Diagnostic: the only time I have had to replace a bottom fixture is when a garage door cables come off the drums and ends up crooked in the doorway what this does is bends the little tabs that the bottom roller slides into they are not as strong as the bracket itself. Most of the time I can get away with just bending the tabs back into place but sometimes they are so bad they can easily break off when you attempt to do this. And the only other example is when the stud that the cables wraparound gets damaged and the cable can no longer stay on the stud and is constantly slipping off and causing big problems.
Cost: $20¬ $50
Difficulty: extremely difficult
Time to repair: 30 ¬60 minutes
Tools needed: 3⁄8 or 7/16 wrench or socket impact drill (not necessary but recommended),
A pair of 12 to 16 inch winding bars. Ladder.
There are two different options to replace the bottom garage door hinge one of these options
Involves the torsion springs at the top of your garage door. We do not in anyway suggest that
You use this option unless you have some experience with torsion springs because of their
Warning, torsion springs can be extremely dangerous and can cause severe injury or death.
Even though dealing with the torsion springs when replacing the bottom hinge is very dangerous
Option 1: replacing the bottom garage door hinges with the door in the far up position.
Step one: raise your garage door until it is fully open if you have a garage door opener attached to
Your door then just hit the button on the wall and open the garage door and leave it alone the
Opener will keep the door in the up position without it moving up or down when you are trying to
Make repairs. If you do not have a garage door opener or then you might want to grab someone
To help you because you will need a extra pair of hands to make your repair easier.
Step two: now that your garage door is in the full a position there is very little torsion on the
Springs when the door is up this makes it a little easier and less dangerous to replace the
Bottom hinge. The one thing you do not want to happen following this procedure is to lose
Tension on the cable while you are working on the door if you lose tension on the cable it will
Unravel off of the cable drum this could be a huge mess for you if you were not skilled in fixing
Garage doors. So what most technicians will do is get a pretty good size pair of vise gripss and
Lightly clamp them to the garage door cable this will keep waite intention on the cable why you
Perform any adjustments or replacements. Do not clamp the vice grips to type this will distort or
Freight your cable you also do not want this to happen. If you have someone there to help you
And asked them to keep tension on the cable while you are replacing the bottom hinge this will
Help in the process. Now you will want to carefully remove the bottom hinge remove all screws
Or nuts that you can see our fastening the bottom hinge to the garage door. If you have a
Garage door constructed of wood then sometimes the bottom hinge may be nailed into the
Bottom of the garage door if this is so when you look underneath you will see the nail you will
Have to remove this nail to get the bottom hinge off if you do not have your bottom hinge nailed
To the wooden panel then it should just come right off when you losing all the nuts.
Step three: once you have removed the bottom hinge from the door panel you must now
Remove the roller and the cable the roller comes out very easily of course but sometimes garage
Door cables can be tricky so you might want to grab a flathead screwdriver or if you need to
Maybe pry it off. Once you have removed the cable in the roller it is now time to grab your new
Bottom hinge and first reattach the cable to the metal stud that is on the outside of the door
Hinge once that is complete replace the roller into the new hinge.
Step four: now that you have re¬attach the cable and the roller it is time to put the hinge back
On the bottom panel the first thing that you want to do is to get the roller back into the track once
It is secure in the track you will want to put the bottom hinge back on the door using the same
Bolt pattern or . Screw holes that were originally used this will ensure proper function of the
Garage door when you are done. Do not attempt to move the hands further up the door this
Could cause the bottom section to hit the door jam when the door is closing and opening this is
Why it is important to put the hinge back in the exact same place that it was. When you are
Performing this there might still be a little bit of tension on the door springs so you will have to be
Careful and you may half to move the door panel around to get proper position before you
Reattach the hinge. Once the bottom hinge is reattached to the door panel do not forget to
Remove the vice grips and now you will need to operate the garage door to see if you have
Proper function and repairs that you made are good. The first time that you operate a garage
Door after making repairs you should not use any power or opener units to operate the door you
Should open it and close it by hand a few times to make sure nothing is hanging up or stopping
The door from going up or down if you test the door and it seems to be functioning properly then
Reattach the motor and give it a go once or twice to test the functionality. If everything works like
It did before there was any problems then your repairs were successful.
Option two: replacing the bottom garage door hinges by locking down the torsion springs.
This option involves the torsion springs used to balance your garage door if you have extension
Springs then you will have to revert to option one because you cannot lock down extension
Springs the only way to take the tension off of extension springs put the door in the up position
This takes all or most of the tension off of the extension springs. You can easily make a pair of
Winding bars by going to your local hardware store and buying a piece of metal rod or all thread
And it needs to be at least 3⁄8 two 7/16 of an inch thick no more no less. . The winding holes in
The cold of those springs on residential garage doors measure a half inch in diameter. Each
Whining bar should be at least 12 to 16 inches long the longer the winding bar the more
Leverage you will have. Before you attempt to put any whining bars into the springs please make
Sure that they slip in and out of the whining holes very easily do not attempt to lock down the
Springs before testing this out you do not want to find out that one of your whining bars doesnt
Quite fit when you have the full load of the spring on it. Sometimes you will have to file or grind
The edges that are going into the spring to make sure they slide in and out easily. Once you
Have your whining bars then you should proceed to step one.
