an old trick a retired garage door taught me was to paint a line on the spring to count how many turns for tension

Yeah!! This is a how not to do video! I’m glad this guy didn’t hurt himself

26yr senior door technician here. 1. Greasing the tracks is like greasing the roads. It wont stop the wheel bearings from squeaking. Grease hinges wheels (rollers), pullies (sheeves) and motor drawbar trolley and torsion springs. 2. A 3 foot long 3/8 round rod cold rolled steal bar cut in half so you have 2x 1.5 bars is the only way to go and only cost $9.00 3. All the squeaking in that door is in the hinges. There are 3 parts to the hinge and they are always grinding. Oil the hell out of all your hinges.

The pros wanted to charge me $800 for two springs and a new handler. I did it for $205 ($75 for the springs & 130 for the opener). Probably the easiest diy I’ve had to do.

Many years ago while living in Houston our garage door became misaligned, wire off track and stuck. Being a Brit I had no experience with these kind of doors so our good friend and neighbor offered to help. No big deal, right. He ratcheted the central spring with screw drivers (since we didn’t have the correct tools) to lessen the tension on the wire while I tried to push it back on the guide wheel to the side. His screw driver slipped and I very nearly lost my thumb. I was very lucky to get away with bruising. One of the stupidest things I ever did. Still makes me shudder. The second screw driver was stuck under huge tension all night, my neighbor probably more shocked than me, understanding how close we came to a serious accident. The professionals came out the next day to fix our mess.

When I was 19 I learned the ins and outs of overhead doors by being responsible for maintaining two 22'x14' chain lift doors. When I started the job, one end of the building or the other was always broken. If both were stuck we were out of commission. In a few months I had them both purring. I knew it was dangerous, and I had an incident or two, but no blood was shed. Great video. Great advice. These things aren't intuitive. Know before you start.

Thank you for recording and posting this valuable educational video.

I like your make shift spring tensioning bars (paint mixers). I'm glad it didn't backfire on you! I replaced my two springs when one broke. I ordered the offical tensioning bars and springs from Ebay. I succeeded and replacing it but only after watching several KZfaq videos. It was a little nerve wrecking but a great confidence builder.

I'm all for people learning about garage doors and spring replacements. However, as a garage door technician, I will advise readers to at least properly buy winding bars online if you are replaceing a torsion spring. I have personally seen the aftermath of customer using something not designed for winding (large screwdriver) and he ended up lucky that the screwdriver missed major arteries in his forearm. Also, if you are going to replace a spring, please stand on the OUTSIDE of a spring facing inward so if something were to happen, the throw of the spring will go AWAY from your body/face. If you are unsure as to what "direction" a spring is to be wound, the easy way to check is at the winding cone side. The spring winds in the direction the wire edge is pointing, and it should be pointing "up". Getting this wrong can cause the spring to break or unwind while you are in the process of turning the spring and the Setscrews on the winding cone will spin and become like a sawblade. Dont forget, this is where your hands are during the spring winding process. ( read = loosing fingers) Garage door spring replacement is on of those very low cost of goods, but a professional will charge a few hundred dollars. It may seem like alot, but if you are not as mechanically savy and careful, the injury isn't a cut or a bruise. It's a lost finger or worse. It is not a decision to make lightly. Also a 3/8 8 point socket on a ratchet is the perfect tool for the setscrews handyman ;)

I used to do this type a repair back in the day, sometimes on bigger industrial doors. This always gave me a little bit of the willies especially after seeing this repair go bad. Your fortunate that you just got your hand ripped up and nothing permanent, or your teeth knocked out . I think this is a tough job for a DYIer. There are forces that need to be clearly understood before taking something like this on. Even pulley spring balances can be difficult and hopefully people run safety wire through the spring so it can come flying off and reeking havoc. Both of these spring balance systems use a lot force to balance those big heavy doors. I'm not trying to scare anyone off, but this work needs to be done with caution. Like you said, if you can afford it, let someone who knows what their doing take this job on

I have a buddy who's dad lost a finger while tightening one of those springs. The spring broke under tension and took his finger clean off!! I don't mess with them.

Workin on garage doors has it's UP's and DOWN"s. Lol

Our garage has 2 single wide doors but the springs run parallel with the upper tracks. 2 springs on each door. One spring broke and shot through the garage/family room wall and across the family room into the china cabinet that held my grandmother's china collection. It was 3 in the morning when it happened! I about died from the shock of the explosion! Those springs have a crazy amount of stored tension!

