Need Garage Door Help Please

[AMR]

OK, I read another post about a garage door this morning and thought I would search for help of my own.

I have a liftmaster 3/4 hp chain drive running a 9' wide 8' tall fiberglass door with 3/4" vertical pine, segemented and screwed to the door to give it a barn look.

The door worked flawlessly for 2 years. The last 2 it has been giving me wicked trouble. Frequently we need to press the button 3 and 4 times because it gets about 2/3 down, hits resistance and raises itself.

I have tinkered with the door for hours and hours. I take it off of the operator and move it up and down manually adjusting the wheels.

I don't think that this has anything to do with the operator, but rather the wheels in the track.

What I find is that as the door goes down, the uppermost wheel on one side rides in the track but on the extreme inside of the track and it binds. If I get on a ladder and push the post in that has the wheel on it further into the track the door moves perfectly smoothly.

I am complete beffudled, it appears that the door binds at this location and no amount of fooling with it finds the sweet spot. I have 2 other doors adjacent to it with zero issues. As I read it I see it is a pretty tough question to get help on but any ideas would be appreciated, perhaps someone has had a similar problem. Ugh, this is a frustrating one for sure.

 

[Bird]

I'm not sure I completely understand the problem, but what kind of springs does the door have? If the tension on one side is greater than the other, that can cause binding. Of if a track has moved so the tracks on opposite sides are not still parallel and spaced correctly would be another guess.

 

[jayste]

OK, I read another post about a garage door this morning and thought I would search for help of my own.

I have a liftmaster 3/4 hp chain drive running a 9' wide 8' tall fiberglass door with 3/4" vertical pine, segemented and screwed to the door to give it a barn look.

The door worked flawlessly for 2 years. The last 2 it has been giving me wicked trouble. Frequently we need to press the button 3 and 4 times because it gets about 2/3 down, hits resistance and raises itself.

I have tinkered with the door for hours and hours. I take it off of the operator and move it up and down manually adjusting the wheels.

I don't think that this has anything to do with the operator, but rather the wheels in the track.

What I find is that as the door goes down, the uppermost wheel on one side rides in the track but on the extreme inside of the track and it binds. If I get on a ladder and push the post in that has the wheel on it further into the track the door moves perfectly smoothly.

I am complete beffudled, it appears that the door binds at this location and no amount of fooling with it finds the sweet spot. I have 2 other doors adjacent to it with zero issues. As I read it I see it is a pretty tough question to get help on but any ideas would be appreciated, perhaps someone has had a similar problem. Ugh, this is a frustrating one for sure.

AMR,

Sounds to me like you, for sure, have a binding problem. First thing I would do is to disconnect the door from the operator and open and close it by hand. As you run it up and down look and feel for binding areas. What you've described to me is a fairly heavy door. With the wood facade you have it will cause some of the hardware on the door to wear prematurely. The hinges and rollers that came with the door are designed to handle the door itself but when you start adding weight then it becomes a different creature. I'd guess your hinges and rollers are probably worn and need replaced or at the very least need tightened and lubricated. I'd lubricate it with a spray on white lithium grease not WD-40 or the similar lubricant. New rollers are nice and they make some that are heavier duty than the standard rollers. Additionally, like Bird said you might look at track alignment both the vertical and horizontal. As the door travels it needs a smooth track to run in and sometimes they get out of adjustment from normal use or binding. Go as far as checking the down hang brackets at the end (part that attaches the end of the track to the ceiling) for taughtness. Good luck.

Jay

 

[mbohuntr]

Check the wheels on the side it is pulling towards. Also grease the tracks.

 

[Mike Costello]

Some garage door wheels are designed to float back and forth as they move down the track. Check the one that is giving trouble to make sure it isn't stuck or binding. It sounds like excessive resistance has become an issue with your door as it goes down. so as a safety measure it reverses itself. If the wheel assembly checks out OK, my next suggestion would be to realign the track. Mike.

 

[Bedlam]

I had the similar problem and tinkered with the settings for a day or so . finally noticed that as the door went down there was some cob webs or dirt on the rubber bottom seal that would interrupt the eye.
Also have had the eye out of adjustment just enough so when the door went down the slight shaking of the rails would touch off the light beam
Cleaned it off and worked fine .just a possibility.

 

[jayste]

AMR,

I'd say that all of these responses are good ones. My bet is that one of these will cure your problem.

Jay

 

[AMR]

Thanks for the responses everyone, I worked on the alignment issue some and from what I can do with levels, strings, etc. alignment is good. That one wheel still wants to come out of the track. I am going to get some white lithium grease on the way home from work today and work on it tonight more.

