Posted: 10/10/2006 7:22:38 AM EDT
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The coil spring above my garage door that provides it with a neutral weight snapped Sunday night. Can anyone recommend a decent guy in Tucson to check it out that won't gouge me? Thanks, Wes |
Just go to home depot and buy a new spring and put it on your self. They are cheap and it takes like seconds to replace. The guys at home depot will even show you how to do it. Its really simple to do. Good luck and it will save you the cash to do more shooting!
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You are jokeing right? 
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They sell them at HD there? I've bought a few from a door supply here in NTX and they always write on the receipt that they are not responsible for my untimely demise resulting from a spring accident. They are really quite easy to replace and not as unsafe in my opinion as the ones that hang along side the door, if your somewhat mechanically inclined that it is. I'll be in Tucson late Thursday or sometime Friday AM on my way to PHX. I'd offer to stop and help and have a cold one but I'll be sporting a saddle sore little one and SO ready to get the trip over with by then. I've found that 2 3/8" extensions around 18" long or better make if quite easy. If you can build an AR you can do this. Just keep your face out of the way anything that can move fast. Jester |
| I had a garage door guy come out & replace one. Can't remember what it cost me but WAYYYYYY too much. I watched him and said, I can do this. I have done several doors since. No big deal. But it may be worth your while to watch a pro do one first. The biggest deal is to get both springs wound the same to take even load. |
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Thanks guys. I was looking at my spring closer today. I have a sneaking suspicion that I could do it, but not having seen it done before, I'm a little chicken. My door has a single spring set-up above the door, not 2 on the sides. That's why I think it could be more doable myself. Wes |
key is use a long "cheater bar", that spring is hyper tight. longer the bar, less pressure you will feel. Google "replacing garage door spring" there is a certain # of winds to do it...... |
Glowfinger is here in Tucson and he is gonna help me out. Thanks, Jim! Wes |
While this is true the potential problem is that if you lose it the you have the door up and you need to get it down and gravity is not your friend in this situation. You also have less room to work this way. Be careful doing this. Jester |
When my door is up I can not see the spring. How does one work on it then? |
I've seen some that when looking straight up at the bottom of the door you can see the spring. I guess it's just a matter of how everything is constructed around the door and how far it can open. On a somewhat humerous note from the DOH! files. I had to pull a major repair on mine a few weeks ago when I backed into my garage with something in the bed of my truck sticking up that caught the top of the door and nearly shot it off the ends of the rails. In this case I had about 2' of clearance between the bottom of the door and the door opening. This did cause everything to pretty much become dismembered and disassembled. Once I got everything stabilized I called a friend over to help and we got it straightened out and reassembled in about and hour and a half. The only casualty was the carrier on the opener track was destroyed and I had to replace that. Whole deal only cost me $28 plus whatever beer my friend drank while there. My stupidity pissed me off at first but in hindsight I laugh about it. On a more serious note, I've changed one of my springs by myself without any trouble but I didn't like it for the simple fact that if something happened there would be no one else around to help. I know there are many things that many of us do that the same could be said about though. There is such a bad reputation about how dangerous these springs are to work on out there that I don't quite understand. Stuff like this you should have a helper to call 911 if need be or at least laugh at you if you do something stupid. I still feel that these are easier and safer to work on than the ones that hang along side the door since that are trapped by the shaft on which they ride. In my opinion the most important part of this to one, have the know how and mechanical abilities to do something like this. And two, use adequate tools and equipment. I watched a guy fling a couple of long bolts, 3/8" I think, across a shop one day as one gave way and the spring proceeded to unwind. Decent 3/8 drive extension bars 18-24" work great for me. Sorry for the long diatribe, I guess the coffee is really working this morning. Jester |