Garage door installation SNAFU

[Rod in Forfar]

Last summer we built a garage. Then I bought a very nice 10 X 7' "Mahogany"(hemlock with luan raised panels) door.

Today the time had come to install it.

All went well until I wound up the spring. I wonder if I had it in backwards. It took six turns and then it had had enough and hopped up onto the spindles holding it, losing its tension and blocking access to one of the holes on the shaft into which I needed to insert bars continue trying to tighten it.

My son and I and I jacked the door up and escaped the garage, but we did not solve the mystery of the door spring.

The way I turned it the spring grew shorter, compressing. Is this right, or should I have mounted it backwards, to elongate the spring?

The burnt-fingers method has shown me through a lot of diy adventures, but it seems to have let me down here.

Thanks,

Rod

 

[chopped]

Im not quite sure but maybe this will help.
Measure Your Garage Door Torsion Springs

 

[ray66v]

When you tighten the spring, the direction depends on the wind of the spring.

The cable on the side of the door should get tight as you wind the spring, if your turning the spring the wrong way, the cable will unwind off of the drum.

It should be obvious, so now I am wondering if you had the cables on, and the drums attached to the jackshaft.

 

[Rod in Forfar]

Everything was assembled, and the shaft locked with vice grips while I tightened the spring as it rotated around the shaft -- as per the instructions. But I might have had the spring on backwards, for it compressed, rather than stretching. Eventually it climbed up over the ends and shut the process down.

It's quite a heavy door, and I wonder if it shouldn't have two springs, rather than one.

 

[tlbuser]

When you tighten the spring, the direction depends on the wind of the spring.

Correct, depends on whether it's a left or right hand spring.

The cable on the side of the door should get tight as you wind the spring, if your turning the spring the wrong way, the cable will unwind off of the drum.

The cable drum should not be rotating when you are tightening the springs.

Sounds like the spring is on the wrong side of the door, or the wrong spring. Is the spring installed on the right side of center? Where you winding in a counter-clockwise direction? What brand door? Post some pics. and maybe we can see what's goofy.

 

[LD1]

I am not sure what you mean by the spring compressed??

Since it is a torsion spring, there are a given # of coils wht the spring relaxed. when you tension it, you are supposed to be going in the direction that would be trying to twist the spring tighter (add more coils) and NOT the direction that would unwind the coils.

Mine is a little different because my doors came with the ez-wind thing on the end. Basically, once it was mounted and the pully, it gave you a set distance to mount the middle spring mount. This required stretching the spring just a tad to make toom for the "more coils" when I wound it up. Once that was locked down, a drill with a 7/16" bit and about 30 seconds the spring was wound. Piece of cake.

But I agree, post some pics and maybe we can see something you are overlooking.

 

[Rod in Forfar]

Considering that I mounted a right-hand spring on the left side of the door and reduced the number of coils by compressing it, I think it's clear by now that I had the unit on backwards.

It should be a simple matter to reverse the shaft and switch the end pulleys which hold the cable, except for the small matter of the coil which has climbed up tight to the gibs on the winder and intruding on one of the four holes where I need to put the bar in (and take it out safely) in order to tighten it.

I thought of pinning the other end under my loader and having at the winder in the great outdoors with the bars, but that might be asking a hungry hippo for a kiss. If anything slipped and my body didn't interfere with its trajectory, I could be picking that 18" bar out of my neighbour's roof a half-mile away.

Any suggestions which do not involve great courage/stupidity?

 

[Gator6x4]

Last summer we built a garage. Then I bought a very nice 10 X 7' "Mahogany"(hemlock with luan raised panels) door.

Today the time had come to install it.

All went well until I wound up the spring. I wonder if I had it in backwards. It took six turns and then it had had enough and hopped up onto the spindles holding it, losing its tension and blocking access to one of the holes on the shaft into which I needed to insert bars continue trying to tighten it.

My son and I and I jacked the door up and escaped the garage, but we did not solve the mystery of the door spring.

The way I turned it the spring grew shorter, compressing. Is this right, or should I have mounted it backwards, to elongate the spring?

The burnt-fingers method has shown me through a lot of diy adventures, but it seems to have let me down here.

Thanks,

Rod

I don't think I would be trying the "Burnt-Finger" method with a garage door opener torsion spring. People have been seriously injured with torsion springs. Read-Read-Read-Read and Re-Read the installation instructions. Then if even a shadow of doubt exist in your mind please contact a professional installer. TORSION SPRINGS ARE DANGEROUS.

View this site and see if it will provide any additional information to assist in the installation.

Installing and adjusting torsion springs courtesy Clopay Doors on the Natural Handyman home repair and do it yourself website

 

[ray66v]

The cable drum should not be rotating when you are tightening the springs.

They won't turn, when you wind the spring the right way, that was my point.

The OP was asking a question about which way to wind a spring(s), and I was trying to tell him how you tell.

Sorry, if I was not articulate enough for you.

 

[J_J]

If the wire is wound on the drum correctly, and installed on the rod correctly, then the spring should be turned in a way to tighten the spring and place tension on the wire .

 

[Leejohn]

You should be lifting up with your 18" bar and the spring well get longer..
That is a heavy door, I think I would call someone to do it.
I think the spring is painted red or black on the ends, check you manual to see what color goes to the left or right. Also the drum is painted the same way.

 

[jake98]

The guy that installed my commercial door told me that once he was working on one at a trucking terminal, standing on top of a trailer, and one of the bars got away from him and knocked him out cold. He said when he came to he was glad he wasn't going down the highway.

 

[Rod in Forfar]

View this site and see if it will provide any additional information to assist in the installation.

Installing and adjusting torsion springs courtesy Clopay Doors on the Natural Handyman home repair and do it yourself website

That's an excellent article, and very helpful. Thanks for the link.

