Springs & Hinges

Springs do all the work to raise your garage door. The opener merely moves the door. When springs weaken or break the door becomes too heavy for the opener to lift it. Even if you disengage the door from the opener it will be too heavy for the average person to lift. All springs on your garage door should be replaced when any one of them fails.

There are two types of springs on garage doors. Sectional roll-up doors have torsion springs (springs that twist) or extension springs (springs that stretch). Tilt-up doors (also called one-piece, slab, and California doors) have only extension springs.

CONVENTIONAL TORSION SPRING SYSTEM
(Externally mounted on 1" rod.)

When one spring breaks replace both. As a matter of policy and good economy, we replace both springs when one breaks. A broken spring on this type of system will be indicated by a 2" gap in the coils. The door will be very difficult to lift manually.

UNCONVENTIONAL TORSION SPRING SYSTEM
(Internally mounted in a 1 1/2" tube by Wayne Dalton Torque Master.)

Wayne Dalton doors have both external and internal torsion springs. If your door has their Torque Master internal spring system, the only way to tell if your spring is broken is to try and lift the door manually. If it is heavy and will not stay partially open then one or both of the internal springs is broken. We convert this system to a conventional external spring system.

TILT-UP DOOR HINGE & SPRINGS

Tilt-up doors (or one -piece doors) have large hinges on each side with extension springs that stretch downward toward the floor. All springs on both sides of the door must be replaced when any break, otherwise the door will not balance and will come up crooked. Safety containment rods are built in by the manufacturer and the ends are locked onto the hinges and chains with special hardware so that the springs do not fly off when they break.

SECTIONAL ROLL-UP DOOR WITH EXTENSION SPRINGS

Some sectional roll-up doors use extension springs that are located above each horizontal track. They have two pulleys on each side of the door. One is attached to the end of the spring and the other is mounted to the track at its radius. A safety cable runs through the springs for containment when they break. Pulleys and cables typically need replacing at the same time that the springs are replaced due to normal wear.