Diagnostic: Usually any damage to the top fixture will be visible. They usually get damaged if a

door goes off track or jump cables.

Cost: $10­-20

Difficulty: easy

Time to repair: 30 minutes to one hour

Tools Needed: Impact Drill (not necessary but recommended), 3⁄8 socket or wrench, 7/16

wrench or socket, (Ratchet wrenches work better than standard wrenches)

 

 

Repair: The top fixture on a garage door is at the upper right and left ­hand corner of the garage door

it is shaped like a triangle and has one or two adjustment bolts or nuts and this is to ensure that

the top section is flush against the door jamb. The other type of top fixture is for a low headroom

garage doors and is a flat piece of sheet metal steel with a slot in the very top for the top roller.

It is easy to tell the difference because a low headroom fixture is not shaped like a triangle but is

about 6 inches long and flat. Also if you have low headroom track it is easy to notice because

there are two pieces of horizontal track stacked on top of one another the bottom track will have

a 15 inch radius curved track and the top track will either have anywhere from zero radius (no

curve) to 3 inch and they also make 5 inch radius curve. If you have a standard top fixture and is

shaped like a triangle and also has one or two adjustment bolts with the roller slot this is called

standard lift as opposed to low headroom lift.

One quick bit of advice before you start any of these instructions is if you have a working garage

door opener in your garage that is properly functioning close your door down all the way and

leave the opener engaged do not pull The red emergency release cord Leavitt engaged before

you start any of these processes this will help keep the door up against the door jam so it will

not fall on top of you for any reason and for some crazy reason if it does fall the opener will

catch it especially if you are attempting to do this by yourself without any help if you do not have

a garage door opener and then obviously you should grab a second pair of hands to help. If you

do not have a garage door opener or you can use a 20 D size nail which is about 5 to 6 inches

long and go to the very top of the top panel of your garage door and leave the nail against the

top edge and drive it into your header beam and leave about an inch and a half from the outer

edge of your garage door and fold the nail down with the hammer acting like a clamp this will

help keep the top section. in place while you are repairing the door. Do not forget to yank out

that mail before you try to open the door because the door will not open in most cases.

 

Standard lift: this top fixture has two parts to it the triangle piece that screws or bolts to the

garage door and the sliding peace with the roller and it is adjustable it slides back and forth for

proper adjustment. If you are having a hard time getting off the old top fixture then you should

just loose in the adjustment bolts on the very top of the bracket sometimes there is just one

adjustment bolt most of the time there are two if you just loosen them off the whole thing will just

fall apart and be careful because that top section is most likely going to come toward you when

you take that top fixture off. Remember to save all screws or bolts and especially the ones that

attach the top fixture to the door. If the new hardware is exactly like the old hardware you are

replacing then you’ll want to replace the new fixture in the same holes or bolts that attach the old

one . When installing the replacement hardware slightly loose in the adjustment bolt or bolts

and making sure they do not fall off the fixture and that the adjustment slides back and forth this

will make it easier to line up the new top fixtu when installing the replacement hardware slightly

loose in the adjustment bolt or bolts and making sure they do not fall off the fixture and that the

adjustment slides back and forth this will make it easier to line up the new top fixture. Make sure

you put the roller back in the round slot on the top fixture before you try to screw or bolt it down

it’s a lot easier than removing the bolts on the adjustment and then trying to put the bolts back

into where they go they can be difficult because of the shape of the fixture. Make sure That the

roller is properly inside the track and then lined up your holes or bolts and reattach the fixture.

Now before you tighten down the adjustment bolt or bolts make sure that the top corner of the

garage door is pressed firmly up against the door jam and then you want to pull back toward

you on the adjustment and make sure that it is snug while you are tightening down the

adjustment bolts.

 

Low headroom lift: here is a quick explanation of how low headroom track works and why it is

needed.

