Garage Door Gurus

[craigster59]

I have a bunch of these brackets on my all wood garage door. It was making a lot of creaking and groaning noises. I was checking them and many were very loose from the constant opening and closing, the door is very heavy.

Do you think I can add washers and lock washers or are they supposed to be sort of free floating?

[GH85Carrera]

You can just replace them with better versions.

[cabmandone]

No they shouldn't free float. It looks like in the pic that they had washers on some of the bolts at some point. BTW for the noise I'd use spray white lithium on the hinges and the torsion springs if your door has a torsion spring.

[Evans, Marv]

Yes, I'd replace them. This is one of the things I spray Boeshield T-9 on. It get sprayed on the hinges and the spring every once in a while.

[craigster59]

Thanks guys, that's what I thought.

I've kept them lubed but the twisting of the door must have loosened them up. The door is really heavy with a huge torsion spring above.

Now that I'm retired I keep seeing things out of the corner of my eye that need maintenance. I think I'm just going to start walking around in a tool belt like Schneider from One Day At A Time.

[cabmandone]

How is the balance on the door? By that I mean opener unhooked, raise it to about waist level or so and let go. Does it drop? If so the torsion spring needs adjusted. Doors seem to make more noises when the spring isn't working properly.

[look 171]

Lube the big spring up top. Clean the tracks too. They get dirty

[herr_oberst]

Not an expert. When I moved into my current house, I had the same issue. I snugged up every single one of the hinges, and rollers, ditto on all the nuts and bolts on the tracks, replaced a few rollers that had been roached through time, cleaned and oiled every moving part, replaced the garage door opener with a new one one that i crossed braced with bar stock, and damn if that isn't the smoothest operating garage door on the street.

[sc_rufctr]

I hate to be that guy but...

Would you consider replacing your wooden door with a light weight metal panel version?

Everything would work a whole lot better.

[Scott Douglas]

The best advice I've ever been given about my garage door is this: The opener is only supposed to tell the door if it is supposed to be in the closed position or the open position. It's not supposed to 'lift' the door nor is it supposed to 'push' it down.
Since it's a wooden door you're never going to maintain those bolts tight since the wood will swell when wet, like now when it's raining, and it shrinks when it's hot and being dried out.
I think you're looking at a seasonal tightening of those bolts.
IF the door doesn't stay up by itself if opened half way the spring needs some attention.

[Evans, Marv]

Originally Posted by sc_rufctr

I hate to be that guy but...

Would you consider replacing your wooden door with a light weight metal panel version?

Everything would work a whole lot better.

I was going to have wood doors installed on my garage. A couple of things changed my mind. One was the weight, another was the maintanance of the wood, & another was the insulative value. I chose steel doors with a good texture and color close enough to wood, and with an R value of 17. Wood doors have something like R values of 3 to 5(if I rememver correctly).

[craigster59]

Now that I've looked at it I think I've discovered the problem. I bought the house in 2017 and it had a recent exterior paint.

I'm thinking the painters took the panels apart to paint and neglected to put washers and lock washers back on during reassembly. Just tightening the existing nuts has made a big difference.

It's a 3 car garage and the doors were $$$$. Even the torsion spring was special order when it broke about a year and a half ago. After today's fix it will be a smooth operator.

[Scott Douglas]

I'd invest in some lock nuts not just plain old nuts.

But maybe that's just me.

[craigster59]

Originally Posted by Scott Douglas

I'd invest in some lock nuts not just plain old nuts.

But maybe that's just me.

You know what, that's a great idea. I'll make an HD run this morning.

[URY914]

Originally Posted by craigster59

You know what, that's a great idea. I'll make an HD run this morning.

Can you pick me up a can of gloss black Rustolum please? Thanks.

[Deschodt]

Not addressing the OP (already addressed) but I caved to one of those "new silent nylon wheels" ads on social media for the door... Prior to that I youtubed a video or 2 on maintenance and lubed everything - those hinges OP shows, the main spring, the cables, the motor track, etc. The results were *amazing* in terms of noise reduction. The new wheels (put on later) only added 10% to that. Lube those things !!!

[Scott Douglas]

I recommend using this stuff on those hinges and wheel axles too. I have the nylon wheels as I added them myself when I put in a new opener. My door is really quiet when opening.