tbirdman Posted June 5, 2009 Share Posted June 5, 2009 Opening the garage door today remotely from my car, the garage door was almost all the way up and the spring broke. The door slammed back down and even bent the metal door a little. I could just imagine if my Packard was under the door when that happened I never have seen a garage door spring break. It was only 12 years old. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1935Packard Posted June 6, 2009 Share Posted June 6, 2009 Wow, glad your car wasn't under it. I've never seen that happen, either -- or even heard of that happening. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keiser31 Posted June 6, 2009 Share Posted June 6, 2009 Forget about the car....if that was you standing next to it, you would have been split in two. I HAVE seen them break and it aint pretty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tbirdman Posted June 7, 2009 Author Share Posted June 7, 2009 The repair guy says they break all the time but it's usually low to the ground when they break.Interestingly he tried to upsell me on replacing a bunch of other parts which would have doubled the repair bill, but I got him just to replace the two springs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Owen_Dyneto Posted June 7, 2009 Share Posted June 7, 2009 One of mine broke this Spring; the door was down and I was up on a stepladder just about a foot from the spring trying to retrieve something from a shelf in the upper garage. Fortunately the Packard was in the driveway. A crack of sound like a shotgun blast, rust and dirt flying every which way, it took me a few seconds to realize that I hadn't been shot. I guess it was due, the garage dates to 1953 and all the door hardware is original. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Restorer32 Posted June 7, 2009 Share Posted June 7, 2009 Recently saw one of those home improvement shows where they installed cables inside the springs and attached to the door mounting hangers so that if a spring broke it couldn't fall. Seemed like a great idea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Trunk Rack Posted June 8, 2009 Share Posted June 8, 2009 PLEASE - folks - LISTEN to Restor 32. If you have a garage door using long powerful springs serving as "counter-balancers", snake a cable thru them. Those things DO break eventually, and can KILL you !My understanding is that new springs cannot be sold, nor can they be legally installed in any UCB jurisdiction, with-out that safety feature. However, many older doors have not been up-graded. Save a head and your car. Install a safety cable inside the spring. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tbirdman Posted June 8, 2009 Author Share Posted June 8, 2009 The springs I have are at the top of the door opening, parallel to the door, and have a rod going through them. Hous eis 12 years old so must be one of the newer designs. No danger from the springs but danger if you are beneath the door when they break. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest BigKev Posted June 8, 2009 Share Posted June 8, 2009 A "screw-drive" style garage door opener will not allow the door to fall if a spring breaks on a sectional garage door, but most chain drives will fall as they usually don't have a ratcheting action that locks the carriage in place. Just some added insurance in the future if you ever replace the opener. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TexRiv_63 Posted June 8, 2009 Share Posted June 8, 2009 After having two of the top mounted springs break on me I found out you need to keep them lubricated, a good shot of WD-40 every few months will do it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve_Mack_CT Posted June 9, 2009 Share Posted June 9, 2009 Ken, it is actually an older design, but still available - my place built in 1964 has them, supporting one very big door. From experience, if one breaks the other will in a few mos - fatigue, I would guess. Smart to do the pair at once... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest RenegadeV8 Posted June 10, 2009 Share Posted June 10, 2009 test Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tbirdman Posted June 11, 2009 Author Share Posted June 11, 2009 <div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: RenegadeV8</div><div class="ubbcode-body">test </div></div>Door is still up Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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