Des Plaines, IL · Same-day service
Extension Springs on Older Des Plaines Garage Doors
Extension springs are the older arrangement: a long spring stretched along the horizontal track on each side of the door, pulling against a cable and pulley instead of twisting on a shaft. Plenty of Des Plaines garages still run them, mostly lighter single-width doors on detached garages and on additions nobody ever upgraded.
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It is a serviceable design when it is complete and in balance. Most of the ones we are called to are neither, and the two faults tend to arrive together.
One Side Stretched, and a Door That Climbs Crooked
Extension springs work independently of each other. Nothing links the left to the right, so when one loses tension the door starts lifting unevenly, one top corner leads, and the rollers grind into the track flanges on the trailing side. Owners describe this as the door being off track, and by the time they call it usually is.
A spring that has lost its set does not always look broken. Measured against its partner with the door open, the difference shows immediately. That is why they go in as a pair even when only one has actually failed.
The Cable That Runs Through the Middle of the Spring
Every extension spring should have a safety cable running down through the middle of it, dead-ended at the track hanger one end and at the spring anchor the other. The reason is what a stretched spring does at the moment it parts: it lets go along its entire length at once. Without a cable through the core there is nothing to stop it leaving the wall. On older installations around here that cable is frequently absent, or it went in slack enough to be decorative.
It is a small part, it goes on at the same time as the spring, and there is no argument for skipping it. If the garage doubles as a workshop or storage, it matters more, not less.
Rebuilding the Side, Not Just Swapping the Spring
The spring is one part of an assembly. There is a pulley at each end, a cable running from the bottom bracket around both pulleys, a clip or S-hook at the track hanger, and the hanger itself. Water sits at the bottom bracket, so that is where the cable corrodes first and where fittings seize into each other.
On an attached garage with enough headroom, converting to a torsion system is worth considering while the hardware is already off. It runs quieter, it keeps both sides of the door in balance from one shaft, and it removes the whip risk entirely. Where headroom is tight, a like-for-like replacement with proper containment cables is the right call.
Other work we do in Des Plaines
- Torsion Springs
- Roller Repair
- Panel Replacement
- Smart Openers
- Commercial
- Custom Doors
- Maintenance
- Safety Inspection
- Lubrication
- Spring Replacement
- Opener Repair
- Installation
- Emergency Service
- Cable Repair
- Track Repair
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Questions
Des Plaines questions about this job
How can I tell which kind of springs my garage door has?
Look at where they sit. Torsion springs mount on a steel shaft directly above the door opening. Extension springs run horizontally along the ceiling tracks, one each side, and visibly lengthen as the door comes down.
Only one of my springs broke. Do both need replacing?
Yes. They were fitted together and have taken the same loading, so the survivor is close behind. Replacing one also leaves the two sides pulling at different rates, which is exactly what walks a door sideways into the track.
My springs have no safety cables through them. Is that a problem?
It is the first thing we would change. Without a containment cable a failing extension spring travels. Retrofitting them takes minutes and can be done alongside any other work on the door.
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