How to replace genie screw coupler?

Diagnostic on a genie screwdriver opener the coupler is a very small barrel shaped piece of plastic with slots on either side this small plastic piece connects the motor to the screw rail it allows the motor to turn the screw there for opening and closing the garage door. Although you will have to determine if your genie screw drive opener even has a coupler because older genie screw drive openers did not use a couple or what they did is they used a form of clutch system in order for the motor to drive the screw rail. The easiest way to determine if you have one of these older openers model openers is simple. All you have to do is look directly in the back of the motor head and if there is a big screw with a white plastic nut on the end than this is a model that uses a clutch system . If this is the case for you then dont even try to find the part and attempt to replace it because it does not exist inside these openers. If you have an older model genie opener like I have just described then you are most likely going to have to replace the entire unit.
Cost: $10 20
Difficulty: moderate
Time to repair: 1 1:30 hours
Tools needed: 3⁄8, 7/16, 1⁄2, 9/16 wrench or socket. Impact drill (not necessary but recommended). Ladder, phillips and flat screwdriver. Needle nose plyers.
Option 1: removing the entire opener with motorhead and rail.
Step one: The first thing you want to do is put your garage door in the closed position then you will want to unplug the power cord from the electrical socket to ensure that the opener does not activate unexpectedly while you are making the repair. The next thing you will need to do is disconnect the hockey arm this is what connects the opener rail to the top of the garage door. Just remove the pin or nut and bolt that attach at the top of the door do not remove the part of the hockey arm that attaches to the opener rail.
Step two: no you will have to disconnect the wiring from the sensors and the wall control. To do this you must unscrew the two screws at the top of the white plastic light cover to pull it down so you can access the wiring panel in front of the opener unit it is located on the right¬hand side if youre looking directly in front of the opener. There should be four screws that hold and connect the sensor and wall button wires and they are numbered 123 and 4 numbers three and four are for your sensor wires and numbers one and two are for your wall button wires. To make it easy to remember where everything goes when you need to hook everything back up you can
Take a piece of small masking tape and wrap around each wire and write down the number of the screw that it needs to go back on this will make it faster and easier. You will notice that your sensor wire runs along the top of your opener rail and is held in place by a series of four little plastic clips that keep the wire in place. You will need to remove them in order to get the sensor wire out of your way so you can remove the opener.
Step three: before you start the process of unbolting the opener unit you might want to grab an extra pair of hands someone to help so that you dont drop the opener or break anything unnecessarily. You want to start by unbolting the motorhead in the back from the supports dropped down from the ceiling the bolts that hold the opener up are usually right above the lights and above the opener rail. This is where you will want to grab some help have your help or support the motorhead while you unbolt it so it is not slam to the floor once it is loose and gently lower the motor head down to the floor of your garage if it does not go all the way to the floor it may be hung up on the torsion springs if this is the case then have your helper hold up the motorhead so you can unbolt the front side of the opener rail from the wall above your garage door. There are two ways to disconnect the opener rail from the header beam above your garage door you can unscrew the lag screws that are going through the header beam I would not suggest that you do this with a ranch you would probably need to use some sort of drill or impact drill. If you do not have these tools and easier way is to loosen the one bolt that holds the opener rail to the header bracket with those three screws in it it is only one nut and it is at the flex point where an opener can move up and down you cant miss it. If you just remove the nut you will see that the opener just slides out. Now that you can remove the opener set it on your garage floor to start the process of replacing your coupler.
Step four: now it is time to remove the opener rail from the motorhead and replace the coupler if you go to the base of the motorhead where the rail meets the motor you will see two small boats going through the rail once you remove these two bolts the rail easily slide away from the motorhead. Once they are apart the coupler may be stuck to one end or the other meaning it could be stuck to the motorhead or though screw rail when you remove it if you see that it is still inside the motorhead and does not easily come out and grab a pair of needle nose pliers to get in there . And pull the old coupler out remember it is very small. Once the old coupler is removed it is time to insert the new one you can attach the coupler to either point first either the motorhead or the screw rail I suggest you attach it to the screw real first and then slide the rail into the channel that mounts it and the only way to know if you are fully connected is youll see the two holes that you removed the bolts from they should line up so you can reattach the boat if they do not then the opener rail is not all the way in and is not attached to the opener motor. In order to fix this you will have to remove the plastic cover on the back of the motorhead there you will see a black plastic wheel on the very back of the unit this is attach directly to the motor you can freely spin the motor with your fingers by using this black well just turn it slightly clockwise or counterclockwise until you can get that opener rail to slide all the way into place where it belongs once the two mounting holes have lined up you can now replace those two bolts that hold the rail in place and tighten them up. If you are having trouble getting the boats all the way
Through the rail then slightly move the rail back¬and¬forth enough to squeeze those bolts through. When the rail is all tightened down it is time to rehang the opener unit.
