Dodged a bullet.....

marcredd

marcredd

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So, the car has been in my garage for the last week under the cover. I decided to start it and pull it out in the driveway for a few while I vaccumed out the daily driver.

Here is where it gets crazy. I left it in the driveway because I decided to drive it later. Closed the garage door and went back in the house. About 4 minutes after being in, I hear this incredibly loud thud. One of those "something" bad just happened thuds. I first ran outside to make sure a car had not run off of the road and hit the house or the car. Nothing there.... Checked out okay. Then I walked around the inside of the house and looked out in the backyard......nothing. Then I thought about the garage area.....and guess what??? One of the main springs came off and God only knows what it hit when it came off and turned into a projectile.

Thank God I decided to leave my car in the driveway.....dodged a bullet(damn near literally).

Whew...
 
Thats crazy! Imagine if someone were in the garage when that happend....true tv stuff right there.
 
That could have hit your new lse valences!!!!

You are one lucky guy.
 
That happened when I was growing up. Fortunately the spring didn't hit the car. After that my dad put some heavy-duty rope through the spring so if/when it happened again the spring would be contained and not become a missile.
 
^^Excellent idea and I really do need to have that done. Thank you for the tip.
 
LS4me said:
That happened when I was growing up. Fortunately the spring didn't hit the car. After that my dad put some heavy-duty rope through the spring so if/when it happened again the spring would be contained and not become a missile.
Click to expand...

X2, if you have an older one. My garage has a steel bar through the spring so I don't think I have to worry about anything other than the door coming down.
 
all the garage door that i have seen have a very large spring that basically off sets the weight of the door when being opened, if you have ever opened a door by hand, the spring uncoils and basically lifts the door for you, this is how you can lift a 1oo pound door with one hand, and also how a small sub horse power motor can do the job for years


regardless, it is a very large spring usually over the very front/top/center of the door, this spring has a sh!t ton of torsion twisted in it (kinda like the spring on a loaded mouse trap, but at least 10-20 pounds instead of a gram) and is very dangerous if/when they let loose.
 
1LoudLS said:
all the garage door that i have seen have a very large spring that basically off sets the weight of the door when being opened, if you have ever opened a door by hand, the spring uncoils and basically lifts the door for you, this is how you can lift a 1oo pound door with one hand, and also how a small sub horse power motor can do the job for years

regardless, it is a very large spring usually over the very front/top/center of the door, this spring has a sh!t ton of torsion twisted in it (kinda like the spring on a loaded mouse trap, but at least 10-20 pounds instead of a gram) and is very dangerous if/when they let loose.
Click to expand...

Ahh OK that's what I was thinking but wasn't sure. Those things have a ton of energy in them. That's lucky...
 
IM BACK!!!!

I've seen A TON of damage from these....

I had on break and grab a live extension cord... funny part was it shocked my buddy with 110 when he grabbed it, noting to me when i did... took a while before we saw the cord caught in it and realized i was wearing shoes !!!
 
I thought it was code to have a steel wire/cable through the center of the spring which would prevent the spring from going anywhere.

I was in my garage when one of the springs broke, fortunately the cable stopped what could have been a real problem.
 
Update....

Garage repairman came out today for an estimate. $100 to repair and run a cable through it. $180 to convert completely as to where the springs are installed just above where the door opens. More of the commercial look, for those trying to visualize what it is I am describing. He said the $100 type is safe and will correct my issue. Should be done Thursday.

The root cause was the metal strands around the pulley, which attaches to one end of the spring, failing.
 
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