Replacing and tighten the garage door spring

Posted by Dave Dugdale Published in Home and Garden

All of a sudden the large garage door would not open but a few inches off the ground. I looked and noticed that one of the springs snapped.

Spring part number .250 2 32.0 LU H2 LW250x2x32″GS Wound Spring I think. 9 + 16x7R2000C 2-LM/S not sure if that is right. It came with a 36 month warranty. The spring on the receipt was $65.

There was a big warning on the spring to not attempt to fix it yourself (which is what I like to do) because it is under a lot of tension.

snapped-garage-spring

So I hired it out to Front Range Garage Door Company and it cost $145 to replace one spring. The installer said that the springs normally last 5 to 8 years. I called the original owner of the house and he said he replaced the last one about 4 years ago (it was 12 years old). And the one that just snapped was 16 years old.

If you watch the video he adds a total of 7 rotations to the spring.

The installer said that he replaces springs like this all day long, it is pretty much the only thing they do. Judging how fast he did it, I would say he is right. I think it took him 25 minutes to complete the entire job (not bad for $75 in labor).

After watching the installer do it, I bet I can do it myself (DIY) next time.