Step one: the first thing you will need to do is put the garage door in the down position where
It is all the way closed. Now you will want to disable the opener if you have one first thing you
Should do is pull down on the emergency release cord releasing the opener to the door
Disconnecting the both then just for safety precautions you should maybe unplug the opener unit
To make sure that a remote or wall control button is pushed accidentally you do not want the
Door to start opening up when you are trying to make these repairs.
Step two: now you will most likely need a ladder to reach the garage door springs in some
Cases you may not if you door is only 63 tall and you might be able to do it without a ladder or
Maybe just a step stool. You will need to grab both whining bars and you may only have one
Spring on your garage door but you may also have up to four springs this does not matter you
Only need to lock down one spring. Slide the first whining bar into a winding slot making sure the
Bar is all the way in now gently lift up on the spring enough to get the second bar into the next
Slot once you have both bars in gently let the spring down letting the second bar rest against
The top section of the garage door now you should be able to remove the first bar you slid in. Do
Not loosen the set screws that tighten down the spring to the torsion pole. Now your torsion
Springs are locked down.
Step three: now that your springs are locked down you can now safely remove the bottom
Hinges without any danger also everybody when you lifted up on the spring you have put a little
Slack in the door cable to keep tension on the cable while you are making repairs you will want
To grab a pair of good size vice grips and gently attach them to the cable near the top of the
Door right underneath the cable drums to keep them out of your way. Now you want to go down
To the bottom right or left hand side of the garage door where the bottom hinges are located and
Remove any screws or knots that attach this piece of hardware to the door. It is not very easy
Sometimes to get this bottom hinge away from the garage door because the roller will still be in
The track if your garage door is not engineered with a two¬piece bottom hinge where you can
Just remove the part that holds the roller and you should now remove the number one hinge
Located right above the bottom hinge this is the next hinge up on the garage door removing this
Hinge and roller will easily allow you to move the bottom hinge up the track to a spot where it is
Easily removed or taken out. Once you have removed the bottom hinge you will now need to
Take the cable off and the roller and grab your new bottom hinge and slide in your roller and
Reattach the garage door cable to the stud on the outside of the hinge. Now when you are
Reattaching the new bottom hinge you will need to slip the roller into the track first and slide the
Hinge down to the bottom of the garage door pretty much the same way that you took it off just
In the opposite direction. Now you will need to reattach any screws or nuts and bolts it requires
To reattach bottom hinge to the door panel again the same way that you took it off. You will want
To use the same screw holes or bolt patterns positioning the new bottom hinge in the same as
The old and the more that the hinge moves up the garage door it can cause opening and closing
Problems the bottom section will tend to hit the door jam when opening and closing if it is moved
Too far up. . Know if you need to replace both bottom hinges proceed and do the same
Procedure to the other side of the garage door.
Step four: when you have completed any work or replacements to the bottom hinges now you
Will need to re engage the torsion springs to the door this can be tricky. Before applying the
Spring tension back to the garage door just as a precaution you should read tighten or reset the
Cable drums you will want to do one at a time so pick a side left or right you will need a 7/16
Wrench or 12 point 7/16 socket. Each cable drum has to set screws you will need to loosen both
Set screws and you will need to back them out enough to where the drum will turn freely on the
Torsion pole. Making sure that the cables are in the proper groove you will want to apply
Pressure in a clockwise direction making sure you have as much tension on the cable as
Possible and read tighten the setscrews the clockwise direction would be for the right side
Drum and when you do the same procedure to the left side you will want to apply pressure in a
Counter-clockwise direction and retighten the set screws what this does is to ensure that your
Garage door it is level and you do not have more cable on one side of the door than the other.
Once you have adjusted the cable drums you will now want to grab your second winding bar
And your ladder and go up to the spring that you locked down earlier and you want to slide your
Second whining bar into the winding slot directly above the one that is holding the spring
Lockdown. Now here comes the tricky part you want to lift up on the spring just enough to slide
Out the winding bar on the bottom if you go to far up in your motion it is possible that the cables
Can jump grooves this will cause the cable to wind on the drum in an awkward manner possibly
Causing the cables to jump off of the drum so that is why it is very important to just app can jump
Grooves this will cause the cable to wind on the drum in an awkward man or possibly causing
The cables to jump off of the drum so that is why it is very important to just apply just enough
Pressure to release the bottom whining bar into your hand now you can gently let the second
One new bar down into you feel the spring putting tension on the door now you will be able to
Remove the second winding bar out of the winding slot. Now you will need to test the garage
Door for proper opening and closing functionality. The first time that you test the garage door
You should do it manually by hand do not apply any power to the garage door until you are
Certain that it is functioning properly. After testing the door manually you should now reengage
The opener unit to the garage door and operate one cycle up once and down once with the open
It to make sure everything is working properly. If you feel like your garage door is not functioning
Properly the way it used to then there could have been some miss adjustments made in the
Process there is no telling what could have been moved or done to make your door this way so
Instead of trying to fix it or adjusted yourself it might be a good time to call a technician.