Thank you so much, I got home late one night when my family was already asleep and I didn’t want to wake anyone up to try and help me so I went to the good old RUclips for help and your video was clear and very concise. Thank you again sir you saved me
This video still saving people in 2023…and in 100 degree Texas heat!! Thanks so much! What caused it for me was I moved something on a shelf too close to the left side of door and it hit the windstorm crossbars and prevented it from shutting on that side but the motor kept turning and the slack in the wire caused it to come unspooled. Learned my lesson. Thanks again!
This worked perfectly!!! THANK YOU!!! We saved $260 because that is what the repair estimate was for this issue. Took about 10 min. AND we are having record low temps so this was a life saver!
Thank you! I was literally moments away from booking a repair from a garage door contractor. Then I found your video. It was perfect. Fixed it myself in only a few minutes. Saved time and money. thanks again!!
Thanks, straight to the point. I just followed your way and fixed mine. The difficult part is removing and connecting the wire to the door. It needs showing the trick in removing and attaching it.
Thanks so very much! My hubby is deployed in Korea for 1 year and this saved me the expense and time waiting for getting a garage door person to come and repair it and charge me several hundred dollars! Thanks Again!
Agree with Jennifer Weeks! We were bummed about not only the expense but about the estimated wait for the repair. 10 minutes is spot on, thank you Sam!
We had this Garage door issue last week . We called a Contractor to fix the cables. But After I watched this video I think I can fix it next time. Thanks for the video .
Thank you for helping me fix my garage door at 10pm in the dead of winter. It took me awhile but appreciate you guidance, especially the part of holding the cable tight so it doesnt unspool (only made that misstake once...)!
Thank you so much for making this video. Ours came off today and did not want to call a garage guy, so we got on youtube and found this video. Followed the directions and it worked perfect. Thank you again. Keep up the good work.
thanks boss. I just did this repair , at 1 am but just blocked the door withmy shoulder and unbolted the whole bracket. Well my wheel mangled the bracket and i had to rebend it to make it work . Now i know how to make sure the door doesnt clobber me next time. ty.
Great vid, short and to-the-point. As mentioned in comments, you're working area will probably be limited, and in my opinion the most challenging part is keeping tension on the cable to reattach it.
Wow I call the garage repair to come fix my garage. Because it was off track. My daughter look this up on here. We fix it are self thank for all the help. They wanted to charge me $325 to fix it. Save lots of money. Only took me 10 min to repAir my garage.
great video, i hope i can get this as fast, -2 outside right now so leaving the door open or a jar isn't ideal. i appreciate the extra comments about warnings and things to look out for first time trying to attempt.
This video would have saved me $99 if I came across it 2 days ago. I was afraid of tackling this myself but after watching this I feel that I can tackle this on my own next time. Thank you for posting this!
That's pretty good stuff bro I just had the problem on my garage I was going to call the garage door people and I thought let me go on RUclips and guess what there you were thank you you saved me some bucks happy trails
FYI: Maybe it has been said in previous comments, but what had the cables off the drums, in my case, was that when I tensioned the spring I did not torqued to the proper turns. My error was that I only turned the spring 17 quarters instead of 17 FULL turns (31 quarters). Obviously, there was no tension to keep cables under torque.
Thank you for this! Mine just did this so dang randomly right now (this door gets used FAR less than the other door) and it's 20 degrees outside and it didn't want to go all the way down (My garage has 2 zones of in floor heating), and I didn't feel like heating my neighborhood.
Thanks, that is more simple than I thought. But what if the cable came completely off the drum so that it is not attached at all. Is there a way to reattach a new cable to the drum?
You make it look easier then it is. I disconnected cable to change out bottom rollers. Putting cables around the drum is a pain in the butt, especially since there is not much room to get up there. I got it done but it was not that easy.
