Garage Door Cable & Off-Track Repair in Phoenix, AZ

Why Garage Door Cables Fail in Phoenix

Lift cables are stranded steel wire wound around a drum at each end of the torsion bar. They carry the full weight of the door every cycle. In Phoenix they fail for four main reasons: a broken spring that lets the cable go slack and jump the drum, rust from monsoon moisture and sprinkler overspray at the bottom bracket, fraying where the cable rubs a bent track, and a door that was hit by a car or bumped by a trailer. Once a cable slips, the door lifts unevenly, binds in the track and often comes off the rollers on one side.

Signs You Need Cable or Track Repair

• The door is visibly crooked, higher on one side than the other.
• A cable is hanging loose, coiled on the floor, or wrapped around the drum in a tangle.
• The door stopped halfway and will not move in either direction.
• Rollers are sitting outside the track or the track is bent, dented or pulled away from the wall.
• Loud scraping, popping or grinding as the door moves.
• The bottom panel is bent where the cable attaches.

What the Repair Involves

1. Make the door safe. The door is clamped and the spring tension released if needed.
2. Inspect the cause. A slipped cable almost always has a reason: a broken spring, a worn roller, a bent track or a failed drum. Fixing only the cable guarantees a second failure.
3. Replace cables, drums and rollers as needed. New cables are sized for the door height and weight.
4. Realign the tracks and re-secure the brackets to the wall and ceiling framing.
5. Re-tension and balance the door, then test the opener force and safety reverse.

Related Repairs

An off-track door often needs spring repair at the same time, and a door that was forced by the opener may need opener repair afterward. For a full picture of what technicians fix see garage door repair in Phoenix.