How To Adjust A Garage Door Spring & Cables [Step By Step Guide]

Whether you use it to keep your car indoors or for storage, a garage is a great convenience. From time to time, you may need to work on your garage door, but how do you adjust the springs and cables? We've researched this topic to bring you a comprehensive guide.

If you ever come home and find the garage doors in need of an adjustment, understand that there are certain steps that one must follow. As such, follow this guide when you're planning on repairing it yourself:

1. Prepare the tools and equipment, including an adjustable wrench, C-clamps, and safety gear
2. Find side-mounted springs and torsion springs
3. Diagnose the issue by monitoring the springs as the door opens and closes
4. Clamp the garage door open and relieve the tension from the springs
5. Adjust the spring tension by hooking it into different holes along the track
6. Test The Garage Door

In this article, you will learn what to do in each step of the guide so that you can repair the garage door springs and cables with ease and in a safe manner. Not only that, but you will also learn how much it costs to repair the garage door springs and cables, and what common garage door cable problems you need to be aware of. So, continue reading if you wish to find out more.

How To Adjust Garage Door Spring And Cables?

For you to start working on adjusting your garage door spring and cables, you must understand what each step requires in this guide. This will help ensure a safe working environment while making the necessary adjustments:

Prepare The Necessary Tools/Equipment

Before you start working on your garage door, you must prepare all the necessary tools, equipment, and safety gear that you will need. These include a pair of safety goggles, a hard hat, a sturdy ladder that will support you properly, an adjustable wrench, a pair of safety gloves, a marker, and a pair of C clamps.

These are just the basic tools that anyone will need when it comes to adjusting the spring and cables of a garage door. You can also prepare some extra springs and cables if necessary.

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Identify The Springs

After preparing the tools and equipment that you will need, it's time to take a closer look at your garage door springs. Most garage doors use one of two types of springs.

The first of the two is the side-mounted extension springs. These are located on either side of the garage door and they are parallel to the track. Because of this, they're quite simple to adjust since they are located in an easy-to-reach place.

Torsion springs are the second type of spring commonly found in garage doors. They are located above the garage door, running parallel to the top of it. As such, these springs are much harder to adjust compared to its counterpart.

Check What's The Issue

Before you start making any adjustments, it's best to identify what the problem is with your garage door. To do that, you need to check how the garage door opens and closes.

If your garage door barely opens and closes or moves erratically, then simply adjusting the springs and cables will help solve the issue. But if you notice that there's a snapped cable or something similar, then it's best to call in a professional to help remedy the problem.

Relieve Garage Door Spring Tension

Now comes the part where you need to relieve the tension from the garage door spring. To do this, it's best to keep the garage door open fully before clamping down either side with a C clamp to the track.

Afterward, use the ladder so that you have access to the cables atop. From there, you can easily remove the tension from the springs by hooking them into different holes.

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Adjust The Spring And Cable Tension

Next, it's time to adjust the tension on the springs and cables. To do this, simply move the spring to any hole on the garage track. This stretches the spring to help increase or decrease the tension of the garage door.

If you wish to increase the tension of the garage door, simply hook the spring into a higher hole on the garage track. For the opposite, move the spring to a lower hole on the garage track. And if you wish to adjust the tension on the sides of the garage door, simply hook the cable into one of the holes on the hanger, adjusting it slightly to help increase or decrease the tension that you want.

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Test The Garage Door

Lastly, it's time to check the garage door if you're happy with the repair. Adjust the springs when necessary until you achieve the desired result.

During this time, it's best to add plenty of lubricant to the springs and cables as well. Doing this helps improve their efficiency.

Is It Simple To Adjust The Garage Door's Springs And Cables?

When it comes to adjusting the tension of your garage door's springs and cables, it will only take you a few hours just as long as you're following the necessary guide. If not, you might end up hurting yourself or worse, get into an accident that will land you at the hospital.

However, when it comes to replacing the springs, it's best to call a professional rather than do it yourself. More specifically, the replacement of extension springs is a tough job to do on your own without prior knowledge and experience.

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How Much Does It Cost To Repair The Garage Door's Spring And Cables?

On average, it costs around $250 to repair the springs and cables of your garage door. It can go as high as $350 though in some cases, depending on the issue that your garage door is facing.

However, if all you need to do is to adjust the springs and cables, then doing it by yourself will save you close to $200, depending on where you live. But in places where there are barely any repair shops around, you'll probably save only around $50 by doing the work yourself. So, it's best to do your due research and inquire about the prices that are available in your neighborhood first before trying to do anything on your own.

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What Are The Common Garage Door Cable Problems?

In this section, you will learn what are some of the most common garage door problems that you need to be aware of when it comes to the springs and cables. By learning to differentiate each one, you'll be able to assess whether you need to call a professional or if you can do it yourself:

Little To No Movement

When your garage door is barely opening or closing, then it's highly like that there is a problem with its components. Sometimes, this issue is all about the lack of lubrication. However, there are times when it's a far bigger issue than you initially thought.

Usually, it's best to call in a professional to take a look. Refrain from trying to check what's wrong or doing the repair yourself. You could easily hurt yourself if things go south.

Erratic Movement

Usually, any unevenness that you see is due to misalignment. This causes the garage door to open and close erratically, with one side higher or lower than the other.

Resolving this is quite easy. All you need to do is adjust the springs and cables. It's one of the few springs and cable repairs that a homeowner can do without professional help.

Just as long as you follow the steps provided earlier in this article, this is not much of an issue. Not only that, it's a common garage problem that happens to almost anyone. As such, seeking professional help is not that costly.

Snapped Cables

One thing you need to look out for are cables about to snap. In some cases, your garage door is only hanging by one after one of the cables snapped. Letting this issue persist is dangerous as it can cause unwanted accidents in your home.

Seeking professional help is a must in this situation. Don't try to repair this yourself as the garage door can fall on top of you. Or worse, the whole system comes crashing down with you below it.

To Wrap Up

When it comes to any repair, the first thing that you must always remember is to prepare the necessary tools and equipment that you will need. After that, you need to learn what kind of springs your garage door uses before doing any adjustments.

Once you identify the problem, you can start relieving the tension from the cable so that you can start making adjustments. Then, it's time to test the garage door, making sure that you're happy with the adjustments and tweaks made.

Did you find what you were looking for in this article? If so, consider checking the links below. These discuss other garage door problems at home that could happen to you:

How Often To Lubricate The Garage Door?

How To Open Garage Door Manually From Outside?