 

[jayste]

Here's a few garage door basics. Red spring goes on left and black spring goes on right. Always wind "up". Meaning that as you lift up on your winding bars you should be loading or tensioning the spring. The springs that came with your door should be designed to lift the door as long as you haven't added any extra weight to it, I.E.- wood, metal, etc. Also, the drums should correspond with the spring as far as color goes. The cable wraps around the drum from behind (between drum and door facing), up and over and attached into the slot and rests in the first groove closest to edge of the door or track. Hope this helps. BTW, a good place to start on the amount of winds to put on the spring is 1 complete turn of each spring for every foot of height in door. I.E.- 7 foot height door should get 7 complete turns on each spring. Use two bars as you wind so one holds the tension as you put the other in the next hole. Vice grip your shaft so it doesn't move as you wind and do this only after you have put cables on drum and locked them down with the set screws. After you have tensioned you door raise it by hand until the bottom of the door is waist high. If it wants to raise up on its own, lower it and take a 1/4 turn off of each spring. If it wants to fall, add a 1/4 or two to each spring. Hope this helps and PM if needed. Add pics for visuals if you can.:thumbsup:

 

[LD1]

Here's a few garage door basics. Red spring goes on left and black spring goes on right. Always wind "up". Meaning that as you lift up on your winding bars you should loading or tensioning the spring. The springs that came with your door should be designed to lift the door as long as you haven't added any extra weight to it, I.E.- wood, metal, etc. Also, the drums should correspond with the spring as far as color goes. The cable wraps around the drum from behind (between drum and door facing), up and over and attached into the slot and rests in the first groove closest to edge of the door or track. Hope this helps. BTW, a good place to start on the amount of winds to put on the spring is 1 complete turn of each spring for every foot of height in door. I.E.- 7 foot height door should get 7 complete turns on each spring. Use two bars as you wind so one holds the tension as you put the other in the next hole. Vice grip your shaft so it doesn't move as you wind and do this only after you have put cables on drum and locked them down with the set screws. After you have tensioned you door raise it by hand until the bottom of the door is waist high. If it wants to raise up on its own, lower it and take a 1/4 turn off of each spring. If it wants to fall, add a 1/4 or two to each spring. Hope this helps and PM if needed. Add pics for visuals if you can.:thumbsup:

GREAT INFO THERE.

I will add a little info about what he is refering to as wraps of the springs.

If your springs arent marked, do so.

Basically, the spring at rest, with NO tension or compression usually has a line drawn across it. (at least with the EZ-wind sprigs) It should be straight at rest. As you wind the spring, the line will sort of wrap around the spring like threads on a screw. THIS is how you count the # of wraps. It makes it a whole lot easier IMO

And I take from your post that your door only has 1 spring. So take his figures and double it for a starting point.

And again, it is just a starting point. Door width and weight will determine the final # of wraps by using the method he mentioned.

And for the record, I did 4 doors on my garage. ALL the same size/brand etc and bought at the same time. They are 9x8's. They were all different in # of wraps. Anywhere from 12-14 to get them set right. And they are a lighter 2-layer door. Metal outside and insulated, but no metal layer inside.

 

[not2old]

If you haven't wound the spring too far over the holes, can you cut off a few inches of the spring where it blocks the holes? You shouldn't have lost too much of the spring travel. Trying to simply unscrew it will only make the connection tighter. Otherwise, there isn't going to be an easy removal. The only method would be to secure the casting somehow, and then un-screw it by applying the circular pressure to the end of the spring that is covering the holes. You would likely have to make a special tool for this.(this is very difficult to put into words) Try calling a garage door supplier where they assemble the springs and ask if they can fix the spring.

 

[Rod in Forfar]

The door is up, works satisfactorily, and the heavy lifting has been done for the opener.

With regard to the spring crowding the space for the winding rod, I ground a flat spot on one rod to provide 1/8" of clearance 1" deep, and that allowed me to work that hole in its rotation. The gibs were a challenge with the spring intruding. They required some determination and an old Mastercraft 3/8" open-end wrench and a short piece of 3/4" pipe in a few cases. More modern wrenches flexed too much to do the job.

Earlier I had experimented with a torque wrench on the gibs and had a pretty good idea of appropriate tightness on the shaft.

So tomorrow I'll head off to buy 10' weather stripping for around the door instead of searching for new spring, shaft, and installer.

Thanks for your help in this regard. I'll post photos when I get the OSB off the outside of the doorway.

Rod

 

[simonds]

I take it you mean the spring tightened against the winding unit "part with the holes" and jumped over it. You say it lost the tension.
If this is correct and there is no tension on the spring. Take both drums off the ends unfasten the center support "bearing". Take shaft and spring down and lay it across sawhorses and you should be able to get the spring back in place with pry bars or screwdrivers. Read instructions and reinstall. Be sure to use two bars inserted completely in the holes and go slowly 1/4 turn at a time. You will probably be pushing upward on the bars if everything else was installed correctly. " spring is to the right side of door center" "spring is not slid to the left and the winding unit against the center support" When you get the suggested amount of turns you should be able to let the lower bar rest carefully against the top of the door. Then tighten the set screw. Lift up slightly on the upper bar and remove the lower bar then the upper bar.
Good Luck, and be carefull
Clayton

 

[Scotty370]

Just be careful with those things! They can be 'killers'! Better to spend time on the web looking for assistance than 'cranking, cranking and cranking', a 'Grenade'! All else fails, call a Pro! You've got most of the costly stuff done..........~S

 

[Rod in Forfar]

Here's next week's Review Mirror column with a plug to Tractor-By-Net and a thanks to you guys.

Rod

The Garage Door Spring Walnut Diary