Yes it's because vids look easier because you're not actually doing the work.. have also found this on almost everything I fixed after looking at a vid...
this video was well presented and the advice was accurate and gave safety tips. thank you, We pray GOD Bless all with good health, happiness and prosperity
1 question - it came unwound becase the lock bolts on that pulley came loose or there was an obstruction somwhere that caused the door to bind briefly. When that happens the tension on the cable still on the pulley is holding all the door weight. Rewinding the loose side allows you to lower the door but the tension won't be equal. What do you do?
You need to adjust the tension on both sides to be equal. The side that came loose, the bolts came loose, and the drum moved on the bar. You loosen that drum, rotate to tension the cable, and then lock it down. Read up on that.
I have the same problem with my new house and I found it is a systemic error, or a stupid mistake by the door installer - the cable is a bit longer than it should be. If you have seen this cable getting off the drum more than once, especially when the garage door is fully opened, then it is almost certain that the cable is too long. If it is the case, then here is a quick but temporary solution and you don't need any tool to take the cable off the pin or lock the garage door using locking plier: 1. Simply open the door until the door panels are fully raised to the top (yes, you don't need to disengage the emergency release either), regardless how messy the cable is winding around the steel bar. 2. Rewind the cable back to drum using your bare hands, or with gloves. It is very easy because in this case the cable is too long as after winding the cable back to the drum you will see there is no tension on the cable at all and that's why it can easily get off the drum. 3. Close the door carefully, the cable may get off the drum again. Once it happens, just stop, reopen the door, rewind the cable and then close the door. Once the door drops a bit and the cable becomes straight due to the tension, then you can close the door as usual. But be very careful next time when open the garage door, never let it go up too high. Once it is fully opened, the tension is lost and the cable can get off the drum again. I am still trying to figure out how to adjust the length of the cable or the travel distance of the motor to preent it from happening again.
I think you have to loosen the 2 lock bolts on the drum. Then the drum can rotate about the bar. You should tension both cables left and right to the same tension. and then lock that drum to the bar. Read up on how to do that.
I was just trying to figure out which way I needed to restring the cable. Start at the drum or start at the pin. Thank you for your informational video.
I know this response is two months later, but if the door is way too heavy for you to lift, you (and anyone with that same problem reading this) probably have a broken spring tensioner in the middle of the door lift. The tensioner bar runs across the top of the hole where the door actually sits when it's closed, and the spring sits in the middle. The spring is responsible for making the door weigh very little so the motor barely has to work in order to lift it up. TL;DR: If the door feels too heavy to lift, either the spring that helps counterweight the door's own weight is broken, or the emergency latch hasn't been pulled to release the door from the trolley. Check both, and always be safe!
One of my springs is broken which makes the door heavier but im strong enough to lift it with 1 spring still working. If youre the average man and can bench over 200 pounds than you should be able to life it. If not than it might still be locked on the track. If that doesnt work, try unhooking the wire from the garage door that goes to the pulley spool system. Sometimes when its off the spool itll get caught on the track jamming the door from rolling up or down
There are two directions to wind: 1. hold the cable pointing to the wall, wrap the cable around the drum from the top. This direction is clockwise. 2. it could also be winding the cable to the wall, wrap the cable around the drum by going under the drum. This direction is counter clockwise. The video did not show the wrapping step by step. Which direction is true?
My garage door only has 1 cable assembly on the door. I am watching videos, and I see doors have 2. Is it suppose to have 2?? Did the installer get lazy and only installed one?
So mine had this problem yesterday. And it was fixed but today it was having the same problem. Can it be that my cousins husband didn’t rewind the wire back up correctly and cost it to happen again ?
Make sure there isn't another problem that caused the cable to come off or it will continue to come off. One possible cause is the cables aren't adjusted properly or there is something causing one side of the door to get hung up. That creates slack in the cable on the other side and it pops off the drum. Disconnect the garage door opener and work the door by hand to make sure it travels freely. While you are at it, oil all the roller bearings. Be careful! Garage doors are extremely dangerous and can cause serious injury or death.
Can anyone offer an explanation why this happens? Ours literally did this 30 minutes ago and we don’t know why. We just moved in and it’s a rental. I was scared to call the rental company because I didn’t know what they’ll say. Just curious why it happened.
