Tail_Gunner
CRJ & ERJ A&P Mech.
Last week, Mrs TG, the puppy & I went camping to High Cliff State park near Appleton, WI. Quite literally, when we were pulling out of the driveway, I punched the button on the door opener. I glanced in the mirror to make sure it was closing. Normally, what you want to see are various things either straight up & down or back & forth. Well, when I looked, going across the garage opening was a big white object at about a 45* angle. -mad
I was lucky that it didn't come down on the wife's car and left me enough room to get it out into the driveway.
As it turned out, one of the springs broke. I had the type of door mechanism where the two springs are stretch type springs and are along the upper roller rails. When the one spring broke, there wasn't anything to support that side of the door and it decided it wanted to go down faster than the other side. In the process, all the door panels got mangled, trashing the entire door. I managed to remove a couple of panels and un-jam the others. With a little bit of "not so suttle" persuation, I got everything back in place so at least the garaged was closed up, and off camping we went.
While camping, some friends came out for a visit. It just so happens, the husband used to work for Overhead Door. He told me that when choosing a garage door, the style with the twist style torsion spring is the best way to go. The type I had were not only more problem prone, but down right dangerous. If a spring lets go, it will do what mine did. Sometimes the broken spring pieces will go flying causing damage and even possible injury if there is not a safety cable going thru the center of the spring.
The twist type or torsion spring is safer because if it breaks, the garage door will still come down evenly. The lift cable drums are on opposite ends of a single shaft. The torsion spring is mounted on that shaft. So if the spring breaks, it stays on the shaft.
I bought a new door and have just finished the installation. The spring had a windup mechanism where you could windup the spring with an electric drill.
I still have to install some bracing and hook up the door opener. I thought it would be a tougher job than it was, especially since I did it solo and it was a 16' wide door.
I was lucky that it didn't come down on the wife's car and left me enough room to get it out into the driveway.
As it turned out, one of the springs broke. I had the type of door mechanism where the two springs are stretch type springs and are along the upper roller rails. When the one spring broke, there wasn't anything to support that side of the door and it decided it wanted to go down faster than the other side. In the process, all the door panels got mangled, trashing the entire door. I managed to remove a couple of panels and un-jam the others. With a little bit of "not so suttle" persuation, I got everything back in place so at least the garaged was closed up, and off camping we went.
While camping, some friends came out for a visit. It just so happens, the husband used to work for Overhead Door. He told me that when choosing a garage door, the style with the twist style torsion spring is the best way to go. The type I had were not only more problem prone, but down right dangerous. If a spring lets go, it will do what mine did. Sometimes the broken spring pieces will go flying causing damage and even possible injury if there is not a safety cable going thru the center of the spring.
The twist type or torsion spring is safer because if it breaks, the garage door will still come down evenly. The lift cable drums are on opposite ends of a single shaft. The torsion spring is mounted on that shaft. So if the spring breaks, it stays on the shaft.
I bought a new door and have just finished the installation. The spring had a windup mechanism where you could windup the spring with an electric drill.
I still have to install some bracing and hook up the door opener. I thought it would be a tougher job than it was, especially since I did it solo and it was a 16' wide door.
