Adjusting a Garage Door 

Great video! My partner's door whooshes up like a rocket now. One tip: If you're going to do this without a helper standing by (not advised), have a spare 4mm Allen key in your pocket....in case you drop the one in your hand as you're trying to lock off the newly-tensioned spring. Don't ask me how I know this.

I just moved the the UK from the USA, and the garage door at the new house wasn't functional. I ordered the parts and watched a few videos since the instructions that came with the kit weren't any good. I had some issues and then found this video. I'm happy to report that my garage door is now functioning as it should. Thanks very much for including all the steps necessary to tension the spring.

Scratching my head in how I would make the cable stretch an extra inch to re-attach to the holder and your video was the answer, many thanks.

Fantastic video David. This was just what I needed for me to be able to sort out my 50 year old Henderson door. Thanks

Did the job this morning. For the first time since I bought the house - 22 years ago - my door now opens just like your's! Thank you.

The amount of skin I have taken off my knuckles trying to replace the cones and cables, then trying to retention the spring😭 You don’t know how happy Iam with your videos 😂😂😂 Thanks 👍👍👍

Great video Dave, thanks very much. I watched this both before and after changing a cable on a Cardale door and found that the two holes on the right did not line up laterally so had to use a thinner pin to lock it off. My door tensioning nut was not wide enough to take 2 x 22mm spanners so I had to use a mole grip to keep the tension on. The nut on the right on my door was on the outside of the pulley and plastic, unfortunately the nut was distorting when the spanner was applied so I had to get my partner to put a 22 mm spanner on the other end until I got the two holes lined up to lock it off. Good job, no waffle, no fancy music and no embarrassing special effects, appreciate your effort.

brilliant guide, my garage door is exactly the same, I managed to completely mess the runners up and had to pull the wires off to shut the garage door. (it was cold and late and I didn't have the mental energy to work out how to fix it) I watched this video and then in the morning came back and re-tightened the whole thing. for anyone wanting to know, mine was completely unwound. I did approx 40 half turns and it could still do with another 10 or so I reckon.

This video is an uncomplicated and accurate guide to adjusting the tension of a garage door. It helped us out of a jam, thank you.

From all the videos on RU-vid explaining the very same thing, yours is the best. Thank you.

Thanks David, just saved me the cost of a new door by showing me how to fix it myself!

Spot on, thank you. The garage door I thought we ere going to have to replace has had a new lease of life.

Had to fix a cable on my door today that had lost tension. This was very helpful.

That was a very helpful video. Our garage door has never had any adjustments in 36 years. So with one of the cables breaking, now is the time to replace both cables and put the tension back so it takes the door further up than the 2 feet it has been doing up until now. Thanks very much.

Thanks for putting your videos on it was so helpful and allowed me to retension the springs and also change the cables.

This video has been a massive help. Thought my doors were broken until I watched this. Thank you.

Thank you very much for a life saver video, lol 😂 I did get a bit upset and constantly looking at your combat jacket and not being able to see the tensioner, however I get the jist so u are forgiven 👍👌 cheers

Thanks for this, worked a treat’

Looked everywhere for a video as easy as this. Explains a lot, as to why I'm having problems with mine. Mine wouldnt open tidy, as to looking at what problem was, I didn't notice this at the time but that spring grub nut was all loose on mine. I take it the door is knkrd now

Very helpful, one of my cables snapped and have to replace them. Been looking everywhere for a good tutorial on ensuring the spring has tension.

Excellent...thanks very much, saved me spending over £800 on a roller door,

Thank you very much David your video helped me sorting my door and saved me money All the best pal 👍

My mechanism is exactly the same as yours, so ordered a kit with cables, the bobbins didnt have the plastic nut on the end, but mole grips on metal bar fixed that problem, thanks

Thanks for your really helpful guide. All sorted now.

Excellent vid, thank you

Exactly what i needed to know - Thank you

You make it look easy. I'm confident from watching your vids that mine will be a success. Thank you.

Great easy to understand video many thanks

Great, informative video. My garage door (Henderson) differed slightly, but the principals as described here were exactly the same. Very good advice also regarding keeping full tension at all times on the torsion spring !!!

