Garage Door Snafu

Garage Door Mechanism

Getting rid of stuff. Noticed some stuff up on some tall shelves in the garage. By standing on a step stool and using an ax handle I was able to reach it and push it off the end. Looks like old plastic parts I took off of a car that I no longer have. But there's also a long aluminum pole up there. Not sure what to do with it just yet, so I left it.

Press the button to open the garage door and it does, almost all the way, but something goes squawk at the very end. That stupid pole has managed to get in between the leading edge of the door and the door frame around the side door. That was enough to upset the finely balanced mechanism and the cable jumped off of the drum at the end of the torsion shaft. Now everything is out of whack and the door makes horrible squawking noises when it is moved.

Torsion Spring, Tube, Drum & Cable

I was able to fix it, though it took some doing. First lower the door all the way, or as far as it will go. There is a thin steel cable that runs along the edge of the door that translates the force of the torsion spring into a counter balancing lift on the door. It had escaped past the weatherstripping on the outside, so I tucked it back in. Next I wind up the torsion spring maybe one more turn, just enough to relieve the tension on this cable so I can get it off of the axle and back on the drum. 3/8"square drive extensions (from my mechanic's tools work) work okay, but after a half turn, I need more force. One slip at this point and things will go flying.

Winding the torsion spring
Beware the Force. If it's with you, great. But be careful. If you aren't watching it will whack you upside the head.

I looked around for something better and finally found a couple of pieces of 3/8" threaded rod about 3 feet long. I was a little dubious at first because these rods can be bent fairly easily. Not to worry. They worked fine. Three foot long rods can be bent fairly easily, but a six inch long rod, not so much, and that's where all the force is. If it's 100 pounds at six inches, it's only 50 pounds at one foot and 25 at two feet. Having a three foot long rod to wind the torsion spring made it easy.

When I got the spring wound tight enough the end of the rod was sticking out in space, so I stuck a piece of 2 by 4 about a foot long between the door and the end of the rod. The tension on the spring was enough to hold the block of wood securely, even with a three foot long lever. Now I can move the cable back onto the drum. Used a bungee cord to pull sideways on the cable to keep it in place as we let off the tension on the spring and the tension returns to the cable.

Thought I had it fixed, but when I tried it, the cable popped off the drum at the other end. So I fixed that. Then it popped off the first drum again. Okay fine, fix both of them before we move the door. That did it and it seems to be fixed.