Hell of a scare a few minutes ago......

[SideShow Bob]

The wife and I were chilling out in A/C and she was watching the idiot box while was cruising the forum.
Then, all of a sudden, there was a hellacious noise, I thought someone had sideswiped my work truck sitting parked in front of the house. I jumped up and ran out the front door to see what happened, checked the work truck, and nothing.

I scratched my posterior for a second or two wondering what the heck the noise was, then quickly walked around the house looking for what could have made the noise, but found nothing wrong.

Still not able to figure out what caused the noise, I went inside, grabbed up my cigarettes and headed to our smoking lounge ( our garage ) then as I tried to open up the garage door I figured out what make the hellacious noise,
one of the garage door springs had broken approximately in the middle of it and the garage door will not open.

Oh the fun and unexpected expenses of being a home owner, and the near heart attack producing strange noises.

[Danimal]

Deleted

[theGinsue]

Replacing garage door springs is no joke; they are scarey dangerous when under tension.

I should look to get mine replaced soon as they're coming up on 22 years old. I don't need the type of fright you just experienced.

[Mercula]

I've had shit like that happen , walk around playing detective till you find out what the hell it was , I'm with ginsue , be careful.

[bczandm]

Replacing garage door springs is no joke; they are scarey dangerous when under tension.

I'll work on anything in the house, except this. Hire someone to replace it. My auto mechanic attempted to help a neighbor with the garage door spring:
Six weeks lost work
Several missing teeth
Reconstructive surgery for lip and nose
Otherwise fine :/

[rondog]

Had mine replaced twice, watched the guy do it and there's NFW I'd try it myself. Nope nope nope. I likes my poor buggered up arthritic fingers and hands, even if they don't likes me much anymore.

And yeah, they make a big noise when they break!

[brutal]

Pussy's.

[panic]

I did mine myself. I had to order them online as no local shop would sell them to me.

FWIW. I have one of those wind-up gear drive spring thingy's so it's super easy. Everyone I called to replace the springs wanted to also replace the gear drive units and charge more for the job than necessary. Screw that.

I have replaced them myself in the past without the magical wind up toy too. To stupid to know better and lucky enough to have some common sense I guess.

[Aloha_Shooter]

Hell of a lot of energy stored up in those springs. No danged way I'd replace it myself even if I didn't have a friend in the business. It's well worth the expense to call in Overhead Door or a similar professional to do it. Hope the spring didn't damage your car.

[sniper7]

I'm torn. I passed out on replacing mine when it broke. Was cheap enough and the warranty was nice. I just watched what I believed to be a complete moron set my new house springs and I am fully confident I'd have no problem taking care of replacing the springs.

Go with what you can afford but I still think The little extra $$ to have someone else replace it is probably worth it.

[ray1970]

I've done my springs twice. Once when the original ones broke and then again when I replaced the entire door assembly.

I didn't find it the least bit scary. Not really a big deal if you have an understanding of how they work.

I have a helpful hint that makes it way less scary. I'll share it later if anyone is interested.

[Bailey Guns]

I do a lot of repairs around the house...most everything that needs to be repaired, actually...by myself. Even appliances, electrical and plumbing. I'm just stupid enough to watch a "How To" video on replacing a garage door spring and then try it. I find it's usually a lot easier to do the second time after I fuck it up the first time.

The upside is, it's usually a great excuse for some sort of new power tool. "Sorry, babe. Can't fix that faucet without a new welder. The one I have isn't made for that type of metal."

[thedave1164]

I've done my springs twice. Once when the original ones broke and then again when I replaced the entire door assembly.

I didn't find it the least bit scary. Not really a big deal if you have an understanding of how they work.

I have a helpful hint that makes it way less scary. I'll share it later if anyone is interested.

Probably should get prepared, what is the hint?

[OtterbatHellcat]

Yep, that's a hell of a noise when they snap.

[Graves]

I don't see what the big deal is about setting the springs. If you know what you're doing, they're a piece of cake. I've done a couple residentials and probably several hundred in truck/trailers.

[tmjohnson]

Same thing happened to me a couple of months back. I watched a U-Tube video on how to replace springs. I got on ebay bought some springs and replaced them. Took me all of 45 minutes.

[rondog]

Nope nope nope.....

https://youtu.be/hrUIN6hClB4

[Duman]

I've had a new garage door installed, watched a couple of young guys wind-up the spring during installation.

No way. I've tempted fate too many times, I just KNOW that Darwin is waiting for me....

[Erni]

Tightened up the ones on my MILs garage. Watch the videos, buy the 1/2" bars, mark them with tape so you know when inserted right, get the right wrench. Not much force on the bars when garage is down. More complex to replace since you need to take the bar off, csbles, etc. But thats just me.

[brutal]

Nope nope nope.....

https://youtu.be/hrUIN6hClB4

Gimme a freakin break.

Two bars inserted properly and used with caution, this is a reasonably safe DIY. By all means, if you're not comfortable performing a simple mechanical task, hire it out.

How many garage door "professionals" are injured doing this?