sliding garage door problem
I currently have an eichler with the original sliding garage doors. One of the sliding doors operate on an electric garage door opener. It's been working perfectly for the past 2 years; however, the door is starting to have a hard time opening. What type of maintenance is needed for the garage door? What type of lubing or oiling is needed?
Is there anyone in the SJ area that does maintenance on eichler sliding garage doors? Please e-mail me directly with referrals to Jethanaz AT Yahoo DOT com
Thanks in advance for the help.
Since no one else has answered yet, I'll take a stab at it.
First, you should isolate the problem: Is the door sticking or jamming up on something or is the opener not working properly.
To find out, disconnect the opener from the door. There should be a red handle attached to a red cord on the "traveler", if you pull it the door will be disconnected from the opener. Manually open and close the door. It should roll freely through its entire range.
If the door does not roll freely, then you need to address that issue first. The rollers might need lubrication, the track might have a build up of dirt, the door might be hitting something. The door hangs from the rollers on threaded rods and can be adjusted up/down/in/out.
Once the door is working well manually, then you can see if the opener itself has a problem. If it stops on opening or reverses on closing then the built in force sensors are detecting an issue. On the opener we have, the manual indicates that the sensors are affected by weather and may need some occasional adjustment. Read the installation/adjustment procedures in the manual for your opener to see what it says.
Mine gets a bit harder to slide after the rains start. The 4x4 stud embedded in the middle swells and raises just enough to hinder the sliding. Nothing I know of to fix that, as the center "C" channel is nailed to that and is the guide for both doors. Maybe some day will take both doors off and pull up that 4x4 and replace it with concrete...
As for the hangers and their wheel/bearings. They most likely have ***NEVER*** been oiled. Mine were frozen, as the previous owner had their kid living out in the garage, so never moved either door (there was a people door cut into the garage door). After making a new door to match the original, used two spray cans of silicone lub on the hanger wheel bearings. Sprayed them over a weeks time. They now run freely and do a yearly re-lub with silicone lubrication.
Of course found that you can buy new hangers with new wheels & bearings. Orchard used to have them, but since Sears bought them, they've no longer carried. Assume some of the mom'n pop hardware stores close to any Eichler's would carry them, but not sure on that, just an assumption.
