CUSTOM WOOD • GARAGE DOORS SAN DIEGO • GARAGE DOOR REPAIR SAN DIEGO
TORSION SPRING REPAIR

Torsion Spring Lift Mechanism

A torsion spring counterbalance system consists of one or two tightly wound up springs on a steel shaft with cable drums at both ends. The entire apparatus mounts on the header wall above the garage door and has three supports: a center bearing plate with a steel or nylon bearing and two end bearing plates at both ends. The springs themselves consist of the steel wire with a stationary cone at one end and a winding cone at the other end. The stationary cone is attached to the center bearing plate. The winding cone consists of holes every 90 degrees for winding the springs and two set screws to secure the springs to the shaft. Steel counterbalance cables run from the roller brackets at the bottom corners of the door to a notch in the cable drums. When the door is raised, the springs unwind and the stored tension lifts the door by turning the shaft, thus turning the cable drums, wrapping the cables around the grooves on the cable drums. When the door is lowered, the cables unwrap from the drums and the springs are rewound to full tension.

So the Torsion Spring is what lifts the weight of the garage door. Without the spring your garage opener would either not be able to lift the door or would struggle and burn out the motor. In some cases the owner is unaware that one of the torsion springs above the door has broken and the opener is still able to lift the door. What usually tends to happen is that the door style will rip of from the top panel or the opener trolley will strip- (this tends to happen more with a Genie Motor). So always inspect your garage door. If your door seems to be struggling check to see if a Torsion Spring has snapped.

You can also manually release the door and check the balance. If you can lift the door and it stays where ever you leave it......the door is properly balanced. If you lift it and it comes down hard or flies up really fast your door needs to be adjusted by a professional.
We can usually replace and repair your torsion springs the same day. Also we look over your entire garage door to make sure its operating correctly and fix any minor mistakes the original installer has made. We may as well do it while the torsion springs are off and the adjustments can be made to the horizontal track( if the door is not leveled correctly) .