Cable & Spring Tension Repair · SaddleBrooke
Garage Door Cable and Spring Tension Repair in SaddleBrooke, AZ
A homeowner in SaddleBrooke called Discount Door Service about a garage door sitting visibly crooked in the opening. One cable had gone loose, one side of the door was stuck in the raised position, and in that state the door could not be operated safely.
What was actually wrong
The lift cables had come off their drums.
Each side of the door has a cable running from the bottom bracket up to a drum on the shaft above the opening. When the springs are wound correctly those cables stay under tension through the whole travel of the door, and that tension is what keeps them seated in the grooves of the drum.
The torsion springs on this door did not have enough tension in them. Slack cable is the result, and slack cable comes off its drum. Once one side has lost its cable that side is no longer being lifted, the door goes out of square, and it binds in the tracks. It pulls on the opener too, which is then being asked to drag a door that is jammed.
Why putting the cable back is not the repair
This is the part that matters, and it is where a quick fix goes wrong.
You can lift the door, re-seat the cable on its drum, and have it looking right again in a few minutes. If the spring tension is still low when you walk away, that cable goes slack and comes off again, and the door is crooked by the end of the week.
The cable coming off is the symptom. The spring tension is the cause. Both have to be dealt with on the same visit or the repair does not hold.
What we did
The door was secured first. A door with a cable off is not being held by anything you would want to trust while you work under it.
Both cables were returned to their drums, and the cables and drums were inspected for damage while they were accessible. A cable that has come off and been dragged can be frayed, and a drum can be scored. Neither is something to put straight back into service without looking at it properly.
The necessary tension was then added to the torsion springs, and the door was leveled, balanced and run through several complete opening and closing cycles to confirm it was traveling evenly. After the repair it operated smoothly and sat square in the opening, which is the second photo above.
Tools: professional winding bars, locking pliers, cable puller, adjustable wrench, socket and ratchet set, cordless drill, clamps, ladder, level and garage door lubricant. Around one to two hours, depending on the condition of the cables, drums, springs, tracks and the rest of the hardware.
If a door in SaddleBrooke is hanging crooked or one side is stuck up, stop using it and call us. Running the opener against a jammed door turns a one hour job into a bigger one.
Job details
Area
SaddleBrooke, AZ
Symptom
Door crooked, one side stuck up
Fault found
Lift cables off their drums
Root cause
Torsion springs under-tensioned
Finished with
Leveled, balanced, cycle tested
Repair time
1 to 2 hours
Same-day service across Tucson
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