Garage Door Opener Parts

We know that finding the right replacements for you garage door opener can be difficult at times.  We have made a list of several common parts that you might need.

Here is some weather stripping advice. A common part for any garage door is the threshold.  The long plastic strip is crucial to any garage door set up in any neighborhood in any city.  I have noticed that many people do not have them.  I did not have one until my best friend pointed it out to me the other day.  I was surprised!  Here I have a website that deals with this subject and I do not own a garage door threshold.  They are very important it turns out.  They help keeping out rain, leaves, and snow from inside your garage.  Without it the inside will get littered over time with tons of debris.  They can also keep out rodents as when the door presses down on the weatherstripping it should make an almost air tight seal.

As far as they go it is important to find and purchase the most durable garage door thresholds you can find on the web.  The best ones are made from vinyl and if quality engineered should provide a long lasting barrier between your garage door bottom and the floor.

When you buy a threshold please make certain that you buy extra glue.  I have spoken with several people who have installed them at their houses and they mentioned that there was not enough glue that came with the threshold to install it properly.  Order extra glue when you purchase it or go to the store and get extra.  Also before you apply the glue you want to clean the area underneath before you apply it.  Other than that the instructions are fairly straightforward on most products.

I had a friend by the way that lives in Portland where it can rain a lot.  He always had a problem with water getting into his garage.  He had tried a few items like garage door seals and door adjustments but they did not work too well.  After he installed a threshold he did not have the water problem any longer.  Definitely a good buy.

Another common replacement part, especially for old or worn garage doors, are spring mechanisms.  There are two types.  It will call for a  torsion spring that is mounted on the front wall of the garage just over the door.  Please, and I want to emphasis this, make sure you get professional to relieve the tension before removing the spring to replace it.  Torsion springs can be potentially dangerous and can cause serious injuries if improperly dismantled.

If you have two springs that are mounted over the tracks, they are extension springs, which can be removed safely by just about anyone if they know what they are doing.  All you have to do is measure the length and width of your old door to determine the size of the door you require.  Then measure the area between the top of the door jamb and the ceiling to determine if you have sufficient space for the door you want. Standard 7′-high doors require 10″-12″ of headroom. However, many door manufacturers sell low-headroom kits that allow their doors to operate with as little as 4 1/2″ of headroom. Additional headroom is needed for attachment of an automatic garage door opener

Track hangers are items that will not go out often. The only way that you will usually need to replace them if someone is hanging on your garage door and puts an excessive amount of stress and weight on them to bend them or your track hangers are just very old and have become flimsy.  Honestly its going to be hard to find a complete track hanger online.  You can find tons of components to build one if you really know what you are doing.  Like you can just buy the track.  There are two types: standard and low headroom.  You have the vertical track on both sides of the opening.  The horizontal track is attached to the ceiling.  You would have to measure it to see exactly what you need.  I would just pay someone to come and install it for you if you want to replace this peice though.  Its a lot of work if you do not have the proper tools to do it.

The cable drum can be an item that many people have to replace during the life of their garage.  Basically they are the grooved drums on the torsion spring shaft that lifting cables go or wind around when door is opening and closing.  They can experience a lot of wear depending on who heavy the door is.  What you will probably end up replacing more than anything else is the extension spring cable.  That’s the component that usually wears out.There are many brands out there.  Make sure that the cable is aircraft grade high quality cable.  Many people recommend changing your cables if you ever have to  replace any broken springs on the drum.  Stress caused by a broken spring can transfer undue stress to an already worn out cable and cause it to break which will cause your door to fall off the track.

And a last common item that some people will have to replace most likely do to a baseball or accident is the window lite.  This is the glazed section with various types of glass or clear acrylic to allow for light and visibility.  They can be found on almost any site and in various different forms.

I really hoped that this helped.  If anyone has any questions, comments, or advice about garage door opener parts please let me know.  Use the comment section.  I am always looking for new items or suggestions.  In different parts of the country I am willing to bet that people are coming across different problems and I am interested in knowing what they are.  I have received some excellent feedback so far about this site.   So if you write a comment let me know what state you are from.  I have a friend who works for Overhead so this week I am going to ask him what are some of the top five main problems that people call in for and then post them so that people can a) prevent these things and b) know what to do if these things should happen.  Thanks and take care.

Here are some optional garage door opener parts that you may find useful to your home or office.  These are parts that are not necessarily mandatory but can make life for you or your business really more convenient.  And isn’t that the reason why we all have garages in the first place?

Multi Function Remote Controllers

The can be available as 2 or 3 button remotes. These remotes are really cool because they can operate several garage door openers at once and the better ones can be equipped with a security system. You can find these remotes at many websites.  They also make these in “mini” models that do the same thing but come small enough to fit on your key chain.  You can also get a model that comes with a light attached to it for nighttime application.  Very nice feature to have.

Electronic Reversing Device (ERD)

Is is a cool feature that comes on many commercial Liftmaster garage door openers.  If the door or gate ever comes into contact with a vehicle while it is closing than it automatically re-opens.  If it comes into contact with a vehicle while it is opening, it stops, reverses a couple inches and then it stops again.  If your garage door did not come with this feature I would think about getting it.  I have backed up into my garage many times before.

Photo Eyes (Sensors)

You can get these for residential or commercial applications.   These photo safety sensors are designed to sense an obstruction and signal the garage door to go into reverse.  They are usually fast and easy to install.  You should really get one of these parts as a safety measure to prevent injuries especially if you have kids.

Treadle

This is another type of garage door sensor but one that you can actually put on the ground and when a car drives over it a signal is sent to close the garage door.  Really cool device that makes having a remote halfway useless.

Noise Isolators

Heavy duty rubber isolators that can aid in preventing a lot of noise for your garage door and they absorb vibration.

I felt like doing some market research on what garage door opener parts fail and give people the most trouble.  So I went right to the source.  I went to the main garage door company in the city that actually installs and services them.

I went over to Pioneer Door here in town who is the dealer for Overhead door and asked the residential sales manager what is the most common problem that people generally call in for.  I asked him this at nine o’clock in the morning and I could tell that he was not expecting this but I thought for a moment and said “people kicking or damaging the garage photo sensor.”

Apparently he gets calls all the time because someone’s garage door will not go up and they cannot figure out why.  It just stopped working.  So they schedule a service call to get it fixed.  Well the service technician finds out that the photo sensor was damaged in some way.  How does it happen?  A person can accidentally kick it, hit it while taking out the garage, or bump into it with something including a vehicle.  When that happens the garage door will not open, obviously.

An easy problem to fix.  A lot of the time the sensor is just out of adjustment and you just have to realign it.  Other times you are going to have a purchase a brand new part.  In any case doing both of those things is cheaper than paying for a service call and buying a whole new garage door opener sensor.  Where I live a service call is actually free but in many places it can be closer to $100.

While I was there I noticed a magazine called International Door Association.  I had no idea that there was an association, and one that published a magazine, but there is.  They give all sorts of good advice on their website.  I did find out some very interesting from their website.  Apparently the federal government  is offering financial incentives to homeowners to buy qualifying insulated garage doors. Under the stimulus package   signed by President Obama on Feb, 17, 2009, tax credits for energy-efficient home improvements have been extended and increased significantly. That means that adding a new garage door in 2009 or 2010 can save you money by helping to lower home energy consumption and costs, and it will help pay for itself this year through the tax credit incentive.  Definitely something to check out!!

I got a subscription so I will keep you posted on any new events that are happening or any new information I find relating to maintaining, replacing, or purchasing garage door opener parts for your home or business.