You need to tension both side cables to the same amt. Means you will have to loosen one drum so it can rotate on the bar. Make it tight like the other side, and lock the 2 bolts.
if you do this make sure you have an extra tensioning head with you then you can counter tension the spring and you can put the cables back on it much faster and more convenient. greetings Dutch doors mechanic alpha doors
could you please describe in more detail this process. And also explain what a tension head is ! Remember you are addressing youtube laymen not fellow overhead door technicians. Thanks.
I just have a quick question. I'm looking at my tension springs and I see the red and black markings on each; according to everyone's video, the red is one the left side. Mine is on the right. Also, my drums are set up on the outside of the whole assembly. Pls help somebody
WARNING: The cable is under tension from the spring in the center of the door. So reconnecting the cable to the pin means you'll need to yank the cable down while keeping the door up. So make sure your vice grips are tight!
if the drum lock bolts loosen up, the drum can move on the bar. resulting in one cable with less tension that the other side. when the drum is real loose/almost free, the cable will wrap on the bar.
Thank you for this video! This single momma just fixed her own garage door! 🎉🙌🏼
My cable came off my garage door at midnight…I came in and watched a couple of videos, and was able to fix it within 5 mins. Thanks you SO much!!
Thank you so much, I got home late one night when my family was already asleep and I didn’t want to wake anyone up to try and help me so I went to the good old RUclips for help and your video was clear and very concise. Thank you again sir you saved me
I was able to fix my door because of this video. Hats of to you sir. Thank you.
This video still saving people in 2023…and in 100 degree Texas heat!! Thanks so much! What caused it for me was I moved something on a shelf too close to the left side of door and it hit the windstorm crossbars and prevented it from shutting on that side but the motor kept turning and the slack in the wire caused it to come unspooled. Learned my lesson. Thanks again!
I second this! Summer 2024 in Texas!
This worked perfectly!!! THANK YOU!!! We saved $260 because that is what the repair estimate was for this issue. Took about 10 min. AND we are having record low temps so this was a life saver!
Same!!! I’m so thankful for this video!
wow. i saved 260 too! crazy easy and crazy cost to fix it with a professional.
6 year video still helping people out. My door got off kilter from a broom and this video helped me get my garage door on-kilter! Thanks!
Just helped me out!!!👍🏻👍🏻
Thank you! I was literally moments away from booking a repair from a garage door contractor. Then I found your video. It was perfect. Fixed it myself in only a few minutes. Saved time and money. thanks again!!
Thanks, straight to the point. I just followed your way and fixed mine. The difficult part is removing and connecting the wire to the door. It needs showing the trick in removing and attaching it.
Thanks so very much! My hubby is deployed in Korea for 1 year and this saved me the expense and time waiting for getting a garage door person to come and repair it and charge me several hundred dollars! Thanks Again!
Right on! I just landed a side job putting a garage door back together, the vice grips thing is great
Thanks Sam, a garage door company wanted $175.00 to fix this.
It took me about 15 minutes after watching your video. I also subscribed.
Getting the cable off the pin was a pain in the ass but this worked perfectly. Thanks for making this!
Great info! My cable came off, my grandson and I were able to follow your instructions and BAM! Door fixed!!!
Thanks!
This video helped me close my garage door that broke at 10pm. So glad I didn’t have to leave it open all night. Thank you for the help!
Agree with Jennifer Weeks! We were bummed about not only the expense but about the estimated wait for the repair. 10 minutes is spot on, thank you Sam!
We had this Garage door issue last week . We called a Contractor to fix the cables. But After I watched this video I think I can fix it next time. Thanks for the video .
Thank you so much, this made it perfectly clear. The vise grip trick to stop the door from sliding back down was the best part
Thank you for helping me fix my garage door at 10pm in the dead of winter. It took me awhile but appreciate you guidance, especially the part of holding the cable tight so it doesnt unspool (only made that misstake once...)!
yeah. I am stuck with no lock on the garage door inside my home lol.
