Garage Door Springs
Garage Door Torsion Springs
Installers secure torsion springs to a metal shaft above the garage door. Depending on the system, the shaft may pass through the middle of the springs or spring, or the shaft may sometimes house the spring. If the shaft passes through the middle of the torsion spring, the spring may be mounted in the middle of the shaft or on the end of the shaft by the outside edge of the garage door.
Torsion springs have three characteristics that determine the lift and cycle life. These properties are the wire size, inside diameter and length. The lift, which is determined by the torque of the spring, tells how much weight the spring can lift. The cycle life tells how many times the garage door should open and close before the spring breaks.
Standard Torsion Springs
Standard torsion springs lead as the most common torsion springs in the garage door industry.
Residential garage doors typically utilize either one or two springs. On a lighter garage door, one spring will suffice. In that case, the torsion spring may be mounted to the spring anchor bracket in the middle of the shaft above the garage door. Other times, the spring has an offset mount, meaning that technicians do not mount the spring anchor bracket above the center of the garage door.
If two torsion springs supply lift for the garage door, they are typically mounted to the spring anchor bracket above the middle of the garage door. Having two springs on the garage door tends to make it safer, especially if one spring breaks when the door is open. The other spring will then keep the garage door from falling and injuring a person or causing damage to the garage door or other property.
Does your door use standard torsion springs? Go to our Standard Torsion Spring page to learn more and to order new springs.
Commercial and Industrial garage doors typically have at least two torsion springs. Many of these doors use four or more torsion springs in one of four setups: linear, duplex, triplex, or mixed.
Linear System: Two springs installed on the left side of this garage door, with two other springs on the right side as well.
Duplex System: On the left of this picture is the shaft with a bearing and the spring anchor bracket. The end of the wire on both torsion springs hooks into the stationary cones.
The triplex system functions very similarly to the duplex system. In this setup, there are two torsion springs inside the outer spring.
The mixed system, as you guessed, features a combination of the linear system and the duplex/triplex system. Mixed systems employ more than one set of duplex or triplex springs on each half of the garage door. This becomes an option for installers when the garage door shaft measures long enough to accommodate multiple springs. If one of these garage doors weighs very heavy, it is sometimes a better option to have multiple pairs of duplex springs sets on the garage door.
Users of the duplex and triplex systems, however, often find it difficult to detect a possible broken inner spring.
Since commercial industrial doors tend to weigh more, the torsion springs used in these settings usually have a larger inside diameter and wire size than residential torsion springs.
Does your door use standard torsion springs? Go to our Standard Torsion Spring page to learn more and to order new springs.
EZ-Set Torsion Springs
Clopay EZ-Set Torsion Spring System: The white plastic shaft retainer holds the shaft next to the cable drum, which sits next to the winder.
As with standard residential torsion springs, typically one or two springs fit on the shaft. While most two-car garages will have two EZ-Set torsion springs and single-car garages only one spring, this does not always hold true. Some lighter 2-car garage doors only have one EZ-Set torsion spring. In this case, the spring is usually mounted on the left side of the garage door.
Clopay EZ-Set shaft support bracket.
Double-car garage doors, with either one spring or two springs, will have a center support bracket (pictured). Single car garage doors will not have this bracket--typically nothing supports the shaft in the middle.
Does your door use EZ-Set torsion springs? Go to our EZ-Set Torsion Spring page to learn more and to order new aftermarket springs.
TorqueMaster Torsion Springs
Wayne Dalton's unique design for their TorqueMaster torsion spring assembly.
The TorqueMaster spring comes equipped with a winding cone on the opposite end which extends past the end of the shaft and passes through the cable drum. The winding cone fits inside a special winder, which allows the torsion spring to be wound with an electric drill.
Wayne Dalton's special center bracket.
The center of the shaft has a circular piece that fits on the center support bracket. When the garage door opens, the circular piece rotates with the shaft and remains on the center bracket.
Steel Rolling Door Torsion Springs
Steel rolling doors are not made of sections like most garage doors. Instead, they join together by interlocking slats, which allow the door a greater range of mobility as it opens. With the extra mobility available, the rising garage door wraps securely around a barrel.
Inside this barrel sits a torsion spring. The spring helps the door to open and close so that you do not need to lift the whole door weight. The barrel remains closed on both ends, so you cannot see the torsion spring inside. While many doors only have one spring, some heavier steel rolling doors use multiple springs to help lift the extra door weight.
