How to Adjust a Garage Door Spring

If your garage door is wobbling, sagging, or thundering with odd sounds as it moves up and down, there's a good chance you need to adjust garage door spring. This high-stakes task requires careful consideration. This guide will show you what a garage door spring adjustment really takes!

Reasons to Adjust a Garage Door Spring

The purpose of garage door springs is to offset the weight of the garage door. This is where you get that smoothness when opening and closing your garage door. You will need to adjust your garage door springs if there's a problem with the spring tension that's altering the way your door operates.

How to Determine If My Garage Door Spring Needs Adjustment

Your garage door will let you know when it's time to adjust the springs! The most obvious sign is difficulty when opening or closing the garage door. When the springs are no longer counterbalancing the weight of the door, the door will become "heavy."

If the door isn't opening at all, rule out a technical issue caused by your garage door opener not working first.

You may also notice wobbling, jerking, or uneven movements in your garage door. This usually means that one side has become "heavier" than the other due to imbalanced springs.

Some garage doors become noisy when springs are imbalanced. Creaking, popping, and banging sounds are all common.

Finally, your door may be visibly misaligned. This happens when unbalanced tension causes the door to be pushed out of the track.

If you discover a broken spring while inspecting your door, you'll need to pivot to learning how to replace garage door springs because broken springs cannot be adjusted.

Importance of Taking Safety Precautions

With so many different door and spring styles in use, trying a DIY garage door adjustment can be tricky. This can also be a dangerous task because the weight of the door can't always be controlled when adjusting springs.

Is it safe to adjust garage door springs? Only someone with the mechanical expertise and knowledge needed to safely do this task should even dream of doing a garage door spring adjustment. For the sake of your personal safety, you should strongly consider seeking the services of a garage door professional.

Don't forget that you could also be stuck with covering garage door replacement cost if you accidently break your garage door by mishandling springs during a DIY adjustment.

How to Adjust Garage Door Torsion Springs

Make sure the power is turned off to your garage door before starting! You should also put on your gloves and glasses to protect your hands and eyes when adjusting springs.

1. Open the Garage Door

The reason for opening your garage door prior to starting this project is that adjusting torsion springs with the door down is dangerous. The open position ensures that there is no tension in the springs. Please be advised that attempting to adjust your springs with the door down can result in death or injury!

This is also the time to lean one of the vice grips in the shaft against the wall to prevent the cable from loosening while you're working on springs. The other vice grip on the door track should be locked in place to stop the door from suddenly flying upward after you've adjusted the springs.

2. Use the Winding Bar

The winding bar should be used to manually increase or decrease tension in your garage door springs. One way to estimate how much tension is needed is to gently lift the garage door about a foot off the ground to see what happens. If the door slams down, that means that you need to add more tension to the springs. If the door doesn't close on its own fully, this means that you need to decrease tension. You'll use your winding bar differently based on whether you're increasing or decreasing tension.

Back off your set screws without taking them off completely. Push up one time with a winding bar before putting a second winding bar in the winding cone to hold it place. You'll then tap the winding bar with your hammer to stretch the spring out about 1/4 inch from the center.

If you're decreasing tension, reverse the process of pushing up to pushing down.

3. Do as Many Turns as Necessary

You can determine how many turns are needed when adjusting spring tension by looking at the size of your door. Determine the number of turns needed before you begin this task!

Each turn when adjusting garage springs is counted when your winding bar turns to the upper direction toward the second winding bar.

Here's a quick guide to turns:

• 6.6-foot garage door: 7 turns

• 7-foot garage door: 7.8 turns

• 7.6-foot garage door: 8 turns

• 8-foot garage door: 8.8 turns

4. Test the Garage Door

Go back to the first step to see if your adjustments made a difference. If your garage door opens and closes without issues, you've properly adjusted your springs. This is also a good opportunity to lubricate your springs to get everything running in top condition.

DIY vs Hiring a Pro

A garage door spring adjustment is one of the most dangerous DIY projects for homeowners. The sheer weight and speed of a door coming down on a person can result in injury or death. With spring adjustments from a local garage door repair professional being so affordable, hiring a pro is the logical choice.