I had a spring break when door was opening up, it came down hard and fast like a guillotine. I don't walk under the door until it's all the way up anymore! My door us double wide, 16ft, 1 panel extra tall, insulated, windows, and extra supports for each panel, it is HEAVY!

I've got several properties with these same springs. You did fine. Also people, for first timers, wear good gloves. The metal edges can gouge your hands open pretty badly if your not paying attention. Anyway...se ya next time!

Its all fun and games, till the mud mixers are flying!

You need to tell people to NOT just loosen these bolts. People with 2 springs don't understand how much tension will still be on all of these bolts.

I do pretty much everything around my house as do all of my friends. When one of my springs broke on my garage door I called some of my friends and they all gave me the same advice its not worth fixing because if it goes bad it really goes bad. I paid the 500.00. A man has to know his limitations, risk vs reward.

Great video Handyman!!

Hi handy man. Perfect video to remind me how much I don't like touching them! I would hire it out if I could afford it, because of the risk of injury. To answer your question: you are insanely crazy. You work like a maniac. You take on allot of work and do it all solo. So, your insanely good at your trades, a perfectionist in detail, and good at making your videos. Thanks man, your Pro all the way! -.Mitchell

Thanks for another great video man.

That took balls! Glad mud mixers didn't hurt you! Thumbs up and subscribed!

FYI garage doors is a great field to get into. This job would take me 20 minutes, charge 120 profit on the low end. Garage doors take an hour and a half and there is a minimum of $400 profit.

Part of my work involves garage door repair and new installation Raynor garage doors and chamberlain operators there is great money in this 👍

Just did these a few weeks ago , using vice grips on the bar keeps the cables from coming off, tedious job

Its crazy how quickly you feel the burn at the tops of your shoulders when winding.

Just when I thought Handyman had already done a plethora of jobs, boom! Smash that Like button! HAMMER THE LIKE BUTTON!

I was installing a 16x16' door and springs I was on my 6 or 8th turn when the spring broke and threw the bars and me down the scaffolding...almost broke some ribs on the way down. I couldn't believe that spring broke...

Handyman i am glad that no blood was shed.......................Today! This looks like it could be a dangerous job. A Big Ouch comes to mind. But if push comes to shove it can be done. But i will not have to deal with this in the future. i do not see a lot of garage doors on yurts or on tool sheds. But glad that you are able to do the job!

You're killing me smalls, I was cringing more than once. I'm thankful you still have all your digits, and limbs. DEFINITELY not a DIY fix, hire a pro for that job. Also, that liftmaster GDO is supposed to have a little slack in the chain. BTW a 12 point 7/16 socket fits those lock bolts perfectly.

yep that's one of those things as a handyman I don't do but I give you props

I’ve read every single comment posted and not one “pro” says anything about unloading the spring as its being wound. Every two to three rounds you should take your free bar and tap the side of the loaded bar, being careful to hold the bar firmly in place, so that the spring unloads and doesn’t load up on one end more than the other. If not done, the spring can bind against itself and experience premature failure.

I had a double spring door and watched a ton of videos before attempting this task when one broke. I got the springs and bars off of ebay for under 100 bucks! Used a marker to make sure all the pulleys could be lined back up and even put some paint down the springs so I could do my 31 turns it called for... Then came time to release the non-broken spring, I put my bar in raised it and slid the next bar in so i could seat it against the door and boy that's when I realized how much pressure these were truly under. Luckily, for me it went great and I saved 500 bucks off the 600 dollar quote I got. However, from doing my research I learned that even if you take your time and do it right springs sometimes just break even brand new when being put under tension. Now that I am older and make a little more then 10 years ago, no way in hell I would do this again.

I am a machinist . I done several garage door springs .not hard or dangerous to me. It's hard to find the springs . Home depot and lowe's has pictures of them but don't stock them around here . I get them from garage door service guy on next block . He thought he was going to install them . I said no i do it myself . He gets $280 labor . Charges $75 for spring.

The doors not aluminum it’s steel, it needs lubrication BAD on all the hinges, rollers, spring and end bearings. The chain isn’t loose, the rail was just bowing up from pushing the door into the ground. Also WAY easier to do the spring replacement when the doors down

You definitely are the man for taking on the task of changing the spring. In terms of instructional video, there was no real useful information. But a great blog video.

