My husband thought I was crazy to try and fix the cable that came off the garage door reel. He was already on the phone with the repair guy. Thank you for the lady tips. I fallowed your instructions and fixed the problem. Door works like new. And I get a lobster dinner for my efforts. Better than the repair man getting a lobster dinner.
After watching this vid on adjusting garage doors, I just did mine and it works perfectly again. Saved $120.00 on a service call plus you know how companies always try to up sale you something. Thanks
My just told me I was a fool for trying to do it this way. I actually loosened the bolts on the pulleys enough to completely unwind the cables and rewrapped them in the grooves correctly. This part was a little tricky needing to hold the cable in place as you wrap and then securing the bolts back tight. But all in all, this process worked GREAT! Thanks for sharing!
Also, if for some reason you wind one side tighter than the other and the door is uneven, you can repeat the process of slightly loosening the bolts on the pulley with the door down, and it will allow for the door to close properly and even. Then just tighten them back up keeping tension on the cable, and you’re all set. Again, thanks for the tip!
Great video thank you so much. It’s about -7° here in MN with about a 30° below windchill and my cable came off. I was able to fix it in about five minutes Thanks to you! Not to mention the savings of what I can only imagine the repair man is charging right now to come out in this weather at Christmas!
Thank you. I’ve been fighting with my garage door for the past few months. One side would unspool and I would fixed it then the other side would unspool couple of weeks later.
Thanks for the tip , my 10 foot by 16 feet wide Lake Lot shop door was stuck with it up , I found the lift cable had jump the pulley and it could not go up or down.
Very good video. Garage door springs, cables can be very dangerous to work with. You explained the problem and solution very well and exercised safety precautions! Great job sir.
Awesome video!! This is exactly what I needed. I'm usually pretty good at doing handyman work around the house. But I was about to do something way more complicated to fix my garage door. Your instructions were spot on. You probably save me a $300 garage door repair. Thank you very much!!!
Man, you're lucky, never run your opener attached to your garage door after doing any repair, especially any tension repair, meaning springs, cables, drums, bar and end brackets. You want to always do a manual slow dry run, making sure there's no binds, or abstractions in the way, I've seen guys not doing dry runs first, and the door crumbling to the ground. If one spool comes loose like yours did to begin with, it will kiddie-wompus your door in the hole I've seen at a 45* angle before. Because most people panic and don't know what to do if something goes wrong. A machine has no feelings, the opener wil just keep pushing until you stop it. What you also should've done was put an extra 1/2 turn on your spring that way there's plenty of tension on the cables and they won't come undone again......
If the cables are loose enough to come off the spools when the door is in the full up position, it means that the torsion springs are not wound tight enough to make the spindles keep turning as the door reaches all the way to the top of its travel. Trust me I know from experience. For a 7 foot door with standard size rollers, it takes a minimum of 28 quarter turns of the torsion springs.
Like your idea of loosening the lock nuts on the pulley. I just did one cable replacement just like you. It took a few tries to get it right. First time, I wound the cable in reverse. Thanks for the great video!
Excellent video thank you. One tip I would add is to unplug the unit while working on it in case of family ever comes out and hit the button by accident. Ask me how I know ha ha.
The main probelm is that the spirngs are missing a rotation or two. There is no spring tention left that could tighen the cable when the door if fully open
Definitely an annoying issue. I did my own fix and had to solve this. The issues that arise after doing it this way are that there's a gap between the door and floor if it's too tight. There's a balance and it's a lot of tweaking to find -- at least in my case 🙂
I have a question, before I ask the question let me share some info. So I followed your guide, and it is time to wind the spring I wind it 21 quarter turns for a 7x16. So I test my garage door and the pulley wires got loose and tangle up. So the question is “is it because I did not wind it to the right amount?” (I am suspecting that it is but I just want to confirm)
1) Eliminate hand winding, leave cable attached to post near bottom roller; start the job with door in closed/down position 2) Place "Curved " vise grips on the torsion rod and use the wall as a brace. 3) 3/8in. 10mm open end wrench; loosen but do not remove set screws 2 places. on spool 4) adjust spool for maximum cable tension without lifting door (hand tight, strum like a bass guitar string) 5) Tighten set screws and Remove "Curved" vise grips 6) Add this check point position of bottom roller when door is up = 1-2 inches above the bottom of curved connector.
