Help! My truck is stuck...

[Minnie's Mate]

...in my garage! Over the weekend I pulled my truck into the garage and closed the door. As it came to complete closure I heard a loud "ping". The spring broke.

Fortunately my wife's SUV wasn't in the garage at the time and I have an older truck that was parked in the side yard that I could drive to work today. I called the company that installed the garage door 11 years ago when the house was built and the soonest someone can be home and they can come fix it is Friday. In the interim, I can't get the door open. It is a double width aluminum door but it must weigh a couple of hundred pounds with all of the steel frames on each panel and all the rollers and hinges and stuff. I can get it about three or four inches off the floor but can't budge it any further as if it is binding on something...and yes I pulled the manual release cord to release the opener.

Anybody have an idea how I could disconnect the door from the springs to raise it or any other way to get it raised so we don't have to exit the front door and walk around the house to the side of the house? It is supposed to rain here on Thursday.

[TIMETOGO]

Two People Need To Do This. Lift Door On Both Ends At The Same Time. It Will Bind If Done In The Middle.

[clancy_boy]

First - I have to say you are lucky - I had a spring break on a 8x16 foot door and send pieces all over the garage. I was in the car in the driveway when I heard the pop. Several pieces hit the door (I was closing it to leave for work) and did considerable damage. The door was coming down and sooooooooo, SLAM it closed with the aid of gravity. Never could lift the door - even used a floor jack - way too heavy.

Good luck........

I amm editing this after seeing the 2nd post - the door installer "recommended strongly" not to open the door without the spring - it can come down without warning - say when you are pulling in or out. Just get it fixed and be safe.

[TIMETOGO]

Thanks Clancy Boy-
Also... Some Co. Punch Holes In The Track To Hold Back The Door When Installing

[safari57]

Bummer on the door. We had a similar thing happen two years ago and for the life of me we could not get it to open. When the fellow came to put new springs on it he said he gets a lot of calls from people who get it open, start to get their car out and bang. The damage the car and the door.

You may want to call around and see if a freelancer would come do it. That's what we did and got a guy later that day, he was a bit less expensive, and he did a great job. He does contract work for the other guys when they are overloaded.

Barry

[troubleskeep]

While I understand the ultimate goal is to replace the spring, the point is that the truck is on the wrong side of the inoperable door, correct?

If so, rather then attempt to lift the door, bad idea, just take the door apart. There should be two roller assembies on either side of each door panel, and 3 or more hinge assemblies. Take the hinges apart first, leaving one side of the hinge attached to the top of the next panel (so each panel has a nice flat edge to set on the ground). Then take off the roller from one side. If I remember correctly, you should be able to remove the panel with the other rollers, but it's been a few years. This will take a buddy, but in about an hour, you should have your truck free.

Let us know how things turn out!

As an aside, speaking of garage doors, I suggest checking the auto reversing switch on the garage door openers. My brother's got the bumper of his truck and didn't reverse. The damage wasn't too bad for a truck, but it would have been terrible if it had been a child.

Now back to your unscheduled Grand Closing!

[Jim & Susan]

STOP, HOLD THE BUS, NICHT, NEIN, NYET, NADA, NO! Don't mess with that door!

Was that loud enough? Now, an explanation in my next post. Call Overhead Door of Atlanta. One moment please.....

Jim

[Jim & Susan]

That large spring over the top of the door can kill you if the other one decides to fall apart/break on you while your messing with the door (don't even ask how I know this, ok....., there was no blood involved, but I wound up in the floor and nothing was broken, but I did walk funny for about a month). As others pointed out, the door itself can fall on you while your fiddling with it. The problem is that you have tension on one side of the door now, where there used to be tension on both sides. Those big, giant springs are what make a roll-up type garage door work. There are several springs that all work in concert, the two main springs above, and possibly others along the rail that run laterally against the ceiling. This is very dangerous for rookies like us.

Overhead Door (used to, don't know if they still) guaranty same day service. We had the exact same problem about 2 years ago. One of the main springs essentially "exploded", luckily, nobody was hurt (weel, this time). The door will open, if you get enough of the Atlanta Falcons front line to all heave upwards at one time, but again, this is not recommended.

The folks at Overhead Door are very professional, prompt and resonably priced. I think we paid about $130 to $150 for them to fix us up. Besides, those guys have a lot of cool tools on the truck. Try to be there when they are doing the work, it's really cool stuff.

