Anyone else ever change the two cables on a garage door and rewind the torsion springs?

[Zafira Cherry]

I have a 7' door on the two-car garage and one of the stupid steel cables broke earlier this week, so I fixed it. This isn't the first time this has happened, the loop on the cable rusts after time from the salty slush that gets on the car and all over the floor.

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When that cable gave way, the garage door was kiltered, so I had to cut the other cable to let the tension off the torsion springs and the door all the way down. That meant I had to replace both cables. Replacing the cables is the easy part. The hard part is winding the torsion springs.

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A garage door repair company would charge about $250.00-$300.00 to do this job so I do it myself when this happens. The cables cost me $14.71 for a pair and the 1/2" torsion spring winding rods were about $17.00 at the hardware store. A 7' door takes an 8-foot, 6-1/2 inch cable, with 28 full turns on each of the two winding cones. This can be a very dangerous operation if you don't know what you're doing. You can get whacked upside the head with the steel winding bar, break a hand, lose an eye, or get a severe cut or bruise. The only injury I sustained was getting a finger pinched from a pair of vise grips. It bled a little until I put a band-aid on it.

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After adjusting the travel on the garage door opener motor, it now works...

You got a memory problem?

Thread 'Anyone else ever change the two cables on a garage door and rewind the torsion springs?'

Jul 24, 2023

Don't, unless you're one brave sonofabitch.

We have a 7' double-wide garage and one of the door cables rusted through at the bottom and broke a few weeks ago. I had to cut the other cable to let the other side of the door all the way down, so mice wouldn't get in. Last time I had a cable break, I had some garage door repairmen come and fix it They charged me $250, so I decided to fix it myself. The cables were only $15 for a pair at Ace Hardware, and putting them on was the easy part.

I had to make two 18" iron bars to wind the torsion springs, which is pretty dangerous...

• JGalt
• Replies: 46
• Forum: The Garage

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[JGalt]

You're a brave man .. I'd pay the $250.00 to get it repaired . On the other hand, your dog was like WTF when the door opened.

You have to to be brave if you want to own a home. I get to clean the septic tank filter this Spring too.

 

[Zafira Cherry]

Nice job! I take it you live up north, as we don't get much salt on the roads very often down here. Is there anything you can put on the cables to avoid salt corrosion the problem?

Duplicate thread from same user. Needs a "merge"?

Thread 'Anyone else ever change the two cables on a garage door and rewind the torsion springs?'

Jul 24, 2023

Don't, unless you're one brave sonofabitch.

We have a 7' double-wide garage and one of the door cables rusted through at the bottom and broke a few weeks ago. I had to cut the other cable to let the other side of the door all the way down, so mice wouldn't get in. Last time I had a cable break, I had some garage door repairmen come and fix it They charged me $250, so I decided to fix it myself. The cables were only $15 for a pair at Ace Hardware, and putting them on was the easy part.

I had to make two 18" iron bars to wind the torsion springs, which is pretty dangerous...

• JGalt
• Replies: 46
• Forum: The Garage

• 
• 
• 

 

[okfine]

You got a memory problem?

Thread 'Anyone else ever change the two cables on a garage door and rewind the torsion springs?'

Jul 24, 2023

Don't, unless you're one brave sonofabitch.

We have a 7' double-wide garage and one of the door cables rusted through at the bottom and broke a few weeks ago. I had to cut the other cable to let the other side of the door all the way down, so mice wouldn't get in. Last time I had a cable break, I had some garage door repairmen come and fix it They charged me $250, so I decided to fix it myself. The cables were only $15 for a pair at Ace Hardware, and putting them on was the easy part.

I had to make two 18" iron bars to wind the torsion springs, which is pretty dangerous...

• JGalt
• Replies: 46
• Forum: The Garage

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• 
• 

Rusty like his brain.

 

[Zafira Cherry]

Rusty like his brain.

and he solicited me for sex





Rusty John

 

[Zafira Cherry]

That's a fact, Jack. I had a whole Winter in that freezing-ass garage to clean it up.

your brain must have froze?

• Jul 24, 2023

 

[okfine]

your brain must have froze?

• Jul 24, 2023

Now that he's got that new job handing our free samples he can afford to fix it again.