A vice grip often needs to be used on the right side of the tube against the disc the pulley backs up against so that when the pulley is loosened, the tube doesn't pop back to the left, or even come out of the hole if the tube doesn't have much length protruding
Nothing to do with the tension at that point. With the door up the springs have no tension and both cables are the same length. So as long as the cable is set in the first two grooves of the drum with the same number of wraps on both sides your good
No matter how many adjustments I make the gd cable keeps unspooling on the way up. I keep trying for tighter tension by adjusting the drum but after 6 times I gave up until tomorrow.
Got same length torsion spring and followed the steps for replacement of springs; but issue I see is garage door only lift up till 1 foot , stay stuck and does not move up regardless how much manual lift force I put in (in manual mode). please guide. I tried going up to 33 quarter turns (16.5 half turns) as 31 or 30 turns was not helping, rotation was clock wise for 33 quarter turns.. my old part was 218 wire x 29 long spring and new one is 225 wire and 29 long spring.
If a contractor replaced your springs and left your cable loose like that. Should they or you have checked if it worked before they left. I think you have replaced the springs yourself and messed it up.
Your opener is pulling the door up wayy too far. Only go to the top of the opening. That can also cause the cable to fall of the pulling/drum. This is if you did not change the travel limits of your opener.
Help! I used the pliers to hold the door at the highest point, loosened the set screws, and wound it up and reattached to the door (both sides), but when I finished the 2nd side, it completely unwound itself when I let go even though everything was back to normal. What am I missing?
so....what do you do when both cables are completely hanging down on either side of the garage door? I just got home and saw the cables hanging down and knew that wasn't right. I'll probably end contacting my landlord for maintenance but if this is something that can be fixed myself I'll take it since they only have one maintenance guy and unless it's an emergency it takes forever for maintenance requests to be fulfilled.
Would have been so much better had you used a proper, stationary camera for the video. Also, you made no mention of the RED bolts and the possible dangers related to them. Would it have been possible to undo the cable on the door end, rewind it and then reconnect it with the right amount of tension?
@@talkingsmallpodcast what do you mean by that? isnt it the other way around. if its opening not far enough (less tension on the cable) it will get loose? what do you do to fix this? tighten the pully again?
You should learn the correct name of each part of the garage door. Drum, cable and torsion shaft. Also you should set the left side/red drum first because it will loosen the cable as you tighten the set screws. vise grip the torsion shaft then set the cable on the right side/black drum.
How do I fix it if one capable is disconnected and the other is loose but the garage door is fully down it goes up barley off the ground but it won't go up fully but the wheels look on track
I'm not exactly sure, but it sounds like you need both cabled connected to the counterweight spring. It sounds like the door opener is trying to unevenly lift too much weight with only one cable connected.
Your door is going way to damm high man it should be only going up to the frame and if it’s at the Frame than your cables shouldn’t have any slack at all
To tell you the truth working In the commercial door business your door is not balance correctly you didn’t have a turn left on the spring and that last turn in what keeps the cables tight on the drums
your cables look way too long. looks like they used 8' cables on a 7' high door. when i install 7' highs, the spooled cables don't fill up the entire drum. just something to consider.
Do this and you will cause more problems than you already had. And you aren’t actually fixing the issue that caused these cables to be one loose. Either 1) garage company got spring sizing wrong, or 2) springs are not wound up enough. You are going to get people hurt with your uneducated “mAn TiPs”
This is absolutely the wrong way to do this. You can see your door wasn’t even flush with the concrete when it closed. Where’s the next man tip to fix that issue? Also, whoever did your springs, sucks at their job.