Step five: no you are going to need to rehang the opener the first thing you should do is connect it at the wall above your door first if you needed an extra pair of hands to help you remove the unit you will also need some help putting it back up. Once you get the front of the rail into the bracket finger tighten that big nut that holds the rail in place do not tightknit with a ranch just yet because you will need it to flex up and down. Now you want to remount the motorhead to the supports coming down from the ceiling that hold the unit you basically just reversing the steps you did when removing the opener. Once you have the motorhead bolted up now it is time to rewire the sensors and the wall button now if you mark your wires knowing where they go then the step is pretty self¬explanatory. When the wires are connected at the correct posts 1 2 3 or 4. Also do not forget to run the sensor wire on the very top of the opener rail and reattach those small plastic clips that hold it in place. Once the opener is up and bolted in place dont forget to tighten down the big nut that holds the rail in the front if you dont it could loosen up and fall out. . Now you will need to reattach the hockey arm to the top panel of the garage door slide your keeper pen back in place and secure it then you will need to plug in the power cord to your electrical socket to test the opener. Before you activate the opener for the first time be sure that the trolley is engaged this means if you had to pull down on the emergency release cord you will need to re engage it so it will lift the door you do this by pulling back and up on the cord until it snaps into place. Now go ahead and activate the opener with your remote or the wall button and see if everything is working properly like it did before it started to malfunction if this door is going up¬and¬down and landing in the same spot that it used to when it opens and closes and you have successfully completed this option of replacing a genie screw drive coupler.
Option two: replacing coupler without removing opener.
Step one: this option of replacing your coupler is what most technicians use when replacing the coupler. It is much faster and much easier because you do not have to disconnect pretty much everything you just have to disconnect the rail from the motorhead so it will slide out enough to slip in the new coupler. The first thing you will need to do is put your garage door in the up position the reason for this is so that if you need to rest the rail you can rest it on the top of the door because it is all the way open this helps you because otherwise the rail will just fall to the ground. Since the opener sensor wires are run along the top of the opener rail you may need to disconnect those wires at the motorhead sometimes you will not have to because there will be enough slack in the wire to just slide the rail out about 6 inches but depending on how the installer ran the wiring will predict whether or not you have to remove the wires.
Step two: I f you look at where the opener rail meets the motorhead you will notice there are two bolts that go through the opener rail to secure it you will just need to remove these two bolts and slide the motorhead back about 6 inches or so sometimes you can get away with less than that
But you want to pool the motorhead away enough to where you can access the cupler once the two are separated the coupler will either be attached to the school rail for the motorhead whichever the case remove the old one if it is stuck inside the motor head and you cannot access it grab a pair of needle nose pliers that can help you get in there and pull that old coupler out what you have remove the old one you want to put the new one on the screw rail first and then slide the rail back into the slots where it belongs and if the rail does not go all the way in then the coupler is not lined up correctly it is easy to tell because the two bolts you just removed if you look from the side the holes they go through will not line up you wont be able to slip a boat back into it. So what needs to happen is the motor its self needs to be turned in by hand either clockwise or counterclockwise in order for the coupler to line up with the motorhead you can easily do this by removing the plastic cover on the back of the opener there you will see a black plastic wheel that is connected to the back of the actual motor. You should be able to freely turn the motor back and forth with your fingers with this black wheel. As you are turning the back of the motor apply pressure to the opener rail sliding it towards the motorhead once you find the correct lined up for the coupler you will see it slide right into place and the two holes that mount the rail will now lined up so you can insert the bolts back through the rail. Once you have tighten those two bolts up you will just need to reattach any wiring that you may have disconnected and put the motorhead cover back in place and tighten it down then you should be ready to test the motor. Now activate your opener to see if it works properly if the door is still not lifting or closing then make sure your emergency release cord is not pull down make sure that the trolley is in place and engaged to engage the trolley to those who will you have to pull back and up word to get it to snap into place. If everything is working properly like it did before the malfunction then you have successfully completed the replacement of your genie screw drive opener.