Cable replacement · Tucson, AZ
Discount Door Service replaces garage door lift cables across Tucson, AZ, Oro Valley, Marana, Vail, Sahuarita, Rita Ranch and the Catalina Foothills. The two cables run from the bottom brackets up to the drums on the spring shaft, and between them they transfer the entire counterbalanced weight of the door. When one frays, slips off its drum or snaps, the door goes crooked instantly and the remaining cable is left carrying a load it was never sized for. Cables are replaced in pairs, with the drums re-set and the door re-levelled. Family owned since 1999, licensed ROC #322606. Call (520) 579-9084.
Replaced in pairsThe second cable has done the same work as the one that failed
Drums re-setA cable is only as good as the drum it winds onto
ROC #322606Licensed, bonded and insured
27+ yearsServing Tucson since 1999
Door hanging crooked? Call (520) 579-9084 · Stop using it until it is looked at · Cables replaced in pairs
Is this your door?
A cable rarely fails without notice. It frays first, and fraying is visible from the floor if you know where to look.
01
The clearest sign. One cable has slipped, stretched or come off its drum, so that side is no longer being lifted the same distance.
02
Slack cable means it has come off the drum or lost tension. Once it is loose it can jump off entirely on the next cycle.
03
Cables are wound from fine strands. When those start breaking they leave sharp whiskers, and the remaining strands are carrying the load.
04
If the spring above the door has no gap in it, the cable is the usual culprit. The effect is the same: the door is no longer safely supported.
They are the same age and have done identical work. Replacing one and leaving the other is how a repair becomes two call-outs.
A cable that has jumped or run slack often scores its drum. A grooved or chipped drum will chew a new cable, so drums get checked before the cable goes on.
Cables set the height of each side. After fitting, the drums are set so the door sits level and both cables take equal tension.
The bracket the cable anchors to is under full spring load. It is also the one part people should never unbolt themselves, and it gets inspected while we are there.
Get a free quote
Tell us which side is hanging low and whether you heard anything.
Talk to us now
Melissa, ownerFamily run in Tucson. The person who quotes your job is the person who stands behind it.
What to expect
The door is made safe first, because a slack cable means the load has moved.
01
The door is supported before anything is unwound, then both cables, drums and brackets are checked.
02
You see the fraying or the slipped drum for yourself, and get the number before we start.
03
New cables, drums re-set, door levelled and cycled several times so both sides track evenly.
What changes the price
Cable itself is inexpensive. What moves the price is what the failure took with it.
A cable that came off cleanly is a simple job. One that scored its drum needs the drum replaced as well.
A cable letting go on one side often drags that side out of the rail.
Extension-spring doors have their own cable and pulley arrangement, and they should have safety cables through the springs. Many older ones do not.
Rust or distortion at the anchor point means the bracket goes too, and that is a part under full spring load.
Nothing is replaced without you agreeing to it, and you will be shown the failed cable before it comes off.
Tucson homeowners
Unlike a spring, which announces itself with a bang, a cable degrades strand by strand over months. The door keeps working the whole time, which is exactly why cables get ignored. By the time one side is visibly hanging low, the remaining cable has been carrying an unbalanced load for a while and is closer to failing than it looks.
27+
Years serving Tucson
1,500+
Homes served
ROC #322606
Licensed, bonded, insured
Same day
Most repairs in one visit
Straight answers
This is one to leave alone. The cables anchor to the bottom brackets, which sit under the full force of the spring system, and unbolting one with the spring wound is genuinely dangerous.
Because both have done the same number of cycles under the same load. Replacing one leaves you with a new cable next to one that is already most of the way through its life.
Fraying from a worn or scored drum, rust at the bottom where water collects, slack from a door that has been running out of level, and shock loading when a spring breaks.
Usually, but not always. A drum that has slipped on the shaft produces the same symptom, and so does a door that has come partly off one rail. All three get checked.
They generally outlast the springs, so the honest answer is that many are replaced because something else failed and shock-loaded them, rather than from age alone.
Cable replacement across Tucson and Southern Arizona. Licensed ROC #322606.