Ditto! Just fixed my cables using this video. Tonight it’s a balmy 9° evening in St. Louis 😁
Thank you so much for making this video. Ours came off today and did not want to call a garage guy, so we got on youtube and found this video. Followed the directions and it worked perfect. Thank you again. Keep up the good work.
I have been dreading fixing our door had already fought with it for over an hour. This video helped me fix it in less than 5 minutes!
Just did this fix to my garage door at 9pm. Thank God for your video!
Dude I appreciate it My dad is never home and I was able to follow your video and fix our garage door
thanks boss. I just did this repair , at 1 am but just blocked the door withmy shoulder and unbolted the whole bracket. Well my wheel mangled the bracket and i had to rebend it to make it work . Now i know how to make sure the door doesnt clobber me next time. ty.
Thank you SO much for posting this video! This happened to mine after the hurricane here in Florida and thanks to you, I got it fixed in no time!
A big thank you for this video! I thought that my door was broken. I was able to fix the door myself.
Great vid, short and to-the-point. As mentioned in comments, you're working area will probably be limited, and in my opinion the most challenging part is keeping tension on the cable to reattach it.
Wow I call the garage repair to come fix my garage. Because it was off track. My daughter look this up on here. We fix it are self thank for all the help. They wanted to charge me $325 to fix it. Save lots of money. Only took me 10 min to repAir my garage.
Super clear and concise, I was able to fix my door myself with this help. Thanks!
Thank you, sir. Mine came off after a bracket broke on the opposite side. Now I have a cable, bracket, and roller to install.
great video, i hope i can get this as fast, -2 outside right now so leaving the door open or a jar isn't ideal. i appreciate the extra comments about warnings and things to look out for first time trying to attempt.
I took me 10 or 15 minutes, but your explanation was spot on. Thank you for your post.
This video would have saved me $99 if I came across it 2 days ago. I was afraid of tackling this myself but after watching this I feel that I can tackle this on my own next time. Thank you for posting this!
That's pretty good stuff bro I just had the problem on my garage I was going to call the garage door people and I thought let me go on RUclips and guess what there you were thank you you saved me some bucks happy trails
thanks Sam, mine is a smaller unpowered door but your approach was easy to follow
Thank you so very much for this video. It was extremely helpful, considering I am not a "handyman," and made the job quite easy. Thanks again.
FYI: Maybe it has been said in previous comments, but what had the cables off the drums, in my case, was that when I tensioned the spring I did not torqued to the proper turns. My error was that I only turned the spring 17 quarters instead of 17 FULL turns (31 quarters). Obviously, there was no tension to keep cables under torque.
Dude, great video. Thank you so much. This video literally just saved me 225 bucks.
Brother in Christ. This saved me. Thank you so much for sharing !
This is exactly what just happened to my door. We will give it a shot.
Thanks for the insight.
Sam, you saved homeowners about $47 million!! 623,000 views, half fixed their doors (311,500 x $150 gar repair fee = $46,725,000)
Thank you for this! Mine just did this so dang randomly right now (this door gets used FAR less than the other door) and it's 20 degrees outside and it didn't want to go all the way down (My garage has 2 zones of in floor heating), and I didn't feel like heating my neighborhood.
Great video. When the garage door is open, how tight is that cable suppose to be?
This video saved me $185. So easy and fast. Thanks!!
Hate long videos… this was perfect
Thanks, that is more simple than I thought. But what if the cable came completely off the drum so that it is not attached at all. Is there a way to reattach a new cable to the drum?
Thanks! Short and sweet vid. Garage door fixed!
Watched this and fixed my cable in about 15 mins, thank you !
OMG!!! This happened to us on the snowiest day of the year. Thank you so much for this great video!!!
Great job explaining this. Very clear and helpful.
You make it look easier then it is. I disconnected cable to change out bottom rollers. Putting cables around the drum is a pain in the butt, especially since there is not much room to get up there. I got it done but it was not that easy.
