How to Fix Garage-Door Tension

Introduction

You want an overhead garage door to operate easily and safely, neither putting undue strain on a garage door opener (or you) nor crashing down when it closes. To achieve this goal, set the tension correctly and make sure the sides are balanced. A test and adjustment is all that's usually required, but you may need to replace the springs.

By: eHow Home & Garden Editor

Length: 1:55

Comments: 9

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Instructions

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Difficulty: Challenging

Tips & Warnings:

Having a helper support the spring while you're disconnecting or connecting it is easier and safer.
Never replace just one spring. Replace both to maintain a proper balance.
Work on one side at a time. That way, if you can't figure out how to reassemble something, you can always look at the other side for guidance.
Place shims under the outside end of the bathroom scale as needed to level it for a more accurate reading.
Torsion spring controls, installed parallel to and above the door, may be found on some heavy, wide residential doors. These require professional service due to the extreme danger involved in making adjustments.
Wear leather work gloves when handling springs, pulleys and cables to avoid being pinched or cut.
Wear safety goggles or glasses to protect your eyes from injury and dirt when working with overhead cables.
Be careful when removing a spring. Although there is no tension, the spring can pinch an ungloved hand. If the heavy spring falls out of your hand, it could easily injure someone or cause damage.
Never reinstall a spring without the safety cable. It passes through each spring to hold it in place in case the lifting cable or the spring itself breaks.

Test and adjust the tension

Step1

Disconnect any door opener and position the door half open (you may need a stepladder). It should be level and stay put, and you should be able to raise or lower it from this position with very little coaxing.

Step2

To adjust the spring tension, open the door fully to relieve all spring tension and clamp a wood block, locking pliers or a similar stop onto the tracks just below the bottom rollers to hold it open.

Step3

Disconnect the lifting cable from the brace near the bend in the track and move it to a hole closer to or farther from the door to increase or decrease tension. Cables either hook to or tie to a fitting on their end; that fitting in turn hooks into holes in the bracket.

Step4

Remove the stops, retest and readjust as necessary. Once the door remains level, you must make any further adjustments equally on both sides.

Step5

If the lifting cable is hooked to the hole closest to the door and still needs more tension, shorten the cable. Disconnect the cable or loosen it enough so you can feed more cable through the fitting. With the cable shortened and securely reattached to the fitting, hook it on the bracket and adjust the tension.

Step6

If you have shortened the cable to the point where more shortening would create tension with the door in the open position, the springs are worn and need replacing. Springs are rated according to the number of pounds they can properly support, so you need to weigh your door in this case.

Weigh the door

Step1

Raise the door to relieve all tension and block the door open as described in "Test and adjust the tension". If you haven't already done so, move your car out of the garage.

Step2

Disconnect the safety-cable springs from the track support at the rear of the garage. The cable is usually bolted, so you'll use a wrench to disconnect it; the springs may be attached to a hook or equipped with brackets bolted to the track support.

Step3

With one person on each side, raise the door a bit to remove the stop blocks and lower it to the floor. Garage doors can weigh hundreds of pounds, so work with a helper. Lift the door and insert a bathroom scale under the center of the door, then lower the door onto the scale.

Step4

If the door's weight exceeds the capacity of your scale, place the scale inside the door and rest a 2-by-4 on the scale and on a block of wood outside the door. Lower the door onto the 2-by-4 and double the weight measurement to determine the required spring capacity.

Replace a tension spring

Step1

If you have not already done so, support the door in its open position, remove the safety cable and spring from the rear track support, and disconnect the lifting cable from the bracket as described in "Weigh the door," above.

Step2

Disassemble and remove the front bracket and clevis-pulley assembly and the rear brackets from the old spring. Reattach them to the new spring.

Step3

Feed the safety cable through the spring and reattach it to the rear track support with a nut and bolt. Feed the lifting cable through the clevis pulley, reattach it to the fitting, hook it onto the bracket and adjust the tension.

Comments

YunC said

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on 9/14/2008 I have a new double-wide garage door that has fallen twice in the last three months.

I notice it's noisy or "choppy" when opening/closing.
What could be wrong? Can someone help? Thanks.

YunC said

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on 9/14/2008 I have a new double-wide garage door that has fallen twice in the last three months.

I noticed that it's been very "choppy" opening and closing. What could be wrong? What can I do?

Thanks.

YunC.

Jimshouse said

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on 8/14/2008 our garage door has a newer spring (2 years) but lately when we open it, it makes a loud 'klunking' sound. almost like it is jerking or opening over a bump. We greased it but it only works once. Any ideas on how to fix this?

Jimshouse said

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on 8/14/2008 Our garage door makes a loud 'klunk' when we first open it, almost like it is sticking or opening over a bump. It is a newer spring-only 2 years old. Is that a tension issue? It did not do this until recently and we have tried to grease it. The grease works 1 time and then it is back to the jerking 'klunk' sound. Any ideas on what it is.