CAUTION! Repairing a garage door cable can be dangerous!
We recommend utilizing a professional garage door repair company to repair garage door cables due to the potential dangers involved for those not trained. USE THE FOLLOWING INSTRUCTIONS AT YOUR OWN RISK. Overhead Garage Doors does not guarantee or assume ANY risks associated with the use of these instructions.
Disengage the door from the automatic opener.
Unplug the power to the opener to avoid an accident.
Manually open garage door.
Use a vise grip to block door on track while cable is fixed so the door does not move.
Proceed to remove cable:
Use a vise grip and tighten on shaft. Turn just enough to loosen cable. BE CAREFUL, if you turn the shaft too much, the cable on the other side comes off and you’ll spend half a day putting them both back on.
Use a screwdriver to pry cable end (a loop of cable that is hooked onto the garage door) off.
Slowly loosen cable and unwind off the cable roller. Be careful not to scratch the garage door. When you reach the other end of the cable, it will be fitted into a slot in the cable roller. Remove.
A 7 foot door uses a 8 foot 6 inch cable.
Use a vise grip to pinch end of new cable where loop is. and file it down to avoid a clicking sound that might occur. (This clicking sound does not hurt anything, but it may be annoying.)
On the other end of the cable, bend the end that fits into the cable roller slot. From behind, put endinto the slot and wrap the cable starting downward and then upward towards yourself. (Cable goes down on the side closest to the outside and up on the inside of the garage. Hold the cable down with a few fingers at all times while wrapping cable around.
When you are finished wrapping the cable, it will be 3 to 4 inches short of reaching the place where the loop hooks onto the garage door.
Using a screwdriver, remove the cable off the roller just a little so you can put the cable loop end on the garage door. Be sure to continue to hold the cable at all times on the roller. Then use vise grip and slip the cable section that you removed back onto roller.
Remove vise grip that is holding the garage door open and manually close the garage door. New cable is a little shorter than the older one on the other side of the garage door, so there may be a gap on one side.
Make mark on shaft for reference point. Loosen nut on shaft half turn, then loosen other one. Loosen both little by little alternating. Use vise grip to hold shaft so it doesn’t rotate.
Check if gap is closed. If so, then tighten shaft and remove vise grip.
DISCLAIMER: Best Overhead Doors does not guarantee that you will be able to fix your garage door cable and is not responsible or liable for anything related to the use of these instructions. USE AT YOUR OWN RISK.