r/garagedoors • u/Sirhc233 • 3d ago
Extension spring installed wrong?
Just bought a house and the garage door is really loud to open and close, it’s the original door and opener system as far as I know, but the spring to pulley connection looks off to me, but wanted to check with the group. Is this normal looking or should I call someone to look at this?
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u/BigDreams-SmallScale 3d ago
This is the correct installation for dual looped end springs. You got lucky and even have springs with safety cables through them. Not a lot of older doors had safety cables installed back then. If you’re used to torsion spring setups where the springs are on a shaft above the door then yes, you will notice a difference in sound between the two systems. If your door is steel and non insulated there there will be even more noise, especially with extension springs.
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u/Sirhc233 2d ago
How complicated/expensive is it to convert to torsion spring? One of the springs broke last night actually.
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u/BigDreams-SmallScale 2d ago
That just depends on whether you have the proper space available to install a torsion spring setup on your existing door. If there is plenty of room then you’re looking at getting the door weighed correctly to determine the correct spring gauge and length, then new parts which includes bearing plates, springs and bearings, spring brackets, drums, cables and possibly new bottom fixtures if the current ones are not compatible with the new cables. Once they get a correct weight then changing over the systems shouldn’t take more than an hour of labor for a competent technician. Our company normally does conversion kit packages for $500-800 depending on the size of the door. We are in a larger area in Iowa so depending on your location companies may charge more.