Yes it's because vids look easier because you're not actually doing the work.. have also found this on almost everything I fixed after looking at a vid...
I thought it was pretty easy. Only took me about 5 min
Thanks, I was able to fix my garage door because of this video
Thank you so much, I tried to fix my door for over an hour and this video helped me fix it in under five minutes, excellent video.
this video was well presented and the advice was accurate and gave safety tips. thank you, We pray GOD Bless all with good health, happiness and prosperity
You just saved me money dude!! Thanks for being awesome!
After watching this video took me 10 minutes to fix my Cable, thanks again
1 question - it came unwound becase the lock bolts on that pulley came loose or there was an obstruction somwhere that caused the door to bind briefly.
When that happens the tension on the cable still on the pulley is holding all the door weight.
Rewinding the loose side allows you to lower the door but the tension won't be equal.
What do you do?
You need to adjust the tension on both sides to be equal. The side that came loose, the bolts came loose, and the drum moved on the bar. You loosen that drum, rotate to tension the cable, and then lock it down. Read up on that.
Good video! Thx, helped me fix!
Needed vice grips to "round" loop to get around pin.
Thank you Sir for this video, I will try to sort out my Son-in-law garage door.
You saved my life today. Thank you.
Vice grip was key, and double checking opposite spool as well….thanks for the video
Thank you so much for saving me a repairman visit. Easy fix, I wouldn't have known how without the video!
Perfect information ! Now I can fix my garage door issue related to you explanation. Thank You !
Great explenation. Save me alot of money and time having to call in the pros
I have the same problem with my new house and I found it is a systemic error, or a stupid mistake by the door installer - the cable is a bit longer than it should be. If you have seen this cable getting off the drum more than once, especially when the garage door is fully opened, then it is almost certain that the cable is too long.
If it is the case, then here is a quick but temporary solution and you don't need any tool to take the cable off the pin or lock the garage door using locking plier:
1. Simply open the door until the door panels are fully raised to the top (yes, you don't need to disengage the emergency release either), regardless how messy the cable is winding around the steel bar.
2. Rewind the cable back to drum using your bare hands, or with gloves. It is very easy because in this case the cable is too long as after winding the cable back to the drum you will see there is no tension on the cable at all and that's why it can easily get off the drum.
3. Close the door carefully, the cable may get off the drum again. Once it happens, just stop, reopen the door, rewind the cable and then close the door. Once the door drops a bit and the cable becomes straight due to the tension, then you can close the door as usual.
But be very careful next time when open the garage door, never let it go up too high. Once it is fully opened, the tension is lost and the cable can get off the drum again. I am still trying to figure out how to adjust the length of the cable or the travel distance of the motor to preent it from happening again.
I think you have to loosen the 2 lock bolts on the drum. Then the drum can rotate about the bar. You should tension both cables left and right to the same tension. and then lock that drum to the bar. Read up on how to do that.
@@rodneykahn6927 Assuming he has enough room on the drums to take the extra cable !
Buy the correct size cable.
This thing worked! Amazing, thanks so much!
I was just trying to figure out which way I needed to restring the cable. Start at the drum or start at the pin. Thank you for your informational video.
Thank you for the vice grip trick, love it
Am I supposed to clamp the torsion spring before rewinding the cable?
This just saved me a lot of trouble. Thank you very much .
Was thinking you had to wind the wire pulley, guess not... I'm assuming it fixed
You are bad ass well explained doors HVAC what else you are our favorite.
Glad I saw this, I'll give it a try but I'm wondering what caused the problem in the first place? by the way good video, straight to the point.
So may I ask if there is tension when reattaching??
How do i get it back in air its super heavy
I know this response is two months later, but if the door is way too heavy for you to lift, you (and anyone with that same problem reading this) probably have a broken spring tensioner in the middle of the door lift. The tensioner bar runs across the top of the hole where the door actually sits when it's closed, and the spring sits in the middle. The spring is responsible for making the door weigh very little so the motor barely has to work in order to lift it up.