My husband thought I was crazy to try and fix the cable that came off the garage door reel. He was already on the phone with the repair guy. Thank you for the lady tips. I fallowed your instructions and fixed the problem. Door works like new. And I get a lobster dinner for my efforts. Better than the repair man getting a lobster dinner.
You go lady 👍👍👍
Me too ! I try it myself and my husband does nothing!
Lost boys is what we call them...
THIS is what I was looking for. Thank you! Going to do this!
We are getting blamed for the cables coming off this is actually how mine looks now
I'm learning SO MUCH on RUclips. I am in awe and indebted to people like you who take the time to make videos to teach people how to fix things!
I swear RUclips is the best school. 😂
After watching this vid on adjusting garage doors, I just did mine and it works perfectly again. Saved $120.00 on a service call plus you know how companies always try to up sale you something. Thanks
Thanks for the “man” tip. This woman identified the problem and will fix our pulley before my man gets home. Thanks for the video.
Heck yeah man! I just replaced all my rollers and now I have this problem. Thanks for the quick tutorial and safety measures with vice grips
Why did replacing the rollers cause an issue with the cable?
Thanks for the clear and simple instructions. One fixed garage door and an appreciative spouse.
Thank you for the man tips. My husband will be surprised when he gets home 🤗
My just told me I was a fool for trying to do it this way. I actually loosened the bolts on the pulleys enough to completely unwind the cables and rewrapped them in the grooves correctly. This part was a little tricky needing to hold the cable in place as you wrap and then securing the bolts back tight. But all in all, this process worked GREAT! Thanks for sharing!
My dad*
Also, if for some reason you wind one side tighter than the other and the door is uneven, you can repeat the process of slightly loosening the bolts on the pulley with the door down, and it will allow for the door to close properly and even. Then just tighten them back up keeping tension on the cable, and you’re all set. Again, thanks for the tip!
Great video thank you so much. It’s about -7° here in MN with about a 30° below windchill and my cable came off. I was able to fix it in about five minutes Thanks to you! Not to mention the savings of what I can only imagine the repair man is charging right now to come out in this weather at Christmas!
Fantastic!
Thank you. I’ve been fighting with my garage door for the past few months. One side would unspool and I would fixed it then the other side would unspool couple of weeks later.
Thanks for the tip , my 10 foot by 16 feet wide Lake Lot shop door was stuck with it up , I found the lift cable had jump the pulley and it could not go up or down.
Very good video. Garage door springs, cables can be very dangerous to work with. You explained the problem and solution very well and exercised safety precautions! Great job sir.
Awesome video!! This is exactly what I needed. I'm usually pretty good at doing handyman work around the house. But I was about to do something way more complicated to fix my garage door. Your instructions were spot on. You probably save me a $300 garage door repair. Thank you very much!!!
Thanks for this video, I just fixed my door. Blessing to you and your channel
Man, you're lucky, never run your opener attached to your garage door after doing any repair, especially any tension repair, meaning springs, cables, drums, bar and end brackets. You want to always do a manual slow dry run, making sure there's no binds, or abstractions in the way, I've seen guys not doing dry runs first, and the door crumbling to the ground. If one spool comes loose like yours did to begin with, it will kiddie-wompus your door in the hole I've seen at a 45* angle before. Because most people panic and don't know what to do if something goes wrong. A machine has no feelings, the opener wil just keep pushing until you stop it. What you also should've done was put an extra 1/2 turn on your spring that way there's plenty of tension on the cables and they won't come undone again......
Didnt level the door either you can tell in the video it doesn’t close all the way and real loud
Great video. I was able to put my cable back easily following your directions. Thanks!
If the cables are loose enough to come off the spools when the door is in the full up position, it means that the torsion springs are not wound tight enough to make the spindles keep turning as the door reaches all the way to the top of its travel. Trust me I know from experience. For a 7 foot door with standard size rollers, it takes a minimum of 28 quarter turns of the torsion springs.
Thank you so much for this video! Very simple and easy to follow.