 

[jayste]

Yes sir it should freely travel back and forth within the hinge and if the hinge is tight and straight the grease should help.

Jay

 

[Knotbored]

Its almost impossible to determine the squareness of the door supports on the ceiling, so drop a plumb line from the 4 corners then measure for squareness on the floor. Also measure the door itself from corner to corner to make sure its square. Even though the wheels float a little in the track its like pulling a 4 wheeled cart in a circle without turning the wheels to point into the turn.

 

[AMR]

I never did make it to the store for the white grease but I took the regular grease gun out before work this AM and I applied liberal amounts to the track and wheels. It made a substantial difference for sure. But I still can't figure out why the exact set up adjacent to this one is smooth as silk with zero maintenance. However, we do use this door 3 or 4 times or more a day and the other maybe 3 times a week. Over the weekend I will check the square more thoroughly as noted here and give it a good greasing all over. I have about 60 hours of labor in this door, that kills me.

 

[Bird]

The 3-in-One oil folks make a special "Professional Garage Door Lube". I bought a can this summer from Lowe's or Home Depot (don't remember which). My garage door works just fine, but sometimes it seems there's a rather loud screeching noise as it closes. Anyway, I really can't tell it made any difference, but at least it's not as messy as grease.

 

[mbohuntr]

You mentioned the door gets a lot more use than it's twin. as it wears, the tolerances become greater and those wheels will start to track diagonally, causing more drag. You might never return that door to new condition, but the grease allows it to wear slower. Check for wear on the wheel mounting brackets as well. (the wheels will wiggle in their bushings.) I would not try to adjust the tracks as it may make the binding worse. Don't ask me how I know that....

 

[mbohuntr]

DEJA - VU !!!!!! After my last post on this thread, I was putting the tractor back in the garage and forgot my wife had accidently bumped the door down a couple of inches. CRUNCH !!! my roll bar caught it and wadded it pretty good. Well, I just finished doing all the stuff on the thread including bending the door back. It kept binding until I discovered the right hand cable had jumped off the tallest way and ended up being up looser than the left. I De-tensioned the spring, resquared the door, and re-strung the cable. FINALLY !!! what a PITA !!! It's almost as good as new, We'll see how long it lasts... Oh Yeah... I also figured out after the fact you can lift and prop the door to loosen the cables enough to re string them WITHOUT de tensioning it... pull them tight and hold them with clothes pins until you drop the door.

 

[smfcpacfp]

I hate garage doors, when I have a problem, I call Overhead Door. I like to solve problems, but not garage doors.

 

[mbohuntr]

This week, I'm cutting a new door in the gable end and mounting a new 8X8 overhead for my red monster. I must like torture...

 

[jayste]

DEJA - VU !!!!!! After my last post on this thread, I was putting the tractor back in the garage and forgot my wife had accidently bumped the door down a couple of inches. CRUNCH !!! my roll bar caught it and wadded it pretty good. Well, I just finished doing all the stuff on the thread including bending the door back. It kept binding until I discovered the right hand cable had jumped off the tallest way and ended up being up looser than the left. I De-tensioned the spring, resquared the door, and re-strung the cable. FINALLY !!! what a PITA !!! It's almost as good as new, We'll see how long it lasts... Oh Yeah... I also figured out after the fact you can lift and prop the door to loosen the cables enough to re string them WITHOUT de tensioning it... pull them tight and hold them with clothes pins until you drop the door.[/QUOTE/]

I know how this feels! In order for my tractor to go into my shop through the front doorway I have to unlatch the garage door and push it up higher in the track and my ROPS just barely clears. OR I could lower the ROPS. One day I came into the shop absent mindedly and crunched the lower section on my door. Thankfully, I know a fellow who deals in doors and fixed me up with a bottom section.

Jay

 

[Bedlam]

jayste. not sure what type of opener you have but the sears ones you can move the top stop bolt and adjust the upward setting some to get the door more open.It comes close to hitting the case but it is possible to gain that last few inches

 

[mbohuntr]

Bedlam is right, On my system (genie screw type) there are two limit switches, the one closest to the motor may have enough room left to slide it closer without the slide hitting, and you also be able to adjust the top linkage on the door to get more lift from it. (remember to reset your closed limit switch.)

 

[Bedlam]

Let me also add that I have installed these sears ones and almost needed the extension rail they sell but have done this sleight 'mod' and saved the money on the extension rail.