TL;DR: If the door feels too heavy to lift, either the spring that helps counterweight the door's own weight is broken, or the emergency latch hasn't been pulled to release the door from the trolley. Check both, and always be safe!
One of my springs is broken which makes the door heavier but im strong enough to lift it with 1 spring still working. If youre the average man and can bench over 200 pounds than you should be able to life it. If not than it might still be locked on the track. If that doesnt work, try unhooking the wire from the garage door that goes to the pulley spool system. Sometimes when its off the spool itll get caught on the track jamming the door from rolling up or down
Zmodem thank you!
My cables came off but the door slammed down closed. Can I still hook up the cables with it down? It's too heavy to open.
Fantastic Fix.... You made it look easy... 2 Thumbs Up
There are two directions to wind:
1. hold the cable pointing to the wall, wrap the cable around the drum from the top. This direction is clockwise.
2. it could also be winding the cable to the wall, wrap the cable around the drum by going under the drum. This direction is counter clockwise.
The video did not show the wrapping step by step. Which direction is true?
My garage door only has 1 cable assembly on the door. I am watching videos, and I see doors have 2. Is it suppose to have 2?? Did the installer get lazy and only installed one?
thank you for this video Sam, saved me a bunch of money. you got yourself a sub.
So mine had this problem yesterday. And it was fixed but today it was having the same problem. Can it be that my cousins husband didn’t rewind the wire back up correctly and cost it to happen again ?
video worked great, thanks from NZ bro
Thanks few minutes out of your day helped!
The video was helpful. I want to download it. My garage door has got the same issue
Make sure there isn't another problem that caused the cable to come off or it will continue to come off. One possible cause is the cables aren't adjusted properly or there is something causing one side of the door to get hung up. That creates slack in the cable on the other side and it pops off the drum. Disconnect the garage door opener and work the door by hand to make sure it travels freely. While you are at it, oil all the roller bearings.
Be careful! Garage doors are extremely dangerous and can cause serious injury or death.
How were you able to lift the heavy garage door without the cables connected ? I’m trying to get my riding lawnmower out because the spring broke
What issue cause the cable to come off in the first place?
Good video bro, short and to the point!
Can anyone offer an explanation why this happens? Ours literally did this 30 minutes ago and we don’t know why. We just moved in and it’s a rental. I was scared to call the rental company because I didn’t know what they’ll say. Just curious why it happened.
Worked! But the wire is still coming off after it closes and opens a few times, any permanent fix?
You need to tension both side cables to the same amt. Means you will have to loosen one drum so it can rotate on the bar. Make it tight like the other side, and lock the 2 bolts.
Thanks man I was trying something way harder this will work perfectly thanks.
if you do this make sure you have an extra tensioning head with you then you can counter tension the spring and you can put the cables back on it much faster and more convenient. greetings Dutch doors mechanic alpha doors
could you please describe in more detail this process. And also explain what a tension head is ! Remember you are addressing youtube laymen not fellow overhead door technicians. Thanks.
Thanks for the explanation! Worked like a champ
Thank you so so much for this video. It saved me a lot of money and stress.
I just have a quick question. I'm looking at my tension springs and I see the red and black markings on each; according to everyone's video, the red is one the left side. Mine is on the right. Also, my drums are set up on the outside of the whole assembly. Pls help somebody
that sounds crazy/dyslexic
When my door is in the up position my cable has slack or play, how do I remove this slack?
Problem is, when I open door, the cable comes off the pully again and again
How did you fix it?
We Thank You So Much ! $$$ Saved With Your Video ! Thank You
Thanks. Now my wife thinks I’m a garage tech now. 😂😂
WARNING: The cable is under tension from the spring in the center of the door. So reconnecting the cable to the pin means you'll need to yank the cable down while keeping the door up. So make sure your vice grips are tight!
If cable is coming off does that mean a weak torsion spring?
if the drum lock bolts loosen up, the drum can move on the bar. resulting in one cable with less tension that the other side. when the drum is real loose/almost free, the cable will wrap on the bar.