Richland Hills, Tarrant County
Broken Spring Replacement in Richland Hills, TX
We look for the gap first. A broken torsion spring has a clean two or three inch separation somewhere along the coil and the halves sit apart on the shaft. Then we measure wire size, inside diameter and length, check it against the door weight, and show you those numbers in Richland Hills before anything goes on.
- Emergency and same-day repairs
- 5.0 from 10 reviews
- Upfront pricing, no hidden fees
- Free estimates
What the spring is actually doing up there
The torsion spring sits on a steel shaft above the opening. When it gets installed, it gets wound a set number of turns, usually around seven and a half on a seven foot door. That twist is stored energy. Cables run from drums on each end of the shaft down to brackets at the bottom corners of the door. Closing the door winds the spring tighter. Opening it lets the spring unwind and pull those cables. The whole design is a trade: the spring's torque cancels out the door's weight. That is why a 200 pound door lifts with about ten pounds of hand effort when everything is right.
Why this is the job we tell people to stay off of
The broken spring is not the danger. It already let go. The danger is everything else still loaded. On a two spring door, the other spring is still fully wound. Both bottom brackets are still under the full pull of that counterbalance, which is exactly why the factory puts a warning label on them. Winding a torsion spring takes steel winding bars seated in the cone holes. Wrong size bar, loose set screw, or a hand slipping, and the bar comes out at speed with hundreds of pounds behind it. Emergency rooms see these. They are hand, wrist, face and teeth injuries. People use screwdrivers and rebar because that is what is in the garage, and that is how most of it happens.
Torsion and extension springs are two different systems
Torsion springs sit on a shaft above the door. That is what most doors built in the last few decades use. Extension springs run along the horizontal tracks on both sides, stretch when the door closes, and pull back to help lift it. Plenty of older and lighter doors still have them. Here is the part that matters: an extension spring needs a safety cable run through the middle of it and anchored at both ends. Without that cable, a spring that snaps becomes a length of steel whipping across your garage. If your door has extension springs and no safety cables, we will put them in. They are cheap.
Broken Spring Replacement for Richland Hills homes
An almost entirely 1950s-60s city of compact brick ranches with attached single garages, where original 8-foot wood doors are still being replaced with insulated steel.
We cover ZIP code 76118.
Anywhere around Richland Hills Community Center is a short run for us.
Richland Hills sits in Tarrant County with a population of about 8,546.
Please do not attempt this one yourself
That spring is still loaded even with the door down. People get badly hurt trying to unwind one with the wrong tools. Leave the door shut, do not pull the release, and call us.
What you are probably seeing
- Door goes up crooked with one side behind the other.
- Top panel flexes or bends when the opener pulls on it.
- Cables have gone slack or jumped off the drums.
- Gaps between coils on a spring that has not broken yet, or rust pits in the coil.
- A loud bang from the garage, and the door worked fine right up until then.
Richland Hills service
Call (214) 831-2545 or request a visit.
The visit
How a Richland Hills call runs
Confirm it and secure the door
We find which spring broke, check whether the other one is still loaded, and clamp or block the door so it cannot move while we work. Opener stays disconnected the whole time.
Measure the door and the old springs
Wire diameter, inside diameter, length and wind direction come off the existing springs, and we establish what the door weighs. That decides the replacement. Not a visual match.
Unwind and strip it
Any leftover tension comes off with proper winding bars, cables come off the drums, old springs come off the shaft. We check the bearings, drums and shaft while we can actually see them.
New pair, wound to the right turn count
Both springs go on. Cables get set in the drums with equal tension so the door lifts square. Springs get wound to the turns this door needs, not to a default number.
Balance by hand, then reset the opener
Door gets lifted by hand and checked at several heights to make sure it holds position. Then the opener goes back on, travel and force get reset, and we test the safety reverse.
On the job
Broken Spring Replacement in the field
Questions
Broken Spring Replacement in Richland Hills
Why do both springs have to go?
Same install date, same cycle count, so the second one is close behind the first. And springs get sized as a pair against the door weight, so a new one next to an old one never balances the door right through its travel. Doing it once costs less than doing it twice.
How long will the new springs last?
Take the cycle rating and divide by how many times a day you open the door. A standard 10,000 cycle spring is four to five years at six openings a day, or about fourteen years at two. If your house is on the heavy end, ask about high cycle springs at 20,000 or more. The price difference is small next to a second replacement.
Can I get my car out before you arrive?
Sometimes, carefully, with help. With the opener released the door weighs everything it weighs, often over 200 pounds on a double. Two adults can usually manage it. Block it open with something solid, never with a person holding it, while the car comes out. Do not run the opener, because that is how a spring job turns into a spring, cable and opener job.
Did I break it?
No. Springs fail from metal fatigue after a counted number of cycles, and they usually go on a cold morning because the steel is less forgiving then. The two things that actually shorten spring life are a spring undersized for the door at install and rust pitting on the coil. Neither one is about how you use the door.
Do you have springs on the truck?
The common residential wire sizes and lengths, yes, so most jobs get done on the first visit. Unusual sizes, very heavy custom doors, and some high cycle setups occasionally have to be ordered. If yours is one of those, you hear it at the diagnosis, not later.
Nearby
Also serving around Richland Hills
Talk to a technician now
Broken Spring Replacement in Richland Hills and across Tarrant County.