How To Balance a Garage Door - Torsion Spring Adjustment - Easy/Clear Instructions

How to Balance a Garage Door. Easy and complete instructions on how to adjust your garage door torsion springs so your door will operate properly. You will learn how to check your door for proper balance so you do not damage your garage door opener. It is very important to maintain your garage door and you can save hundreds of dollars doing it your self.
This task can be dangerous if you are not careful so if you are not comfortable doing it yourself contact a professional to do it for you. Also, it is recommended that you use (hardened steel) torsion bars/rods to adjust springs. These can be purchased at your local hardware store for around $10.

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Disclaimer:
Although I have been following these procedures for many years; I assume no liability for any damage that may occur to any person or property as a result of the information provided in this video. I take necessary precautions (that I am aware of) when working on these projects but that in no way implies or creates any expressed or implied warranty or guarantee of any kind of particular result. Any injury, damage or loss of any kind to anyone or their property or anything related to information in this video is the sole responsibility of the user and not Helping U Online (this video).

Music: Nimbus by Eveningland

[Alycanj]

Been working with rebar for 40 years in construction and I have seen brand new bars and old ones just snap perfectly into for no reason in summer and winter, I would spend the $15 and get a set or hardened steel winding bars. Thank you for a helpful video.

[mikew]

Expertly done video! Gets to the root of how to safely adjust a torsion spring without hurting yourself. Thanks for the great advice!

[kvmaddog]

The reference mark with 1/8 “ gap for allowance of spring relax and not in a binding position is a outstanding helpful hint. 👍🏼

[SgtOli]

Unbelievable!! Great video! Thank you thank you!! My friends who ARE handy told me NOT to do it. NOT being handy like them, but willing to try, I ordered the winding bars from Amazon, saw your video like 10 more times (LOL) got enough courage and with my wife as assistant, we did it.

[roberthare]

Thanks for your excellent video. I do nearly everything myself, but I've stayed away from adjusting springs until I watched your video. The Genie helpline and other sources give the impression that if your door balances at 4 feet your springs aren't the problem, and the motor should be able to lift the door. After several other adjustment misadventures with the door opener, I adjusted the springs, and my door works as it should. I posted a video of my own so others could benefit from my misadventures and referenced your video in my description.

[nheng]

Excellent video. The only one I've seen that moves the end cones out a bit to prevent spring binding and wear.

[MrProfchaos]

Another thing is you don’t grip the door all the way down. You put the grip like 4 inches above the roller which allows you to see if the door comes up off the ground while you are still up there where you can take a quarter turn off or so if it comes up on its own. This also prevents you from getting down on the ground and removing that grip and the door flying open because you put too much tension on the springs

[absparks]

Good to see you using safety equipment (gloves and safety glasses) like you recommended at the beginning of the video

[pituq]

You saved me time and money. My garage cable came off this morning. I followed your instructions and got it fixed. Thanks a million.

[k-samdj]

I appreciate this video and all the comments. I had to replace the nylon gear in my 1/2 hp Linear last December and it just broke again. I do not want to just change out the great without finding out why it keeps tearing up.
This video will help me, thanks.

[richmondkelly]

I adjusted both of my garage doors today.
They were both under wound, making the opener strain to open the door.
One door took a full wind and the other only needed 3/4 of a turn.
It doesn't sound like much, but the difference was readily apparent!
I bought my Premium winding sticks at Amazon for $13.99 which were zinc plated and had knurling on the handles.

[stevenfaulkner]

Saved me a cool 200 dollars. Garage door opener's middle rail was bending and not closing. Turned out the spring was way to tight and needed to be loosened. Never knew the garage door should be easy to open and close manually. Oddly, one side of the spring was tighter than the other. Tested my adjustments by manually opening and closing the door.

[chriskipfer]

Thumbs up especially for adding step to keep springs from binding.

[cmiamt]

I have a two door garage that needed adjustment as they were never adjusted correctly. This video was informative as I was able get them both rigged properly in good time. I was tempted to use rebar but decided to use hardened steel rods. Overall this video was excellent 👍🏽

[tonithomas]

Thanks! You convinced me never to try this at home after experiencing the full weight of my garage doors with the lifting cables disconnected. Professional help needed for sure.

[arambol]

I looked at the tensioner setup. Figured out what i needed to do. Almost jumped right into it but realized there is a lot of energy stored in that spring. Glad I took the time to look at your vid. Now i know I'm going to do it without the chance of getting hurt. Thanks bro'

[milesburkitt]

Great Video, I have a door that was slightly damaged and I added a box section of aluminium at the bottom of the last Panel to straighten it. Consequently the door became unbalanced! Because I am in my mid 70s, I decided to call a professional to do the adjustment of the spring as I considered for my age that this job could be a bit on the dangerous side! Your video gave me good insight!

[emirouribe]

Thank you so much for posting this. I adjusted my springs with no problem. Your instructions were clear and accurate and I appreciate the safety tips. I followed exactly step by step and it worked out nicely.

[sylviabreau]

Great tip on the mark to prevent binding of the spring; only place I've seen that tip. Replacing broken spring, + a second new one, 7 have watched a lot of vids about the process. After adjusting the springs, can't emphasize enough to make the adjustment bars as long as will work. It's a serious workout when you get to the last 25% of the turns! I can hardly type, right now. Just finished, and the recommended turns were not enough to balance the door.

Think I'll wait 'til tomorrow to get back at it, give my arms & shoulders a break, first.

Thanks for sharing your knowledge.

[spokesdog]

Thank you. Just had this done and the tech, who was experienced, wanted to level the doors and in adjusting the spring broke it. I do not believe he loosened the set screws. He then charged me to replace the spring.