Garage door opener replacement

[JDgreen227]

Yesterday I replaced a 1989 vintage 1/2 horsepower Stanley Lightmaker opener....with a second remote control and a wired keyless entry pad, the Stanley cost me $217 new with 4% sales tax. A 1/2 horsepower Chamberlain with two remotes and a wireless keypad cost me $147 with 6% sales tax, and the new one has safety sensors and was several times easier to adjust compared to the older device. Wonder if the new one will last 25 years though....:laughing: :laughing:

 

[bigtiller]

I am hoping for 50 years. :laughing: I just put a 1/2 horsepower Chamberlain opener on the door of my tin shed. Mine was a little more than $147 though.

 

[Gary Fowler]

Yesterday I replaced a 1989 vintage 1/2 horsepower Stanley Lightmaker opener....with a second remote control and a wired keyless entry pad, the Stanley cost me $217 new with 4% sales tax. A 1/2 horsepower Chamberlain with two remotes and a wireless keypad cost me $147 with 6% sales tax, and the new one has safety sensors and was several times easier to adjust compared to the older device. Wonder if the new one will last 25 years though....:laughing: :laughing:

Did you find one that fell off a truck or something. Mine cost much more than that and didn't have the keyless entry pad and only one remote

 

[JDgreen227]

Did you find one that fell off a truck or something. Mine cost much more than that and didn't have the keyless entry pad and only one remote

My new Chamberlain came from Menards last month, comparable models like mine are sold at Home Depot and on Ebay for close to the same price I paid. Sears Craftsman sells the same item with different labeling for the same price about every other week.

 

[ray66v]

Wonder if the new one will last 25 years though....:laughing: :laughing:

Probably not.

I have a friend in the garage door business.

He recently told me the quality on their latest generation of openers is poor. They have had lots of complaints.

The other brands are probably not much better.

Photoeye failures are starting to be fairly common, among older units.

 

[sld]

I've always gotten good service life from Craftsman openers. I would like to try one of the belt drives next time to see if they are quieter.

 

[nikdfish]

We replaced doors & openers a couple of years back with double layer, insulated doors & chamberlain belt drive, battery backup, openers. They have been great so far. The indoor monitors are a nice touch and the setup is much quieter than the 20 year old single layer doors w/screw type openers that were replaced.

Nick

 

[Bird]

I've always gotten good service life from Craftsman openers. I would like to try one of the belt drives next time to see if they are quieter.

Many years in the past, we had a Genie screw drive opener and never had a complaint or problem in 11 years. I also helped 3 neighbors install them. But when we bought this house in 2005, it had an Allister Type IIA chain drive opener with 2 Craftsman remotes. I'd never even heard of that brand. But after 7 years (house was built in '91 so I don't know how old the opener was), it quite working in 2012 and I called for a professional to work on it. I learned they are no longer made and no parts available. He did get it working again, but said he couldn't guarantee it. So I let him install a new LiftMaster belt drive with 2 new remotes. And it definitely is quieter. The belt drive has a longer warranty than the chain drive model. And this is the first opener we ever had with the photoeye. Of course, parts, labor, service call, tax, etc. cost a little over $500 but so far we're quite happy with it.

 

[ttriff]

We're building a 2000sq ft shop/garage with 3 'garage' doors. Didn't know jackshaft style (torque tube) openers existed until I started researching for this project. Nice thing about them is they don't require extensions for non-standard height doors. In addition there's no belt/chain/screw mounting brackets taking up space above the door tracks.

First I thought the jackshaft style openers were overly expensive, that is until I priced the extension kits needed to get standard openers for 10' or higher doors.

 

[JDgreen227]

I've always gotten good service life from Craftsman openers. I would like to try one of the belt drives next time to see if they are quieter.

I think the same company manufactures Craftsman/Liftmaster/Chamberlain and only the branding is different...the Lightmaker I replaced recently was an antique as Stanley got out of the opener business a long time ago. What ray66v says about quality is probably true...more plastic, thinner steel parts, etc. Recently I helped someone replace an early-90's model half horsepower Craftsman opener, the rail for that was 3 very thick sections of T-shaped steel bolted together. The Chamberlain rail I just put up was press-fitted sections of hollow square steel....yeah, build them cheaper so a customer will buy a new one sooner.

 

[2458n]

The three part rails are so you can ship them. They were always a weak point. I live about a 1/2 mile from a former Stanley garage door opener plant. Worked for Clopay and ran tests on chamberlain=which made openers for others was hands down the best and would outlast the hinges on doors. 250,000 opening and closings were common. They may have taken this info and decided to cheapen parts by now. Reverse engineering was a term that was used. I feel safe knowing my former Boss will never see this.

 

[Happy Gilmore]

The three part rails are so you can ship them. They were always a weak point. I live about a 1/2 mile from a former Stanley garage door opener plant. Worked for Clopay and ran tests on chamberlain=which made openers for others was hands down the best and would outlast the hinges on doors. 250,000 opening and closings were common. They may have taken this info and decided to cheapen parts by now. Reverse engineering was a term that was used. I feel safe knowing my former Boss will never see this.

Are you saying the Chamberlain was a solid opener? We have an old Stanley, over 20 years old, we'll be needing a new one eventually.

 

[ray66v]

I think the same company manufactures Craftsman/Liftmaster/Chamberlain and only the branding is different...the Lightmaker I replaced recently was an antique as Stanley got out of the opener business a long time ago. What ray66v says about quality is probably true...more plastic, thinner steel parts, etc. Recently I helped someone replace an early-90's model half horsepower Craftsman opener, the rail for that was 3 very thick sections of T-shaped steel bolted together. The Chamberlain rail I just put up was press-fitted sections of hollow square steel....yeah, build them cheaper so a customer will buy a new one sooner.

Correct, they are all the same company.

If you buy a Liftmaster from a door company, you will get a one piece rail. But, the same opener then costs you about $75 more, cash and carry.

The flimsy rails are not the failure point, it's more about aesthetics.

It is the gears, motors, and electronics, that are problems.

My friend will not sell the battery back up units anymore, because of multiple complaints about the batteries going bad.

If you run a new opener, up and down too many times in a row, you can overheat it. I have had them heat up from using it too many times, to adjust it during installation.

An installation tip: Make sure when you install your opener, with the arm coming off the trolley vertically, when the door is closed. If there is an angle to it, prying the door up to break in, is much easier, than if it is straight up and down. If it is straight up and down, you are prying against the rail, if it is at an angle, the force is against the braking system on the opener, and that will fail at some point.

 

[Bird]

If you buy a Liftmaster from a door company, you will get a one piece rail. But, the same opener then costs you about $75 more, cash and carry.

So that's the reason mine has a one piece rail, and cost a bit more.:laughing: That's something else new I learned.