Got on the internet and found the "Garage Door Doctor" in Prior Lake. Got Mario (he's the doctor) on his cell phone and he said he'd come by in an hour and a half. He did.
One look and he said both our heavy coil springs were broken. He had replacements in the truck. This is the kind of project that retired pubishers should avoid. The torque on the springs is immense and you can lose a hand if you don't know what you're doing.
Mario knew exactly what he was doing. He said it would cost $199 to replace the springs. Once the springs were on, he could hear that the bearings were also shot.
"Hear them go click?" he asked. Stan couldn't hear it but didn't want to admit it. That would be $25 more. Go ahead.
Once the bearings had been removed, we checked them over and sure enough, they were shot, just like the man said.
Mario says a garage door lift system typically has about ten years in it. We got eleven out of ours and now we have new springs, new bearings, new grease and a tune-up. Couldn't be happier.
Mario got it all done in about half an hour, two quick to get his picture.
Broken garage door? Call the doctor. He makes house calls.
