Extreme (-ly minor) Garage Makeover

I'm lucky enough to have a decent sized garage. The doors are 9'x8' and the ceilings are 10.5' high. Unfortunately, the open door and the traditional garage door opener cut into all that overhead space.

A few weeks ago, I learned of the existence of high lift conversion kits and wall mounted jackshaft door openers. After a little research, I ordered one of each. The high lift conversion kit brings the open door and rails closer to the ceiling, and the wall mounted opener will eliminate the standard opener that was hanging from the ceiling.

This isn't rocket surgery, but it's not the kind of project that you're going to learn about in a 30 minute seminar on Saturday morning at Home Depot either.

I began by removing the old door operator, which was a piece of cake. Then I released the tension on the torsion spring. I read at least dozen warnings on how dangerous this is and why you should not do it yourself. I did it myself and it wasn't a lot of fun. You have been warned. Don't do this!.

With the spring now safe, I removed the torsion bar, then the horizontal tracks and set about raising the framework and mounting pad for the new assembly.

I folded the top panel down in order to get better access to the framing. I cut out the old wood and some of the sheetrock and then I extended the frame work to the ceiling.

The kit was made up of two short track extensions, a bunch of brackets, nuts and bolts, two new springs, two pulleys and longer cables. There were no instructions. There are tutorials online that were made by the company that I bought the kit from, but the photos showed the pieces fully assembled out of the box. Mine were not and the photos were so small that you couldn't really see how all of the brackets were orientated. The only truly helpful information in the box was the markings on the track extensions.

After a lot of head scratching, I was able to figure out what needed to go where. It's important to note that there are a few holes stamped in the track extensions from the factory. It's easy to get confused by thinking that you will be using those to mount the brackets. You will actually be drilling a bunch of holes. If you look at your existing door setup, it will help. I could have run the large wall brackets up to the bearing plates, but then I would have needed to do some cutting to get everything to work together.

Next, I reinstalled the horizontal track. It hangs much higher and slightly further to the back of the garage. I also moved the bearing plates up, drilled some more holes and mounted them to the wall and to the old brackets for the horizontal track. It was a little tricky figuring out where to mount them in order to keep everything in the same plane.

I loosely assembled the new springs and winding drums on the old torsion shaft and then mounted it to the wall.

Tomorrow, I'll shorten the hangers for the rear of the horizontal track, add the new cables, wind the springs (Do Not Do This!), and get started on the new door operator.

Woody wrote: Tomorrow, I'll add the new cables, wind the springs (Do Not Do This!), and get started on the new door operator.

be safe

I just had the Overhead door guys out last week. I pay them to fix the broken ones.

They quoted me $1200 to do the high lift conversion and install the operator.

So, what's the trick to winding/unwinding the springs safe(ish)ly?

http://ddmgaragedoors.com/diy-instructions/replace-garage-door-torsion-springs.php

I was charged $150 to replace the springs that lifted my old 2" wooden double door. Worth every penny.

Awesome write-up, looking forward to the rest. Thanks for posting it. Most of us could use extra overhead room in the garage.

I did that exact same thing last year - winding springs is not bad. Two pipes and keep your chin out of the way. It's like a lethal bumper jack from the 70's.

The extra space is awesome. The opener is super quiet. I can highly recommend a Liftmaster 8500 if you have not already bought one.

I just recently replaced a broken door spring..."was not fun" is an understatement. Theres easily as much sphincter-puckering in that activity as there would be driving a Daytona prototype at 11/10ths in the Himalayas.

In reply to 4cylndrfury:

Woody's a fireman. The sort of person who chops holes in the roof of a burning building while standing on the thing. I'm sure he isn't afeared of anything as mundane as being bludgeoned to death by flying pipes.

Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote: The extra space is awesome. The opener is super quiet. I can highly recommend a Liftmaster 8500 if you have not already bought one.

UPS left one in the driveway yesterday.

Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote: In reply to 4cylndrfury: Woody's a fireman. The sort of person who chops holes in the roof of a burning building while standing on the thing. I'm sure he isn't afeared of anything as mundane as being bludgeoned to death by flying pipes.

More significantly, Woody is cheap.

The mere thought of giving money to other people makes me chafe.

Give it to the garage installers or give it to your dentist.

You call it.

Springs have been successfully wound without injury.

In reply to Woody:

Good to hear-- any long gap in communication at this point in the process might be cause for concern.

ok, I'm missing something. So where's the wall mounted opener? Is it in the foward wall above the door? The liftmaster site shows an opener at the side of the spring.

Just installed it today. More photos to come.

I spent a good chunk of time yesterday setting the new torsion springs. It's not especially difficult, but it is dangerous and very stressful.

You add tension to the springs a quarter turn at a time. I was instructed to set the springs to nine an a half turns, or thirty eight quarter turns per spring.

In the interest of safetyishness, I placed a ten foot 2x4 against the wall, above the brackets and below the springs. This made it easier to get my hands off the bars and also saved my sheetrock. In retrospect, this was more than just a good idea; I wouldn't have been able to get the job done without it.

I wasn't able meet all the criteria in the tutorial. It said that the springs should be loaded such that the door stays closed on its own, open half way, and fully open. It also says that you can reduce the spring tension, but no more than two quarter turns. If I adjusted it to stay closed, it would not stay fully open and worse, it would come crashing down with just a little pressure. At a full nine and a half turns, the door would shoot up far too quickly. Eventually, I settled on nine turns. The door goes up easily and stays up. The door opener actually pushes the door down against moderate spring pressure.

This seemed like as good a time as any to shorten the hangers for the horizontal track. I could have gone as far as shortening the track itself by a foot or so, but at this point, I don't think it will really be in the way.

I was finally ready to mount the Liftmaster door operator. It's really small, but it has some weight to it.

Installation couldn't have been easier. It mounts to the door frame with a single bracket and to the end of the spring shaft. It doesn't even touch the wall. You also need to mount the automatic electric lock, the cable tension monitor and the electric eye safety things. I probably spent as much time running the wires and stapling them in place as I did installing the hardware. All I have left to do is to permanently mount the controller and clean up the wiring a bit.

Not only have I gained nineteen inches of overhead space, but the opener is amazingly quiet. I saved $600 doing the job myself. It wasn't exactly a piece of cake, but I suspect that it's something that most GRM'ers can handle on their own, as long as the task is approached cautiously.

Much cleaner! I have a lower ceiling in my garage and had to go with a "low clearance" setup, which disallowed the big torsion spring and shaft, and has the cable wire thingy going to a longer coil spring that runs along the top track. I've got maybe 3-4" clearance there if I remember correctly. It's an 8' ceiling with a 7' tall door I believe.

That looks great!

The new motor is much smaller than I would have thought. Do you think that the motor is able to handle a double width door?

The motor really doesn't have to work all that hard. The springs do the lifting.

Ah, got it!

After living with this setup for a little over a week, I have grown to hate my other garage door openers. I just ordered another Liftmaster 8500.