[Shop-talk] De-coupling overhead door torsion spring

[Scott Hall]

Following up on this in case someone else searches this, or when I need to
do again in ten years and have forgotten:

The torsion spring is both every bit as worthy of respect as I thought, but
also entirely user-serviceable.

The delineation for this job shouldn't be, "do I know how to do this
already/have I already done this?" but rather, "do I have the right tools
and a healthy respect for the spring(s)?"

The correct tools in this instance are two forged spring 'lever-ers' that
fit into the springs' sockets and are knurled for grip.

Use those, stand off to the side, and follow the procedure you guys
outlined for me above.  While there's plenty-enough torque to break a bone
(or depress a skull fracture) if they get moving, there's much less than I
expected--maybe less than 20 pounds.

Having said all that, I'd still pay someone to do this, and it has less to
do with the spring than the panels, rods, and tracks.  The panels on a
16-foot door are awkward, the rod the spring sits on is as well, and
adjusting the tracks to be quiet, etc. is more art than science.  It's
probably much easier on an eight-foot door, but those tracks will still be
fussy. With two people, or one person that does this for a living, it's
maybe an hour and a half.  By yourself, and you do one every fifteen
years?  Plan on a reasonably-frustrating afternoon and a 16-foot door and
its accoutrements are then a pain in the ass to haul off, even in a Super
Duty pickup. Add the spring to that and just cut a check and do something
more fun, or enjoy watching the professional take care of it for you.

So this and an alternator in a 2003 VW TDI Beetle are worth paying someone
else to do.  This because it's $395 (if you can get them out to the house)
and that's easily winning the cost/benefit hurdle and the Beetle because
the alternative is a tenuous hold on sanity or a drinking problem when
you're done.

Scott

On Thu, Oct 17, 2019, 11:49 AM Robert Nogueirao via Shop-talk <
shop-talk at autox.team.net> wrote:

> I would add, if you lock the spring clamp a few lbs of weight to the cable
> to keep I tight on the drum. If it is totally loose it difficult to get it
> to wind up on the drum correctly.
>
> Bob Nogueira
>
> On Oct 17, 2019, at 7:15 AM, DAVID MASSEY via Shop-talk <
> shop-talk at autox.team.net> wrote:
>
> Clever idea.  Just take the tension off of the cables and have at it.  But
> if it is an insulated door that is replacing an uninsulated door it will
> likely weigh more and the tension may need to be adjusted but one can cross
> that bridge when he comes to it.
>
> Dave
>
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