Like your idea of loosening the lock nuts on the pulley. I just did one cable replacement just like you. It took a few tries to get it right. First time, I wound the cable in reverse. Thanks for the great video!
Excellent video thank you. One tip I would add is to unplug the unit while working on it in case of family ever comes out and hit the button by accident. Ask me how I know ha ha.
Easier to adjust the spring when the door is down. So your cables will be ballanced.. I see door didn't close all the way. 😜
Do you mean "Easier to adjust the cables when the door is down"?
Thanks a lot for posting this! Very helpful.
The main probelm is that the spirngs are missing a rotation or two. There is no spring tention left that could tighen the cable when the door if fully open
Definitely an annoying issue. I did my own fix and had to solve this. The issues that arise after doing it this way are that there's a gap between the door and floor if it's too tight. There's a balance and it's a lot of tweaking to find -- at least in my case 🙂
I have a question, before I ask the question let me share some info. So I followed your guide, and it is time to wind the spring I wind it 21 quarter turns for a 7x16. So I test my garage door and the pulley wires got loose and tangle up. So the question is “is it because I did not wind it to the right amount?” (I am suspecting that it is but I just want to confirm)
1) Eliminate hand winding, leave cable attached to post near bottom roller; start the job with door in closed/down position 2) Place "Curved " vise grips on the torsion rod and use the wall as a brace. 3) 3/8in. 10mm open end wrench; loosen but do not remove set screws 2 places. on spool 4) adjust spool for maximum cable tension without lifting door (hand tight, strum like a bass guitar string) 5) Tighten set screws and Remove "Curved" vise grips 6) Add this check point position of bottom roller when door is up = 1-2 inches above the bottom of curved connector.
A vice grip often needs to be used on the right side of the tube against the disc the pulley backs up against so that when the pulley is loosened, the tube doesn't pop back to the left, or even come out of the hole if the tube doesn't have much length protruding
Just fyi, instead of unbolting the spool you can just slip the wire off the doors knob and rewind them reatach
Of course this assumes the tension was right before you screwed it up like I had
Nothing to do with the tension at that point. With the door up the springs have no tension and both cables are the same length. So as long as the cable is set in the first two grooves of the drum with the same number of wraps on both sides your good
No matter how many adjustments I make the gd cable keeps unspooling on the way up. I keep trying for tighter tension by adjusting the drum but after 6 times I gave up until tomorrow.
Hell yeah. Man tips, doggie! Thanks MAN
For some strange reason I thought that if you loosen the pulleys the springs become unwound?
what if the doors so big and too heavy to lift?Can you do it with the door down
Major help!!! Thank you sir
the idea is to see how you do it not when is done. thank you.
Did you have a gap at tho bottom after the repair?
I notice you didn't show the door sitting all the way on the floor after you fixed it
Got same length torsion spring and followed the steps for replacement of springs; but issue I see is garage door only lift up till 1 foot , stay stuck and does not move up regardless how much manual lift force I put in (in manual mode). please guide. I tried going up to 33 quarter turns (16.5 half turns) as 31 or 30 turns was not helping, rotation was clock wise for 33 quarter turns.. my old part was 218 wire x 29 long spring and new one is 225 wire and 29 long spring.
If a contractor replaced your springs and left your cable loose like that. Should they or you have checked if it worked before they left. I think you have replaced the springs yourself and messed it up.
Thank you, got mine fixed.
Big help sir!! Really helped me both time and $$$!! A++++++++!
Awesome, thank you!
Your opener is pulling the door up wayy too far. Only go to the top of the opening. That can also cause the cable to fall of the pulling/drum. This is if you did not change the travel limits of your opener.
I having been doing garage doors for 3 years full time. 2 year part time
Help! I used the pliers to hold the door at the highest point, loosened the set screws, and wound it up and reattached to the door (both sides), but when I finished the 2nd side, it completely unwound itself when I let go even though everything was back to normal. What am I missing?
