Garage door cable repair is needed when a lift cable frays, snaps or slips off its drum and the door starts hanging crooked. NovaLift Garage Doors repairs lift cables for homeowners in Hollywood and across South Florida.
Cables are under high tension. Don't pull on a loose cable or touch the bottom brackets. Leave the door where it is and keep people and cars clear of it.
A steel lift cable runs up each side of the door. At the bottom, each one attaches to a bottom bracket on the lowest panel. At the top of a torsion system, it wraps around a grooved drum on the spring shaft. As the springs unwind, the drums turn and the cables pull the door up evenly.
Both cables have to share the load. If one frays, stretches or jumps off its drum, that side stops lifting properly and the door tilts. A tilted door can bind in the track and pull rollers loose, which is how a cable problem sometimes turns into an off-track door.
On a torsion system, the cables wind onto drums at each end of the shaft above the door. The springs turn the shaft and the drums take up the cable as the door rises.
A common failure is a cable that goes slack and slips off its drum, often after a spring breaks or the door comes down on something.
On an extension system, the cable runs over pulleys tied to the springs along the ceiling, then down to the bottom bracket.
A worn or seized pulley can wear through the cable over time. Fraying near a pulley is a warning sign worth taking seriously.
Cables rarely fail on their own. What caused the problem usually matters as much as the cable itself.
A broken spring often leaves a cable slack or off its drum. When one fails, the other deserves a look too.
A cable is many thin wires twisted together. Rust and broken strands near the bottom bracket are common signs it is losing strength.
Both sides have usually carried the same load for the same time. Depending on their condition, it may be worth asking about both.
When the door is closed, the bracket where the cable meets the lowest panel is loaded by the springs. Loosening it can cause serious injury.
One cable has usually lost tension, slipped off its drum or snapped. Sometimes a roller has jammed on one side instead. Either way, running a crooked door can bend panels and track.
It isn't safe. Putting a cable back means working against spring tension, and the drum and bottom bracket can release with serious force.
Normal wear, rust, a worn pulley or drum, or a cable rubbing on the track or door edge. A cable that has jumped the drum can also kink.
Leave the door as it is and tell us which side sits low. You can also email [email protected].