 

[Rambunctious]

JGalt

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[JGalt]

your brain must have froze?

• Jul 24, 2023

Actually this is the second time I've had to do this. And from last Fall, I've had to replace a septic tank pump ($800), replace a 20 year-old cartridge in the shower water control (tricky), have a new roof put on (costly), and have removed a huge red oak tree that was leaning toward the house ($535).

Owning your own home is costly, ya know.

 

[JGalt]

Now that he's got that new job handing our free samples he can afford to fix it again.

We get it: You hate old retired property-owners on fixed-income who work part-time jobs to make ends meet, because they weren't stupid enough to vote for Kamala.

 

[okfine]

We get it: You hate old retired property-owners on fixed-income who work part-time jobs to make ends meet, because they weren't stupid enough to vote for Kamala.

Dude, you're nothing but a putz. Nothing but.

 

[Donald H]

Don't, unless you're one brave sonofabitch.

We have a 7' double-wide garage and one of the door cables rusted through at the bottom and broke a few weeks ago. I had to cut the other cable to let the other side of the door all the way down, so mice wouldn't get in. Last time I had a cable break, I had some garage door repairmen come and fix it They charged me $250, so I decided to fix it myself. The cables were only $15 for a pair at Ace Hardware, and putting them on was the easy part.

I had to make two 18" iron bars to wind the torsion springs, which is pretty dangerous if the winding bar happens to slip out. After getting them wound, the door actually came out better than when the repairmen did it last time. They left a 1/4" gap on once side, but now it's all the way down on both sides and it saved me $250.

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Yes. Very, very carefully. Some of your tools aren't suitable for the job. If the Crescent is 14 inch, change it for another 10" and go for it!

Oh, and get it all on video for the 'Darwin Awards'!

 

[JGalt]

Dude, you're nothing but a putz. Nothing but.

If I was a "putz", Dumbo, my garage door wouldn't work now. Let's see you do that, "Mr. Nine Thumbs."

Can you even replace the front brake pads on your car, or does your wife have to do that for you?

 

[okfine]

If I was a "putz", Dumbo, my garage door wouldn't work now. Let's see you do that, "Mr. Nine Thumbs."

Can you even replace the front brake pads on your car, or does your wife have to do that for you?

Oh, fuck off. I specialized in brake and front end repair for almost 30 years.

 

[JGalt]

Oh, fuck off. I specialized in brake and front end repair for almost 30 years.

Almost 30 years? Geez dude, you're an old goober.

And I was a commercial block and brick mason for 15 years, but I don't live in a brick house. I bet you go to Brakes-R-Us to get your pads replaced.

 

[okfine]

Almost 30 years? Geez dude, you're an old goober.

And I was a commercial block and brick mason for 15 years, but I don't live in a brick house. I bet you go to Brakes-R-Us to get your pads replaced.

Yep, you're as thick as a brick.

 

[jotathought]

You have to to be brave if you want to own a home. I get to clean the septic tank filter this Spring too.

Now that's a shitty job to do, and I've done that .. make sure you clean up all the corn nibblets while you're in there.

 

[petro]

Our attached garage has the EX torsion springs that wind with a cordless drill. Had to replace that and the cables a couple years ago. Did that myself easily enough.
But the second detached garage has the old school wind by hand system.
Kind of afraid of that, but nothing corrodes out there as no salty vehicles are parked there, just the toys.
You forget how heavy those doors are when the springs fail.

A custom home we are building the owner is spending $18,000 on two garage doors.
Bet those suckers are gonna be heavy.

 

[Maxdeath]

installed every type of door imaginable. From jail cells and house doors to blast doors for missile silos. A garage door is a little spring triple that size and imagine six of them on one door.

 

[JGalt]

Our attached garage has the EX torsion springs that wind with a cordless drill. Had to replace that and the cables a couple years ago. Did that myself easily enough.
But the second detached garage has the old school wind by hand system.
Kind of afraid of that, but nothing corrodes out there as no salty vehicles are parked there, just the toys.
You forget how heavy those doors are when the springs fail.

A custom home we are building the owner is spending $18,000 on two garage doors.
Bet those suckers are gonna be heavy.

You're right. Without the spring tension and the cables, those things are heavy as hell.