Yes absolutely bad rollers will affect your garage door opener in many ways. When rollers have not been lubed properly and have attracted a lot of dirt and debris typically in windy areas like desert or dry dusty regions. When the rollers can’t roll than it makes the garage door harder to move up and down the opener will have to work harder to operate the door. This will wear motor and internal gear parts prematurely. Also bad rollers can make the door jump cables and throw the door off track and bend the opener rail because it is attached to the door.

Anytime a door goes off track it will bend opener parts

If a roller or rollers are broken it has the same effect on the openers internal parts. If you have a screw drive opener than a door with bad rollers will wear out the carriage that moves along the screw rail. The screw will eat up the plastic or metal teeth that the carriage uses to move back and forth on the rail. When the teeth on a screw carriage break off the opener makes an extremely loud grinding noise and does not lift the door. Also some screw rails come in 3 pieces because they were bought as DIY (Do It Yourself) units in retail hardware stores. The 3 piece rail allows the rail to fit in a smaller box.

three piece rail

The three piece rail is not as rigid as a solid professional rail so when a doors rollers come out of the track then the 3 piece rail will bend a lot easier. This always bends the screw inside the rail and might not ever work properly again. When worn rollers pop out of the track it causes all kinds of problems to the door and opener alike. The rollers are probably the most important part of the functions of a garage door because like a car or motorcycle they don’t go anywhere without the basic invention of the wheel. A garage door can function with broken springs and bent track or bent panels or even broken hinges but it absolutely does not work properly without a good set of rollers.