Libertyville, IL · Same-day service
Extension Spring Work on Older Libertyville Garages
An extension system is easy to identify once you know what you are looking at. A long spring runs back along each horizontal track, hooked at the rear to a track hanger and at the front to a pulley that a lift cable runs through. Two springs, two pulleys, two cables, and a lot more moving hardware overhead than a torsion door has.
Serving Libertyville
Free on-site estimates. Emergency work available.
It is the older design, and it survives on plenty of Libertyville garages that have never been re-hung since the door went on.
Pulleys Are the Part Nobody Checks
Every extension door has sheaves, and every sheave has a bearing that eventually stops turning freely. A seized pulley does not announce itself. The cable simply starts sawing across a wheel that is no longer rotating, the strands wear from the outside in, and the first sign is a squeal that most people put down to the spring.
We spin every pulley by hand on an extension job. A pulley with grit in the bearing, a groove worn into the rim, or an S-hook that has opened up gets changed with the springs. Fitting new springs onto tired sheaves is how you end up back at the same door in eighteen months.
Containment Cables Are Not an Optional Extra
A containment cable is a steel cable threaded down the middle of each extension spring and anchored at both ends. When a stretched spring under full tension lets go, the cable keeps the pieces on the wall rather than sending them across the garage.
A fair share of the extension doors we open up in Libertyville do not have them, usually because the door predates the current owner. We fit them on every extension job as standard. They add very little to the labour and they are the most useful safety part on that style of door.
When Converting to Torsion Is Worth Doing
Extension springs are perfectly serviceable when they are sized and maintained. They are harder to balance precisely, though, and they fail asymmetrically, so one side drops and the door skews in the opening.
If the garage has roughly twelve inches of clear headroom above the opening, a torsion conversion buys you a quieter, better-balanced door and a longer service interval. Many older garages behind the streets near downtown do not have it, because the rafters sit close to the top of the opening. We measure before we suggest it, and we will tell you when the answer is no.
Other work we do in Libertyville
- 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
Extension Springs in nearby towns
More on extension spring replacement, or everything we cover in Libertyville.
Questions
Libertyville questions about this job
Both springs look intact but the door hangs crooked. Do they still need doing?
Probably. Extension springs stretch permanently before they snap, and they rarely stretch at the same rate. We measure the relaxed length of each one. If they differ, the door cannot be balanced and both get replaced as a pair.
Are extension springs less safe than torsion springs?
With correct sizing and containment cables fitted, they are safe. Without containment cables they are not, because a stretched spring stores its energy along its length and has somewhere to travel when it breaks.
Do the lift cables get replaced at the same time?
On this system, yes, as a matter of course. The cables have been running over the same pulleys for the same number of cycles as the springs, and cable is the cheapest part on the door to renew while everything is already slack.
Book Libertyville extension springs
Pick an arrival window online, or call and speak to someone now. Free on-site estimates.
Emergency service available · Free on-site estimates