Jim

[moosetags]

When most garage doors are installed, the vertical side rails go in first. The the door is dropped in in lateral sections that are managable for two people. The sections are then bolted together to form the big door. Then the curved and ceiling rails are attached, forming the complete track for the door wheels to ride in. Then the tension bar and spring, opener, etc.

If you really need to get your truck out, you can reverse this process, and lift the door out in sections. It would be quite a job and you would have no garage door at all until you made the spring repair.

[overlander63]

If you really, truly, positively have to get your truck out, no matter what, and nothing else works, just climb in the truck, start it, put it in reverse, and back through the door. This is a suggerstion of last resort, of course, as a lot of damage could be done to both door and truck. But, that is why we have insurance...

[Melody Ranch]

Jim and Susan are absolutely correct. My friend lost a thumb and two fingers from a garage door spring. OUCH.

[Janet H]

Originally Posted by overlander63

If you really, truly, positively have to get your truck out, no matter what, and nothing else works, just climb in the truck, start it, put it in reverse, and back through the door. This is a suggerstion of last resort, of course, as a lot of damage could be done to both door and truck. But, that is why we have insurance...

This does NOT reflect the opinions of the Airstreamforums.com!

Jeeze - wouldn't it just be simpler to delcare a short holiday and stay home with some trashy movies? Have a pizza delivered, take this a sign to stay home and polish!

[85MH325]

As a side note, (this won't help you get your truck out...) we replaced our 47 year old garage door last fall with a new door that has the rotary springs, cables, motor and the whole shebang right above the top of the door rather than spread toward the rear. The only mechanism that extends into the garage are the tracks. The old door had the old-style long coil springs that were attached near the end of the tracks. If you merely replace the old springs with new ones, make sure that they're installed with a steel braid line running through them attached at both ends. That is a safety device that ensures that the next time one "explodes" most of the pieces stay captured on the line rather than as shrapnel flying around the garage.

Roger

[Minnie's Mate]

Thanks for all the responses guys. I was certain that I was not the first to experience this situation. Part of my problem is my wife is a teacher and I have meetings all this week so Friday afternoon is the earliest either of us could be home to meet the service folks since we couldn't get Monday afternoon scheduled.

Our door has two coil springs on a rod over the gargage door opening and no others. These springs rotate the rod with take up spools on either end that lift the door via steel cables. At first I thought the only problem was that the cables had jumped off the spools (both had, but that wasn't the problem). When I replaced the cables on the spools and the opener wouldn't lift the door and I couldn't after releasing the lift mechanism, I gave up. Now you see why I didn't buy a project trailer, I am not a fix-it kind of guy.

Anyway, I thought about disassembling the door, but thought I could get someone out Monday afternoon, but the installer's service crew was already booked. Since I have alternate transportation, I guess I'll probably wait 'till Friday to get my truck out of the garage rather than take the door apart. If there was a simple solution I could do this afternoon I would but to be without the door for the remainder of the week is a little more effort than I guess I need to go through. I would have to put it back together again Thursday night and it is supposed to rain Thursday so I think I'll just let it be and drive the old truck. Actually, the seats in the old truck are more comfortable than those in my new one and I kind of enjoyed the trip down memory lane yesterday on the way home from work. I guess there was a reason I haven't gotten around to selling the old truck. It has come in handy on a few occassions over the last year-and-a-half.

[juel]

Must be the time of year for door flu. Yesterday as I tried to shut the garage door I heard a thump and the door had pulled away from the support bracket in the ceiling and fallen off the track. I was lucky it didn't fall on the side over my husband's prize 1952 Ford step-side. Had to call Bob to come home from Muskogee to fix it. Bob came, Bob fixed it, Bob rules!!

[Tarheel]

The coil springs can and have been leathal. Exercise extreme caution, its alot like electricity you can't back away quickly enough. A close friend spent several months out of work because of this.

[Stefrobrts]

Yikes! All these stories of garage door springs gives me the willies! I'm surprised no one has invented a way to make the system work without producing shrapnel when it fails. Seems like the CPSC would be all over it!

[Minnie's Mate]

I think I have sufficient war story "fear of God" to just leave it to the professionals. It's just two more days without the newer truck and I can deal with the walk around the front of the house (I certainly need the exercise) and save myself from physical harm. Of course I may get that physical harm if/when it rains Thursday and my wife has to walk out to the drive way to get in her auto to go to school.

[bobchevy89]

I fixed my brothers real easy when his spring broke . changed the doors to swing open .had the room to do it.each half of the door is 8 ft. mounted with 3 big barn door type hinges . his 4 yr old grandson can open it with ease..
Bob