Mine broke today. Tell me about your experiences. Time consuming? Difficult to screw up? Carnage related to a big torsion spring with some torque on it?
Mine broke today. Tell me about your experiences. Time consuming? Difficult to screw up? Carnage related to a big torsion spring with some torque on it?
Use the man.
Replace with EZ set? The kind you tighten with your drill? I've done garage door torsion springs before. As long as you use smart body positioning, double check to make sure the sticks are all the way in, and take breaks by leveraging against the door beam its DIY able. But If your at all uncomfortable pay the man.
If you are careless, lazy, inept, and your balls are small pay the man.
If you have some mechanical aptitude, are careful, and with some at least medium size cajones do it yourself.
Seriously it can be dangerous. Google how to do it. Take those precautions seriously and do it yourself. Its not hard.
My dad fixes everything himself . . . except garage springs. He's known for using "non OSHA approved" methodology. I've always assumed it he'd determined it's too dangerous, I want no part of it.
A whole lot of potential energy in the spring.
I know someone who's no fool, owner of a auto repair business, that spent a few weeks in the hospital and a few months out of work after trying to repair one of the roll up doors. Almost lost his eye.
They never found the wrench that hit him in the face.
I've done it, but it was terrifying. I might pay the guy next time.
Maybe not terrifying, but stressful. Not hard, but the adjustment process can wear on you, when you need to readjust a half or quarter turn in either direction. If the job is gonna hurt you, it's gonna hurt you bad.
Years ago my grand father knackered his hand really bad doing a garage spring. It was never the same again.
While I'm sure that if "they" can do it, "I" can do it - I always pay the man to do the garage door spring. The "what if" isn't worth it to me.
The guy who has the site that gives all the wonderful free advice on how to do it hurt himself doing it. I did it and it is a bit creepy. It's also a bit annoying because its a weenie set screw setup that likes to slip unless you tighten things to the point of marring the metal and slightly ovaling the tube. And you are tightening square headed bolts that can only be reached with a short wrench into cast aluminum that's cinching down on hollow tube while standing on a ladder in the middle of a million piles of project that don't really give you a nice place to fall (the last part may just be me).
I've had mine replaced more than once and had some garage door work done in general and have never met a garage door guy with all 10 fingers. While I'm all about DIY, I'll pay the man every time for those springs.
-Rob
I did 6 doors last fall and it's not a big deal. I used the handles the door manufacturer sold for the first couple and bought a couple chunks of stainless rod the right size and about 6" longer for the rest after the first set flash rusted and wouldn't fit cleanly in the holes.
oldopelguy said:I did 6 doors last fall and it's not a big deal. I used the handles the door manufacturer sold for the first couple and bought a couple chunks of stainless rod the right size and about 6" longer for the rest after the first set flash rusted and wouldn't fit cleanly in the holes.
When I had to do this under desperate circumstances a way back, I found that my ratchet extensions were just the right size to fit in the holes used to wind/unwind the spring.
It's $165 to have a pro come do it same day. For a few hundred, I was considering doing it myself, and risking countless little adjustments to get it right. For $165 and same day, I'll pay the man and watch him work to learn a bit more for the next time.
Thanks for chiming in everyone!
I have 1/2” rods for this purpose, because apparently we do garage doors.
i was afraid of the first one because my uncle’s buddy lost a testicle to garage door spring tensioning gone wrong, but if you’re smart, position yourself to the side of the adjuster (your strong side), and take your time it can be done safely.
those newfangled ones with the adjustment deal were you just toss a socket on a drill and count the winds are awesome, but alas I’ve only ever done one of those.
Garage door springs fall into that weird in between state where if it goes wrong it's unlikely enough to kill you but likely enough to hurt you really badly.
Those are the kind of jobs I leave to someone else.
Patrick said:my uncle’s buddy lost a testicle to garage door spring tensioning gone wrong
I'm having a hard time picturing how and why I would get my junk up there to begin with.
So, we seem to have a mix of "It's no big deal, just DIY it" and "Those things are dangerous, pay the man". I fall into the latter camp, though I suppose if someone showed me how to do it once, I'd be willing to take it on again. As it stands, I'd rather spend the money than take the chance.
I have done the old style and it did not seem dangerous at all.
I hear the tortion style is easier to do if you use your testicals to hold the tension....
SkinnyG said:Patrick said:my uncle’s buddy lost a testicle to garage door spring tensioning gone wrong
I'm having a hard time picturing how and why I would get my junk up there to begin with.
"Never put your fingers where you wouldn't put your weeny." - Socrates
I'm firmly in the DIY camp. I changed two on my old garage door and one on my newer professionally installed door last year. No way I would pay to have it done. Be careful, take your time and have a helper. Our 'new' professionally fitted door was always noisy and a bit janky. When the first spring snapped last year I changed it myself with a friend. We spent about two hours not only changing the spring but setting the whole door up from scratch using common sense, trial and error and an iterative process. We tuned both spring tension to the point where the door opens and closes more smoothly and quieter than it ever did before.
One tip. Don't buy your spring online or from a big box store. Find an old school store that sells springs, take both parts of your old one in and get them to reproduce it exactly. They have different rolls of spring and material diameter on hand. They count and measure, cut the right amount off and make a perfect replacement. Much better than a standard off the shelf part and cheap too.
There are something worth paying for, this isn't one of them. I feel it's safer to change a garage door spring than drive bumper to bumper in rush hour traffic at 80mph.
I've done it myself, but the last time I paid the man because it broke on a winter day when it was below zero and I just didn't want to deal with it. When I saw how quickly the repair guy was able to replace it and how inexpensive it was, I'm not going to bother doing it myself again.
SkinnyG said:Patrick said:my uncle’s buddy lost a testicle to garage door spring tensioning gone wrong
I'm having a hard time picturing how and why I would get my junk up there to begin with.
That had to really hurt. Poor guy.
Guaranteed entry into Say What.
This thread reminds me of that line from Ronin: “If you have any doubt, there is no doubt.”
A man has to know his limits. Personally, for something with so much stored energy, I’ll pay the man every time.
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