The barrel comes equipped with two head plates, located on both sides. Two pieces of shaft pass through a bearing in the head plates and into the barrel. Inside the barrel, the shaft gains support with idler brackets. These brackets are secured to the barrel with pins or screws.
The shaft supports the torsion springs. One of the idler brackets serves as a spring anchor bracket to anchor the torsion spring. The other end of the spring typically has a cone that is secured to the shaft with setscrews, though some springs have a special loop at the end that is secured to the barrel with a rod.
One side of the steel rolling door has a winding unit. A piece of angle secured to the head plate holds a bolt that rests inside the winder. When you insert a winding bar in another hole in the winding unit, you can lift the bolt to turn the shaft, and thus wind the spring. A sprocket assembly connects to the shaft on the other side of the barrel. Installers typically attach an opener or a chain hoist to this assembly to assist you in opening the door.
Do you have a steel rolling door? Go to our Steel Rolling Door Torsion Springs page to learn more and to order new springs.
One-Piece Curtain Door Torsion Springs
Self-storage locations make use of single-piece curtain doors. These doors were manufactured by Trac-Rite
Mini-warehouse doors feature a distinct characteristic - the curtain consists of a single piece. Steel rolling doors use interlocking slats to form the curtain, while mini-warehouse doors employ single-piece curtains. As the door opens, the curtain wraps around the axle (on most other doors, this is called the shaft). Therefore, all one-piece curtain doors can be called roll-up doors or steel rolling doors.
The end of the torsion springs on one-piece curtain roll-up doors is secured to one of the drums. The special spring ends wrap around a bolt which fastens to the drum.
The other end of the torsion spring secures to the door bracket just to the outside of the door. The axle passes through this bracket, through the middle of the torsion spring, and through the drums.
Some manufacturers, such as Janus International and Trac-Rite, make doors with a special tension adjustment wheel, while doors by other manufacturers such as DCBI do not have this special adjustment tool. Typically, the springs on curtain doors without tension adjusters are visible when the door is open. Those with tension adjusters tend to have a steel wrapping around the drums, hiding the springs from view.
Garage Door Extension Springs
Extension springs install on the sides of the garage door. A metal shaft does not run through the length of each spring. To provide more safety, some door users supply a cable which runs through each of the springs.
Most residential garage doors only have two extension springs - one on each side of the door. Commercial doors, however, can have multiple springs installed on each side.
Extension springs have either looped ends or special clips in the end of the springs. This allows the spring to be hooked and attached to a part that secures the spring to the door and to the garage frame.
Sectional Garage Door Extension Springs
Sectional garage door extension springs are the most common extension springs in the American garage door industry. These springs stretch nearly horizontally over the tracks on each side of the door, running parallel to the side of the opened garage door.
The back end of the extension spring connects to an open-eye bolt, which connects in turn to angle iron or the garage frame. This spring uses a wire as a safety cable.
The other end of the extension spring connects to a pulley with a pulley fork.
While one end of the cable attaches to the bottom fixture, the other end attaches to a cable clip. An S-hook secures this clip to the track.
Commercial and industrial overhead doors have an extension setup very similar to residential garage doors. On heavier doors, there may be a special kit that connects the ends of multiple extension springs. This allows two or more springs to be stretched simultaneously on each side of the garage door.
Not all commercial and industrial garage doors have this setup installed. Some still just use one extension spring on each side. For the most part, though, the rest of the system functions the same as with residential doors. Pulleys supply lift in both types, though commercial pulleys tend to be a lot stronger and capable of lifting heavier doors without premature breakage.
Do you have sectional garage door extension springs? Go to our Sectional Garage Door Extension Springs page to learn more and to order new springs.
One-Piece Garage Door Extension Springs
Just as the name implies, One-piece garage doors operate as one big piece. When the door opens, the top moves inside of the garage (sometimes on a track), while the bottom of the door rises outside of the garage. Since the door moves both toward the inside and outside of the garage, it becomes much harder to use weatherstripping on the doors. As a result, most one-piece garage doors are installed in locations less prone to harsh weather.
One-piece garage door systems use extension springs to help lift the door. These doors typically use one or two extension springs on each side of the door, for a total of 2 or 4 springs on the door.
The bottom end of each spring system secures to the frame of the garage. The springs stretch upward, nearly perpendicular to the garage floor. The other end of the spring attaches to a lever arm. The lever arm is attached to the garage door. As you open the door, the extension spring loses some of its stretch and shortens in length.
Do you have one piece garage door extension springs? Go to our One piece garage door extension springs page to learn more and to order new springs.