Low headroom garage door track uses two pieces of horizontal track the top piece of

horizontal track is for the top roller of the very top section of the garage door and the lower track

is for all the other rollers besides the top one to run into what this does it allows the door to have

either zero lift when is opening or just a couple of inches of lift when it is opening because there

is not enough room in the garage to use standard lift track the way we usually determined this is

measuring the headroom this is the distance between the ceiling in your garage and the very

top of the door opening if it is less than 10 inches it will usually will use low headroom track but

you can have situations where you have 2 feet of headroom all the headroom you need but

there will be a support beam in the garage especially if there are living quarters above the

garage the support beams are very very big and they can tend to come down from the ceiling as

far as the top of your door opening another words this would give you zero headroom because

obviously if it is 4 feet back from the door and the door is 7 feet high the door is obviously going

to hit the beam. The low headroom style traffic allows the top section of the garage door to fall

straight back instead of going up into a radius curve and then going back into the garage this

eliminates the need for Andrew because there is no lift to the door it just go straight back. Low

headroom situations are not always common in the United States in certain areas is usually

found in the more older a stab list regions of the country like the far west coast or far east coast

where the homes are extremely old and architects did not even know what a conventional

sectional garage door was back then they would usually just use barn doors.

 

 

 

if you are dealing with a low headroom track and hardware, than this is how you will replace

the low headroom lift top fixture on your garage door. Of course the top fixture is at the top right

and left­hand corner of the garage door they are flat about 6 inches long and rectangular in

shape although some to have a diamond shape or triangle shape at the bottom of the flat

bracket. This bracket has two long slots and one single hole in the middle of the two slots in

most cases the reason for the long slots instead of just a whole is this bracket almost always

needs to be adjusted. Start on either side and refer to the instructions above about keeping the

top section tight and secure against the door frame. Remove any screws or nuts that hold the

bracket to the door remove the bracket and the roller and then you’ll slide the roller into the roller

slot on the new top fixture and then you will need to insert the roller into the track being sure that

the roller is properly inserted in this case you might not always want to put your screws into the

same holes of the old bracket because it may differ a little bit so what you want to do if you have

to make new holes is to use a small drill bit and drill some pilot holes where you would like to

attach your screws you do not want to put your screws at the top of the adjustment slots

because any adjustments will be sliding the bracket down and not up so you want to start at the

bottom of the adjustment slots on top and on bottom so this way if you have to adjust the

bracket you have plenty of room to slide it down for proper fit. If your door is constructed of

wood you will most likely not have this option because the bolts or through bolted from the front

side of the wood garage door section so you will most likely have to return the bracket to its

original position which in most cases is ok. If you find that your original through bolts on a wood

door or not lighting up probably to attach the new hardware then you might have to get a

sawzall and cut off the original bolts and attach the new hardware with inch and a quarter wood

screws and not just some regular old wood screws that you find around your home. You will

need a nice thick wood screw with a hex head but no longer than one in a quarter inches

because most wood panel garage doors are only an inch and a half thick. Also you should drill

pilot holes so you do not split the wood on your garage door pilot holes will prevent this from

happening. also if you have a steel garage door you most likely have a strut running along the

top of the door from the far left side to the far right side especially if the door is bigger than 9

feet wide. Struts on metal doors are usually always involved when you are replacing the tub

fixture so be sure that the strut is also screwed back into place if the strut needs to be slightly

curved downward to get proper adjustment then that is OK also. Once you are finished

replacing the new hardware you should go outside and look in the upper right and left­hand

corner of your garage door and make sure there are no gaps and that the door is flush up

against the door frame. If you do have gaps then this is where the adjustment then go back

inside to your eyes and go to the corner left or right or both where you have gaps and just

loosen the nuts or screws on the top fixture do not remove them. Now slide the fixture down

word and you will see that the top corner of the garage door will move closer to the door frame

being sure to put pressure on the door and pressure on the top fixture sliding down and re

tighten your screws or nuts. If you have a wood panel garage door you usually will not have to

deal with the strut because installers will cut the strut short enough so it does not interfere with

the top fixture. Now you will need to go inside your garage and open the garage door to see if it

functions properly after you have made the repairs you do not want to open the door for the first

time with a garage door opener or you will want to open it manually and make sure the door

opens and closes properly before you attach power to it. If for some reason the top section of

the garage door is hitting your cable drums when the door tries to open which can be common

then that means there is too much adjustment on the top fixture and you will have to again

adjust the top fixture but instead of moving it down you will have to slide it up until you open the

door and the door does not hit the cable drugs this will probably give you a small gap at the top

of your garage door so you might have to just live with it and less you want to call a professional

to have it corrected. If this is the case then everything except for the door itself needs to be

moved up at least an inch or that means the track on both sides of the door and the torsion

spring assembly and pole also will all need to be moved up. this will give the door enough room

to clear the cable drums when it is opening. Most of the time this does not happen but it can and

sometimes you may not have an inch or two or more to move everything up because you’re in a

low if you situation and it may not be that extra room this is why you will probably have to call a

professional.