Door springs

To adjust your garage door spring you don’t need to have a hardcore mechanical background, you just need to know a little bit about how door springs work. Whilst I’m sure it is tedious to get on to it, a little comes a long way – check the springs periodically and you might avoid major setbacks later on.

You can ask someone to help you and do not forget to wear safety gear.

Before beginning you need to know that the movement of the door is powered by springs, of which there are two types. Extension springs are fixed on the sides of the door and torsion springs on the roof. The tension is completely released, then they can adjust or detach from the door.

If your door uses extension springs, let it open until you hear a click – this way you will know for sure the tension is completely released. Now arm yourself with a 7/16 inch wrench, a ladder and two 18 inches long tension rods, diameter ½ inch.
Look for the red cone on the left of the spring and check the screws and notches so make sure they are properly fixed. Secure the cone with a tension rod placed in the notch. Use the wrench to loosen and open the 2 sets of screws, but at the same time keep the rod in the notch as it was earlier, otherwise it might snap and you’ll get hurt. If the springs are rusted you need to replace them.
Place the other rod in another notch and on the same cone. One rod in each hand, turn the cone to the right for tightening or to the left for loosing the spring tension. Now remove one of the rods, place the screws and tighten them up and then you can remove the second rod.

door springs, extension springs, mechanical background, safety gear, tension rod