How To Adjust Garage Door Side Springs And Cables

Adjusting the garage door cables and the springs is a typical do it yourselfer s kind of a job.

How to adjust garage door side springs and cables.

Once your garage door is secured remove the spring hook from the track hanger which will allow you to move the hook and adjust the spring s tension. To adjust your garage door s side mounted springs first open your door fully and secure it in place with a c clamp below the bottom roller. Retest the door balance as you did in step 1. If the door was closing too quickly move the spring to the next higher hole on the bracket.

Then insert another rod into a hole below the rod you already inserted. Grab a tape measure and press the hook between two spring coils and note the length of 20 coils. Then measure 40 coils. If there is still too much slack on the cable you can use your pliers to adjust the bracket holding the wire to the hook that attached to the frame.

You don t want any electrical accidents to happen while you re working on your garage door. Adjust the springs on both sides of the door the same way. Reattach the wire to the frame with the hook. One end is a fixedattachment to the garage door track or wood frame.

Lower the door and use 2 metal rods to adjust the tension in the spring. Adjust the cable bracket. While you re at it disengage the electricity from your garage door opener if you have an automatic one. Because the garage door springs can be somewhat tricky to manage and are very dangerous things to adjust incorrectly you will need to ask a friend to help you.

Use your pliers to loosen the bracket pull excess cable through the bracket and re tighten. Once the spring is free of tension remove from its track hanger. If it was opening too quickly move it to the next lower hole. Convert the measurements to a decimal 4 1 2 in.

Divide the two measurements by 20 and 40 to obtain the spring s wire diameter. To 4 5 in or 4 1 8 to 4 125 for example. Simply disconnectthese two attachments and reattach the new spring in the same way. The other end is attached toa pulley through which the garage door cable is threaded.

To fix your garage door cables you ll want to release the tension of the springs by lifting the door.