those springs themselves.  It can be done, but I can't in good conscience recommend it.

I now work in R&D at a major elevator manufacturer.  Leave those to the pros as well.

You have given me a lot to think about.

its a simple install.
however even the most simple projects can be very dangerous.
if you understand the risk, and are safe about it, it is very possible to do yourself.

I've unwound the springs and rewound them to proper tension since the people who installed the door did not do a very good job.





I got the tension correct and aligned all the tracks.





When I was done, everything worked real good and quite and my new Liftmaster 3800 opener was great.



However, I design and repair industrial equipment for a living, I am an engineer, and work on cars all the time and I have experience with operating and maintaining manufacturing equipment.





The spring thing is dangerous.  It can break bones and knock your head off.  You really need to understand thoroughly what is going to happen before you mess with anything.





The link below has great instructions and the people offer great service and have all the right parts at good prices.





The key to everything is having a good rod that fits the spring correctly and you must be very methodical and you must not be in the way if a slip occurred.





Basically, the thing to do is to not let the rod slip.  You can get into trouble in a hurry, so you should get instructions for your particular make and model of door.  





http://ddmgaragedoors.com/diy-instructions/





I ended up having to redo a lot of the structure that the spring was attached to because the type and placement of the lag screws was inadequate.



One final note.  The guy in the link had been doing the work for years and he himself finally got his wrist broken or something from working with a spring.

Get a price quote and see what it cost.  I did mine but I later had to call someone because it worked fine for a week then started acting up and I didnt have the time to mess with it.  Its wasnt that much and this company said I could call them up to 6 months if ever needed further adjusting.  If you do it just be carefull, pay attention, and an extra set of hands is very helpful.

i'm an engineer and yes i was afraid to do mine myself  



i called a pro in to do it, got both replaced for like $165, well worth it in my opinion!

I called a company to replace the door.  Had everything moved out of the garage after verifying the door was in and the installer was on the way.



The guy didn't show up.  Called the place and finally got them to admit that they didn't have the door and hadn't even ordered it.



Then I went to another place and they installed the new door.



One day the door opener ripped out of the door.



I found the door was completely unbalanced, the door opener was attached wrong, the tracks were not level and were crooked.



I fixed everything myself, balanced it properly and now it works great and is totally quite whereas before it was a creaking, mess.



It also has hurricane bracing.



Whoever installed the old door originally did a lousy job of track installation and he didn't fix any of the problems that should have been obvious to someone who installs doors for a living.



Before I fixed the door, I learned about the way they should be installed and fixed everything that was wrong.
 

Gospel words.  Mine cost $150 back in 1995.  Let the pros do it.



 

I did mine and a friends and found one way to set the tension was with the door open and the lever that disconnects the door from the chain pulled while someone or something holds the door up.

In this position, there is little or no tension on the springs because they tighten up when the door is down.

After turning the springs by hand and tighting them up equally, re-connect the chain latch and bring the door down.  Then disconnect the latch again and try to lift the door by hand.  If the tension is set properly, it will be easy to do.  If too much tension, the door may raise on its own.  If too little tension, the door will be very hard to hand lift.

I had mine done about a year ago.   I think it cost less than $200 bucks.  Well worth it in my opinion.  However, after watching him do it, there is no doubt that I could pull it off myself if I had to.  If you do it yourself, the key is to set the tension so that the door will stay open to about waist high.  Also, all springs are not equal.  They are color coded based on tension strength, so make sure you get right one.

if you want it done right, DO IT YOURSELF.
***after doing your due diligence in research

Well after getting stood up 3 times trying to PAY someone to replace the springs, I give up.  Ill just do it myself.  I have lost more time/money than I want to add up just trying to get this damn thing fixed.  Even the Overhead Door Co mafia didn't want to come out and do it for $150 more than the independent shops.













 

Just think about everything you do.  Focus on the task at hand  and make sure that you are not in the direct path of any potential energy.

Godspeed.

Cant believe I almost paid someone to do this for me.  If you are not a total idiot you are smart enough to stay out of the swing radius of the winding bars.  Took me about 45 minutes and that included replacing a bottom bracket and greasing everything that needed it.





Highly recommend http://www.ddmgaragedoors.com they have good email support and good parts.  Got both springs for about $80 shipped.

 

I'm glad you got it fixed.