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Garage Door Springs

The springs do the lifting, not the motor. They are the most common failure on any garage door, and the one part of it that is genuinely dangerous to touch.

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Any brandReplaced in pairsVans carry common sizes
Technician replacing a garage door torsion spring in Auckland

Why does a garage door need springs?

Because a garage door is far too heavy to lift directly. The springs counterbalance the door weight so that a correctly balanced door feels almost weightless by hand and the opener only has to overcome friction. Without them the motor would be lifting the full weight on every cycle, and it would not last long doing it.

How They Work

What garage door springs actually do

Torsion springs

A steel coil mounted on a shaft above the opening, wound under tension. As the door closes the spring winds up and stores energy; as it opens that energy comes back out. Length, wire gauge and inside diameter are all matched to your door.

Extension springs

Mounted along the horizontal tracks and stretched as the door closes. More common on older and lighter doors. They should always run with a containment cable so a failed spring cannot whip loose.

Matched to door weight

A spring is specified from the finished weight of the door, which is why an insulated or clad door needs a different set to a plain steel one. The wrong spring fails early and takes the opener with it.

Package

Supplied & installed

Springs are rated in cycles rather than years, so how long a set lasts depends on how often the door runs and what the air is doing to the steel. One open and one close is a cycle. A door used six times a day wears roughly three times faster than one used twice. Salt air shortens it further, which is why coastal Auckland sees more spring work than inland suburbs.

Garage door opener installed on the ceiling of an Auckland garage
FAQ

Common questions

Will a garage door still work with a broken spring?
It might move, and that is the problem. With a broken spring the opener is dragging the full weight of the door, which is well beyond what it was built for, and the door can drop if the remaining spring or a cable lets go. Stop using it, leave it down, and call someone. Our vans carry common springs and cables, so it is usually a single visit.
How much does it cost to replace a garage door spring?
It depends on the door size, the spring type, and whether the cables and rollers have worn on the same cycle. We check all three and quote a fixed figure before any work starts. Replacing both springs at once costs less than two separate visits. See spring repairs to book.
What are the warning signs of a failing spring?
A door that feels heavy by hand, drifts down instead of staying put, opens unevenly or crookedly, or makes a bang you hear from inside the house. A visible gap in the coil is the obvious one. The balance test is the reliable one: disengage the opener, lift the door to waist height and let go. A healthy door stays there.
How long do garage door springs last?
A standard set is rated for several thousand cycles and most household doors reach the better part of a decade. High-cycle springs cost more and last proportionally longer, which is worth asking about on a door that runs many times a day or sits near the coast.
Can I replace a garage door spring myself?
No. A wound torsion spring stores enough energy to cause serious injury, and it is released with purpose-made winding bars rather than anything in a home toolkit. Every year people are hurt doing this. It is the one job on a garage door where we will tell you flatly not to try.
Do both springs need replacing at once?
On a two-spring door, yes. They were fitted together and have run the same cycles, so the intact one is at the same point in its life as the one that failed. An unmatched pair also pulls the door out of square and wears the rollers on one side.
Supply & Install

Spring gone? Call us

Auckland-wide spring replacement on any brand. Call before midday for the best chance of same-day, especially in East and South Auckland.

021 764 609

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