Mending Garage Door

[BathDIY]

I have an old Cardale garage door, on one side the mechanism is broken, cannot find much to ID the door and can see no kits that seem to have the correct pieces online.

Am thinking of using some locking carabiner keychain to try to fix the broken side of the door.

Just wondering if someone has made a similar repair and can offer a better direction of travel?

 

[Tigercubrider]

Be careful as I fixed one years ago and the spring can cause serious damage

There was a trick to winding the spring/ tensioning the cable

Normally they use wire rope not chain.

At work we use gripalls whick are alloy tubes hydraulically squeezed together to terminate wire rope

https://www.flints.co.uk/pdfcatalogue/minaturedisplayfittings.pdf

 

[BathDIY]

Be careful as I fixed one years ago and the spring can cause serious damage

There was a trick to winding the spring/ tensioning the cable

Normally they use wire rope not chain.

At work we use gripalls whick are alloy tubes hydraulically squeezed together to terminate wire rope

https://www.flints.co.uk/pdfcatalogue/minaturedisplayfittings.pdf

The broken side was botched by a previous owner I think, the two have never matched up (well not since we have moved in) the good side has extra bits in place.

I was going to tension (using nut at the base of spring) after I added in the keychain.

Not very scientific but my hope was to make opening the door easier than it is at present.

On the other hand, if this is unadvisable I won't try it and get the experts in.

 

[SpecialK]

Need a better picture of the termination on the spring. Can you use wire rope and u-clips? ..... or a large choccy block!

 

[Tigercubrider]

Not sure if I would trust it on a garage door but you can buy screw nipples for motorbike cables. Normally a cable is terminated by passing through a hole in the nipple, splaying the wire braiding and soldering (silver)
A temporary nipple has a grub screw

https://www.feked.com/handle-bars/cable-parts/nipples/solderless/

 

[BathDIY]

Need a better picture of the termination on the spring. Can you use wire rope and u-clips? ..... or a large choccy block!

Sorry for the delay here are some pics.

 

[SpecialK]

Are you missing the metal plate too? Perhaps one could be made up?

 

[BathDIY]

Yes the metal plate is missing.

 

[SpecialK]

Is there a groove in the pin that the plate sits in? Im sure something could be made up to replace it...

 

[BathDIY]

I cannot see a groove it looks like it may have snapped off. Are you suggesting I contact local blacksmith or similar?

 

[SpecialK]

Is there a thread inside the pin so the plate can attach via a bolt? Its a metal plate with two holes from what I can see so far, be easy enough to make up with a drill and a hacksaw? Can you do a picture of the other plate so we can see how its attached...

 

[BathDIY]

Thanks Specialk I think I have managed to find a source of spares, Cardale have got back to me and one of the sites they suggested has bits I need.

Does anyone have any experience/knowledge on how to correctly tension the spring?

 

[SpecialK]

Is the load off the spring when the door is open/shut?

 

[BathDIY]

The load is of the spring when open, I assume I need to get the tension right or risk breaking or twisting something.

 

[SpecialK]

Set it to the same length as the other spring... should be able to undo the rod at the bottom when the spring is not under load. Hopefully there is enough thread!