You can just leave the door down and get the right size bars at home depo to take off the tension on the springs instead of trying to squeeze your handed up in to that little space

Where I worked I had 170 garage doors to keep running but we had no door openers, they where hand opened so to make darn sure the tension was correct, to much they would stay up not enough you couldn’t pick them up. I agree if you can afford someone to do it it would be a good idea. 18 yrs on the job and didn’t kill anyone. Lol

Probably not a good idea to improvise with the paint mixer bars. I bought a pair of metal rods to wind the springs even though they won't be used again until the new springs break.

About 10 years ago, I replaced the broken springs on my wooden 2-car garage door. I used bathroom scales on the bottom corners of the door to make sure I had an even weight on each side. Can't remember the weight but maybe about 20 lbs on each side when fully closed?

Old set were mismatched, 207 x 1.34 x 27 and 225 x 2 x 29. Metal was pretty bent. Replaced pole. Would 218 x 2 x 22 work as a matched set? How many turns should I start with? Door is 16 x 8 non insulated, 150 - 160lbs

I like how the tag on the shaft said "DO NOT TOUCH!". Handyman said fuck that lets grab with both hands lol .

As a novice in doing this exact same thing, it literally scared the sh*t out of me after a got to my 30th turn while tensioning. I don't think I'll ever do that again but the job came out okay.

Can't believe I did this in high school when my dad was overseas. The last tension part was extremely hard and dangerous. To save $190.00 I foolishly risked my life.

A couple of large vice grips pliers on each door track will hold the door up for you

I like to set the tension so the door just wants to drop slowly and it's easy to lift by hand. I then hook up the opener and make sure it works okay.

So did the old spring have a color code on it? I have done some there was a painted line on them and you could match the twist between springs by how twisted the paint line was.

there is any reason u didn’t close the door before u started to work on the spring?

Replacing extension springs that broke. Really thankful I don't have torsion springs 🙏🙏

Did you lube the tracks? It sounded a bit squeaky.

I just replaced the cables and pulleys on my wood door. The door damn near fell on me, but I got it done.

much easier to put the door down first. also if you draw a chalk line across the spring it will show the number of turns. this works really well when doing a double spring door.

Aww man you need me to show you how to do it the easy way lol. Maybe next time.

Lol! Now that’s a big spring.

If you have to work with the door up, jam a screw driver through the hole on the rail in front of the wheel so if it come down it wont break your arm.

Ur crazy...... Crazy cool 😎

218x2x25 would've gave you a longer life cycle. Been doing garage doors every day for 11 years. Also, doing it with the door up sucks lol. Interesting to see how other people learned to do this stuff

Great video. Is the amount of spring tension based on the weight of the door? The unit in the video is different than ones I see in my area.

I like the doors with the side springs, much safer in my opinion. I still install the safety cable inside the spring.

I have aanother question not related to this how much would you charge to install commercial urnal ' just replaceing an old one

As a garage door technician, please dont mess with the springs or the cables attached to the bottom fixtures unless you know what you're doing. There's way's we can work on the cables & bottom fixtures without causing injury or unwinding the springs (we can backwind them to release tension and use grips on each cable) but you have to understand how it all works. Those cables, and springs, will kill you. Everything is under tremendous tension. Or you will lose a finger or hand. The main thing with springs is use WINDING BARS! Don't use rebar, screw drivers, nothing except winding bars. And make sure your head is out of the way. Make sure each turn, especially after it's under tension, the winding bar is FULLY IN because if you tighten those set screws and your hand is in the way and that bar slips out, you're not gonna have a good day. I'm serious for anyone reading this, be careful. I would just spend the money and call a professional if I were you.

Tightening one of those is very serious business

Nice job. Why did you not lower the door before working on the spring?

Relatively safe, lol..... Have seen many of ppl break arms, cut fingers, etc....from the tension on that spring.. WOW, can it cause a mess, & is NOT fun at all. Stay safe ppl, stay safe. Thx for the vid Handyman✌🏻

I installed & repaired garage doors for 45 years this is not how it's done.

I really like your videos, I learn a lot and respect you but this method may give a false sense of assurance to someone and they may use the wrong tools like socket extensions to unwind a spring on a heavy door. It will shear metal that isn’t cold rolled. Please use caution. 26yr Door Technician.

Lots of bad physics in store for those without a clue.

I never saw a 1 long spring on the Top of the garage door.. I have seen springs on both sides on the sides of the garage door set up.. Is this an older Vintage style❓

Uber kring on the mud mixers.

Before i retired i made those springs.

