Tightening Hardware and Fastener Checks

A sectional door is held together by around sixty threaded fasteners and every one of them is shaken a little looser on each cycle. The tightening pass described by Orange County Garage Door Tune Up, CA ageducate is the least interesting fifteen minutes of any garage door visit in Orange County and prevents more failures than any other single item on the list.

Working in an Order

Start at the bottom of one side, work up the vertical rail, across the curve, along the horizontal run to the rear hanger, then down the other side, then the door itself from the bottom section upward. An order means nothing is missed, which matters more than speed, since the one bolt skipped is invariably the one that mattered.

The Rail Fixings

Each jamb bracket, each flag bracket, the splice bolts at both ends of the curve, and the lag screws into the timber. Carriage bolt heads sit inside the channel and must be pulled square, since a head standing proud is a bump the roller has to climb on every pass.

The Door Hardware

Every hinge, at the knuckle plate and where it meets the panel. The strut fixings if one is fitted. The top fixture, which takes the pull from the operator arm and is the one most often found loose. Check the arm bracket on the panel at the same time.

The Overhead Assembly

The bearing plates each side, the centre bearing bracket, the set screws on the drum, and the opener mounting to the ceiling. A drum set screw that has crept is how a cable ends up with uneven tension, so it is worth a look even though it is rarely loose.

The One Never to Touch

The bottom bracket at each lower corner holds the cable end under full spring tension whenever the door is down. Loosening it releases that tension violently. It is the exception to everything else here, and if it looks damaged the job stops and somebody with winding bars takes over.

How Tight

Firm with a hand spanner and no more. Overtightening a lag in timber strips the hole and leaves you worse off than the loose bolt you started with, and overtightening a carriage bolt distorts the slot so the bracket can no longer be adjusted. Anything that turns more than a quarter of a turn should be noted, because it was genuinely loose and whatever it holds may have moved.