Thanks David. This was really useful.

Very good explanation

Great video. Well explained. Cheers David

Cheers mate Fitted extra weight to my up n over, and it wouldn’t stay up. Looked at a few vids and yours was the one I could follow, as I’m a monkey see monkey do type of guy, this was spot on, done it as you said..door stays up. Nice one 👍🏻

Very good instruction, I didn't know it was so easy. Can you advise howto change the rollers, many thanks

thank you, my cable just snapped on one side and, I was in a panic, especially after one opening, the door was off the rails. your Videos have been really informative and bought a kit to completely fix the door. Thanks again

Super video - just what I need as my garage door needs lifting to open and comes down by itself in wind

Super video...really intelligently produced and to the point. Just the ticket! Thank you very much. NoAxe

Great wee video, appreciate you taking the time, helped a lot.Thx

Brilliant, very useful, thanks 👍

Excellent! thank you for showing how to do this 👍

You made that look easy. This will be a nightmare in reality for me.

Hi. I am hoping that you can help me. The left wire has come off of the cone and needs to go round one more time to match the other side. I can unhook it and wind it round but then cannot physically get it back down over the roller again. The wires were only replaced 6 months ago. How can I release the tension to allow myself to wrap it around the cone and then re-tension it? I would really appreciate your help.

Thanks for this David, my door wasn't quite the same but it gave me some good starters. saved my bacon :) going to wander through your other videos they look very up my street. doing a garage conversion soon.

better to use 1 22mm spanner and 1 tommy bar its a lot easier as spanners come in different thicknesses and there not alot of room also never move spring after tightening 1 grub screw because that will create a groove in the spring shaft which means any further adjustment to spring in future could cause spring to snake because when you tension a torsion spring it gets longer and smaller diameter if you grove it it cant move across and will snake, if you do lose tension simply draw a straight chalk line on spring (some springs have this already)as you turn bars or spanners the line turns to coils, turn spring till you count about 26 coils this is average for most doors that size on bigger doors more coils

excellent video thank you , my cable had also broken so i need to try and see if i can fix it?

Nice video with clear instruction. I had to do this once on an identical door after insulating the inside... But I had no idea you were supposed to tension it as much! Thanks for being informative. ;-)

Ah ok, thanks for getting back to me David I’ll let him know what you said😊

Helpful thanks !

Very helpful. Thanks

Used this video to fix mine, so cheers for that👍only thing I did wrong was I used a crappy old shifter instead of a proper spanner, bloody thing slipped amd the spring unwound, jesus it was like a feckin bomb going off😱😂

Cheers matey

Exalent ! Grate Video many thanks .

Cheers !... nice clear video'..Here's an idea for anyone interested.. I covered the torsion spring with a 6' length of plastic guttering... keeps all the muck and dust off the spring.. a couple of screws holds it up,.

nice one mate cheers

excellent clear instructions. Many thanks for posting.

Class video

Really good demo.

Great video thanks, also a good spin after the testing !

Thank you s much for info

Thanks mate . Very helpful.

Brilliant cheers

Thanks for the video nice and easy instructions cheers

Thank you very much, I just understood how to do it after your film 🖒🖒🖒

Thanks bud

Thanks the garage door was blocked up with two 3/4 inch eight by four sheets since 1997 and I took away the sheets and the door won't go up all the way this I am sure will sort out the door not rising THANKS .

If the tension goes completely, is that game over for the door ?

Good job. Why do you say "let the tension off a little" between tightening the grubs.

Hi there. Thank you for the video. I am trying to fix the tension on my garage door but unfortunately I can’t even insert the nail as it’s not going in. When I try to turn the nut up, the cone moves and not the part whole where the nail should go. Any suggestions. Thsnks

Good show !!

great video, like the close up views

First class video thankyou

Cheers, David.

If the tension is fully lost in the spring because it slipped when starting to re tension... do you just turn more (30 times). I

Try as I might I can't get the pin in on the right hand side. I've twisted the bar round a full 360 and still can't find the hole. Is it possible that the bar has moved laterally?