Thank you! Saved me a phone call and $.
so....what do you do when both cables are completely hanging down on either side of the garage door? I just got home and saw the cables hanging down and knew that wasn't right. I'll probably end contacting my landlord for maintenance but if this is something that can be fixed myself I'll take it since they only have one maintenance guy and unless it's an emergency it takes forever for maintenance requests to be fulfilled.
Leaving you like this, seems like a pretty big gaff on the part of your spring replacement guys.
My garage door wires just found sitting unwound yet garage door opens closes. Need vice grips before i try
Anyone else have the problem of after re-spooling the cable around the pulley, as soon as you let go it just loosens and partially unspools?
Would have been so much better had you used a proper, stationary camera for the video. Also, you made no mention of the RED bolts and the possible dangers related to them. Would it have been possible to undo the cable on the door end, rewind it and then reconnect it with the right amount of tension?
No no no no. They come off because the springs are not wound enough.
Hmm…it didn’t look like your garage door shut all the way. If so, how did you fix that?
It does. The video just cut off too soon.
Good eye! I caught that too.
This was great, thank you!
Here's a free Pro tip - Your "axle" is actually called a torsion bar. And the limits to your operator needs adjusted.
Huge man tips, but I got one for you in return! WD-40 for the squeaks 😂
Thank you for this!
Thanks "man!"
thanks mate
How did you get the rollers back in place ?
What if the cables comes off, while the door is closed
I did this and the cable came loose again after closing and opened the garage door. Any idea why it did that?
Check the stop position it opens at. If it is opening too far, that can cause the cable to come off again.
@@talkingsmallpodcast what do you mean by that? isnt it the other way around. if its opening not far enough (less tension on the cable) it will get loose? what do you do to fix this? tighten the pully again?
You should learn the correct name of each part of the garage door. Drum, cable and torsion shaft. Also you should set the left side/red drum first because it will loosen the cable as you tighten the set screws. vise grip the torsion shaft then set the cable on the right side/black drum.
How do I fix it if one capable is disconnected and the other is loose but the garage door is fully down it goes up barley off the ground but it won't go up fully but the wheels look on track
I'm not exactly sure, but it sounds like you need both cabled connected to the counterweight spring. It sounds like the door opener is trying to unevenly lift too much weight with only one cable connected.
Call a garage repair man
You could lose a finger messin with it
Your door is going way to damm high man it should be only going up to the frame and if it’s at the Frame than your cables shouldn’t have any slack at all
Yeah I do IT, I’ll call someone to do it
Bro what sz i😅s the damn socket? Its everything in thus video but that
3/8 socket
Sure good video but wire comes of regularly..now so...short term win
It’s not a pulley, it’s a drum. And it’s not an axle, it’s a shaft.
To tell you the truth working In the commercial door business your door is not balance correctly you didn’t have a turn left on the spring and that last turn in what keeps the cables tight on the drums
Man tips
What size socket did you use? With the square bolt all of my sockets are slipping
I believe it was a 10mm. If you don't have the correct metric size, that will cause the slipping.
Use a 7/16 universal a 12point it works perfect im a technician and that’s what I use
They actually have a square socket for this, well it's an 8 point socket, wich was very strange to me at first, not used to seeing that.....
We are getting blamed for this also it has happened 3 separate times...
your cables look way too long. looks like they used 8' cables on a 7' high door. when i install 7' highs, the spooled cables don't fill up the entire drum. just something to consider.
Cables for a 7' door are 8 feet 6 inches long.
Why is it so noisey? Lubricate that door.
Your opener is opening way too far
Do this and you will cause more problems than you already had. And you aren’t actually fixing the issue that caused these cables to be one loose. Either 1) garage company got spring sizing wrong, or 2) springs are not wound up enough. You are going to get people hurt with your uneducated “mAn TiPs”
This is absolutely the wrong way to do this. You can see your door wasn’t even flush with the concrete when it closed. Where’s the next man tip to fix that issue? Also, whoever did your springs, sucks at their job.
Ìoi