Garage Door Spring Replacement

After years and years of wear and tear, your garage door springs may start to break down or even snap in half. As people start to notice this, they also start to wonder how does a garage door spring replacement actually work.

Well, if your garage door isn't opening evenly, or if your door springs have broke, you may change out the springs, as long as they are the extension springs and not the torsion springs. Torsion springs are the springs that are located directly above the center of the garage door, and these springs shouldn't be replaced unless you are a professional. As they are named, these torsion springs can have lots of tension in them, and can be quite dangerous to replace on your own. If you only need to replace the extension springs that are located on the left and right of the garage door, then you can easily perform a garage door spring replacement on these particular springs. Below you will find step by step instructions on how to perform a garage door spring replacement.

For this type of spring replacement, you will normally need to have the springs, a drill, a set of wrenches, a pair of vice grips, and an eye bolt. Once you have all these tools at hand, you can start the spring replacement. Your first step is to open the garage door totally, and clamp it open with use of the vice grips so that the door can't go anywhere. Your next step is to unhook one end of the first spring that you are replacing from its attachment point on the outside of the garage door rail. Next, you will need to unhook the lift cable from its attachment point on the garage door rail, which is most often right above the garage door opening. Now, run the lift cable back through the attached pulley and through the spring so you can free the first door spring.

Next, you need to attach an eye bolt to the hangar of the garage door track, and be sure that the actually opening is facing upwards when you tighten it with a wrench. Then, place one side of a new spring on the eye bolt and connect the other side to the pulley with the U clip. Next, connect it with the bolt that came with the spring.

Now, from the inside of the garage door track put the bolt through the track flag, and on the outside, place the pulley on the bolt. Tighten it all up with a nut, and pull the door cable back over the pulley that is located on the garage door track. Next, thread the door cable through the S hook on the horizontal track, and then through the holding plate. Tighten the cable until the spring expands a little bit, and tie the cable off to one of the provided holes. Make sure it's tight.

The next step is to put the S hook into the holding plate, and install an end of the safety cable right above the eye bolt and tie it off. Run the other end through the spring and tie it off at the last available hole.

Now, you can repeat the same steps for the other spring. Once you've finished both springs, you can open and shut your garage door a few times to see if everything is working correctly. If everything is ok, you're all done.

So now you know how to perform a garage door spring replacement, and you can save some money doing so. If you do want to know how much the garage door spring replacement cost is, plan on spending between $30 and $50 on parts, and $100 - $150 on labor, if needed.