Garage Door Binds

by Steve
(Omaha, Ne)

We have a new garage door with a torsion spring. When we installed the garage door opener to the door the door would only go down half way and the garage door opener could not continue pushing it down.

The door wouldn't go down and the garage door opener would buck back. We can close the door manually when we push down the bottom panel.

But when we try to close the door from the position where the garage door is pushing we couldn't push the door past half way without it binding. Any ideas?

We discussed that the torsion spring wasn't adjusted correctly, but if we loosen it any more it becomes too loose and unwraps from the drum.
THANKS

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Obviously, the door is binding, as you described, when the garage door opener tries to close it.

Is the opener and its rail mounted at a 90 degree angle from the door? If not, this would cause the problem you describe. It doesn't have to be exact, but fairly close.

If your door cannot accept the rail bracket to mount the door at the center, then the bracket should be located as close as possible to the center and the motor hung with the same offset so the entire assembly is at 90 degrees to the door.

Adjust the torsion spring(s) according to the instructions which came with it as the problem is not the spring. Improperly adjusted springs will cause problems with the longevity of your opener, or at least the gears.

Hope this helps,
Donald