Garage door cables are of utmost importance. They are made of metal and are meant to be very strong, but they are also flexible since they are repeatedly pulled and lowered through a pulley system and then wound and unwound around a drum at the top of the garage door as the door opens and closes.
Just because they are strong, however, doesn’t mean they are impervious to breaking. A broken or faulty cable could cause your garage door to stop working correctly. Even worse, if one of the springs was to snap and the cable wasn’t in place, the broken spring could fly across the garage and cause a huge amount of damage, maybe even killing someone. You can imagine why it’s important to pay attention to the health of your garage door cables and call a professional if you notice one is damaged or broken.
Do that a few thousand times though, and you can forgive them for giving once in a while.
Here are 4 ways on what to do when your garage door cable breaks
To replace the cables you will need:
If your garage door opener has the electricity to run to it, make sure that the power is fully disconnected and the circuit breaker is off.
Next, disconnect the door from the opener (usually by pulling on the red toggle hanging down behind the door until it disengages).
Then carefully, with the assistance of another person, manually lift the garage door. Take particular care with the side with the broken or frayed cable.
Finally, clamp the door in place using vice clamps on the track, so that it is held in position and will not crash down as you are replacing the cable. Our Suggestion though is to call the professionals, so we can ensure the job is done correctly, and safely.
Again, we suggest contacting one of our technicians, to ensure your garage door is safe and secure. Once you have taken all the steps above, you are ready to remove the broken cable. There is now little tension left in the spring or the cable, so it is safe to disconnect.
Locate the end of the cable, hooked onto an S hook. Remove the S hook with the cable attached. Repeat at the other end, by removing the cable loop from the bottom bracket of the door.
Before you fully remove the cable, make a note or take a picture of how it was hooked onto the pully so that you can install the replacement cable in the same position.
Now you can remove the damaged or broken cable.
Now, ensure that you have a secure cable loop on the bottom end of the new cable, ready to be hooked into the bottom bracket.
Take your cable bracket, thread it through the first, small hole, back through the middle hole and tie by taking it through the resulting look to make a secure knot. Leave the last large hole free to connect to the S hook.
Feed the cable through the end of the pully, carefully replacing it exactly as the previous one was configured.
Thread it over the top of the pulley and down, connecting the cable loop to the bottom bracket of the door.
Now check by creating some tension on the cable that it is running through the pulley as it should be. Now the S hook can be reattached to the top bracket in the same place as before.
Repeat for the other side if needed.
Before testing, double-check the entire installation. If you have any doubts, seek professional help, so that it does not cause the door to crash down, potentially injuring someone.
When you’re sure, remove the vice grips and manually open and close the door to check it is running smoothly. Reconnect the door to the opener and reconnect to the power.
Following our step-by-step guide, you should be able to replace your garage door cables with minimal fuss and expense.
Click here to see what you shouldn’t delay getting it sorted.
We understand that a job like this can be tricky, and a little expert help may be appreciated. At Garage Door Service 20 Four 7, we’re here to help.
contact us and help will be on the way soon.
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