Any more nowadays this is a pro job considering that you have to safety check the installation to make sure it's tensioned correctly, all the safety features work as advertised, any crush factors have been eliminated and that the entire garage door mechanism is code compliant... For guys like me it's just another opportunity to up-sale a client and educate them...Using this door as an example a bit of maintenance and lubrication is in order too... as noted during the walk thru in the video... This video featured a sectional overhead garage door as opposed to a full panel overhead door which entirely different animal altogether and has it own sources of danger... As I said before nowadays this is a pro job and if you choose to take it on it would be wise to make sure you know what are doing because any misstep could put you and your family's safety at risk... and nothing grabs your attention faster than hearing a spring that busted loose and has you in it's sight!

😂😂I love the mud mixer’s and just to let you know don’t forget to lubricate your garage door that is very important and disengage your garage door from the opener and on the trolley at South there should be a nut in a bolt make sure you make your chain tighter go in the center of the rail and make sure the chain is no more than 1/2 inch above the rail in the center lubricate all the hinges and rollers sideburns are the torsion tube is and even the spring I recommend PB blaster a garage door lubricant you can buy at Lowe’s or the Home Depot in for the garage door opener rail I recommend white lithium grease on the inner trolley and on top of the rail in with the white lithium grease make sure you rub it in with your hands Make sure you wear gloves and everything on your garage door and opener will sound so much better and is won’t sound like your ears are getting raped

So I’m assuming if you’re removing a spring still under tension you want to use bars to unwind it like you did to tension it?

Nice... but i would not have used those stir blades... wow that would hurt!

My whole family was killed by a double spring and I lost both legs and arms also killed the next door neighbors cat.

There are some real horror stories with these garage door springs. I heard one time someone was trying to change out theirs and inadvertently started the vietnam war and we all know how that went. Gotta be careful

full send bro can you post the video of you fixing your leaf spring that you posted on ig happy sunday funday

So many horror stories in the comments.

need to get you a square 3/8 socket!

Crazy my spring just snapped last night!

New spring,,,lol,,u ain't right handyman! lol

Is that a garage door spring, or are you just happy to see us?! 😀 (Happy to see you too!!) (But, not THAT happy... 🤨)

Just my opinion, but shouldn't the spring be lubed since it is rubbing against the metal bar? And (like the people below are saying) Shouldn't the tracks also be lubed? Seems kind of loud. My neighbor has one of these, and when it opens you can barely hear the motor running and nothing more.. No squeaks and such.

Had you placed cables ,tightened spring and pulleys set screws while door was open - you did not have to wind springs at all - because when door moves down it would have tensioned springs

Won’t be tricky if you put the door down

Nice job. The trick was to have those metal tensioner bars. Very nicely explained. Don't try this at home safety police......😒

You can avoid having to tension the spring if you just hook it up while the door is open open.

Without dying 😂😂😂

Could any one explain me why my garage door springs are on each left and right end of the bar instead of in the middle pls?

Is there a written guide somewhere to follow on how many 'turns-to-tension' to load the spring?

The spring replacement process is easier if you so it with the door down from the start.

Out here those door guys do not charge that much to replace a set.of strings. I was wiring a garage that had a new door installed. I had to put a trash can under it to hold it open. It was an incredible force pushing it down. Last part.of the job was an outside light. I had to put the door all the way down to wire the light. Me and another guy took everything we had to get that door back up so we could escape. So, leave door installs to the pros

Thanks for safety caution on stored energy. The spring. We all need to think safety when we are working with any form a stored energy. A few months back was removing old pull down attic steps with a friend. He was in the attic and took the last screw out while I was supporting the bottom. The spring tension slammed the frame of the unit down onto the part I was holding and exploded the 1x4. Missed my hand by an inch or so. Needless to say it would have shattered my hand.

Torquing that spring is pretty scary when the rest of the hardware is corroded and marginal. There are some real antiques out there. As a handyman they called you because they don't want the garage door company to come in a replace everything. Sometimes you take a "calculated" risk.

He said it right. "How not to, but get the job done." So many things wrong. Where do I start from... Call your local Garage Door Company, you should be paying $200-$300 for your standard spring change and only have to change them once every 7-10yrs.

8:00 We demand blood!

Oh hell yeah it’s a diy project. What’s the worst that could happen. Possible decapitation with a bar while tightening up spring. No biggy

Even the pros respect these springs, probably from getting their asses kick by one or two. Done right all is well, one misstep and something bad is gonna happen.

I've a pair of these to fix next week unfortunately they're really old and totally different. Maybe I'll die 😂🤔

SO, HOW MANY TURNS OF THE SPRING ???