Garage Door Springs

[peterjcb]

I have a 17' X 8' overhead garage door that has two torsion springs. One of the spings broke this evening so I disconnected my garage door opener only to find that the door is too heavy to lift up. I think that I may be able to open it if I had another person lifting it with me.
My question is ...how difficult is it to replace those torsion springs? See the attached picture. The right side spring just snapped in two.

[Rich]

Here's probably the best article I've read on it - from a DIY'er.
http://truetex.com/garage.htm

[peterjcb]

Wow, that's some article. I don't have the patience to read all of it right now...I had a really long day today. Lately it seems that whenever I fix something, it causes two completely unrelated other things to break.... :roll:

It appears that the hard part is getting the replacement springs. I called Home Depot and they said that they carry springs but I really don't think that I'm going to find what I need there.

On the brighter side...My son & I were able to lift the door to get his car out. It's times like this that I really appreciate my new 3 car garage. :D

[dhill]

You can buy replacement springs at most garage door shops. They sell parts as well as doors and installations, usually. Replacing that type of spring is a pain in the wazoo, I might add.

[peterjcb]

I don't really have a lot of time to mess with it right now, I've got too many other things to attend to. I've got a guy thats coming over this morning to replace both springs for $200. It will be done and everyone can use the door this weekend.