Very helpful, I’ll let you know if this works for me. Thanks!

Okay you fix the one on the right so how do you fix the left one as the wall is in the way.

I had to replace the cables on my door and lost tension. your video was helpful in showing how to re tension the springs.is it a 4mm Allen key to loosen the grub screws?

Hi, great video. Wish I had watched it before I tried to fix my garage door. Can you advise what is should do if both cables are to be replaced (currently not attached to the door) but I didn't take the tension in the spring before letting the cables go? Can I simply retention the spring once I have re attached the cables? I have not touched the spring as yet so have not loosed the grub screws and let any tension go from there. Hope this makes sense.. thanks in advance for any guidance you can offer

Good advice but you could do with an assistant on camera as you unintentionally hide some of your work, it’s all there though 👍

Hi do you have any advice for just moving the garage door so I can put a new frame in as old one is rotten I think I just need to release the tension first

Love the videos David. I have a 30 year old Cardale door. A local fitter has replaced spindles and cables but he couldn't work out how to re-tension the spring. Tightening it resulted in the spring unscrewing itself from the housing. And tightening it the other way seems to result in the bar turning the opposite way than is needed. Is there a special technique to re-tension a Cardale door?

Hi I am tensioning mine but only the left side is tensioning the right is not spooling any ideas?

hi David great informative videos i have just recently acquired the same sort of garage door as you can you (second hand). Could you please tell me if there is supposed to be a pin on the none tightening side (black cone) as i cant seem to turn the cones to rotate to wind up the cable as at the moment there is a screw inserted into the hole. many thanks John

I’ve let the tension go…am I doomed?😱

Hi David, pleased to find your video on this. I had to remove both cables on a Merlin Mk 2 door after one snapped. I have a kit on it's way for £12 from ebay. I watched your other video on replacing cones, do I replace the cable and cones and then just wind all the tension up or wind tension up and then fit cable and cones? Many thanks

great!

If you loose tension can you just re tension the spring again ?

Hi Dave. Good video. I have to replace my wood beam that the spring is fixed to. If I lock off the spring as you showed, at both ends is it ok to remove the spring and door from existing beam and replace the beam?

I need to see how to remove this garage door , safely have you a video on this, as we are going to convert the garage into a pool room.

Thanks for this David,. You have explained very well what I needed to do, as well as why. Unfortunately, my door cables both broke, meaning the spring lost all of its tension, rendering the door useless. After fitting new cones and cables, it was just a matter of pining the bar to stop it rotating, then slackening the Allen screws at the other end and turning the nut anticlockwise until there was sufficient tension back in the spring. It was easy to know how far to tension, as the bar was shiny beneath where the tensioned spring had previously sat. In all it cost me £10 for the parts and it took three hours to fix (I had to free the top brackets, one at a time to get the cones off, due to a tight-fitting door recess) . I wonder what a trade might have charged?!

Thanks Dave, have a beer on me (£5 sent over)👍

I've just moved to a house where the garage door has both wires broken,is it the wires breaking that makes all the tension go in the long spring along the top you were pre-tensioning?

Hi David is there any way you can increase the clearance height of an up and over door? My Son in law needed to put his van in my garage but van was just a bit too high!..thanks

Great Video David, what happens if you are unable to put the pin into the right hand end? I’ve tried to align the holes but as I tighten the spanner the nut just slips not allowing me the chance to align the holes?

Excellent video,I have just replaced both snapped cables on my door, just need to tension them now.any idea roughly how many turns are needed starting from scratch with no tension to full tension on the cables?

I have the same garage door but it opens too fast so I think I should do the opposite loosening rather than tightening. I am wondering how the previous owner has done that?

my garage door opens half way and then gets really heavy and you have to really push it up.......is this what i need to do? thanks for youe helpful video!

Looks like my door does not have a wide enough "nut" to put 2 spanners on it unfortunately. Nice video though.

So when I'm replacing both cones and cables how much tension should I remove and do I then remove both cones when everything is locked in place

My garage door when opened drops at one end. Looks like the wire on the spool is further over on the side that drops. Do I need to follow your tension guide or do I just need to somehow relocate the wire on the spool?