How do Broken Garage Door Cables Affect the Overall Functionality of Your Door?

Garage door cables are engaged every time your door opens and closes. They wind and unwind around a drum or spool, adding friction to the entire operation. Over time this can cause the cable to wear down or break.

Broken garage door cables can be spotted by looking for signs of fraying or kinks. They should also be inspected regularly for rust and corrosion.

The Door Won’t Open

• The cables help counterbalance the heavy weight of the door, making it easy to open and close. If they break, the entire door will drop to the ground with tremendous force, possibly damaging your car or any objects stored inside the garage. It could also crush or seriously injure a child, pet or anyone who may be in its path of descent.
• Even if all of your cables are intact, they can be worn down to the point where they are no longer able to provide support for the door during opening and closing cycles. If you notice your door struggling, swaying or jerking as it moves up and down, this is a clear indicator that your cables are worn out.
• To replace a garage door cable, lift the door until it is fully opened and clamp a C-clamp or ladder underneath it to keep it from rolling down. Unloop the old cable from its peg at the bottom bracket and unwind it from the drum (if applicable). Thread the new cable onto the pulleys, ravel it, and loop it around a pin at the bottom of the door.

The Door Won’t Close

• The cables keep the door from slamming to the ground and sustaining serious damage. Without them, anything in its path -- from a bicycle to the hood of a car to a person -- would be crushed or severely injured.
• If the garage door won’t close, it could be that something is blocking the sensors. The sensors are located on either side of the garage door, roughly four feet above the ground. They are activated by a light or a pea-sized laser beam that each sensor sends out. If the lenses get dirty or something is directly in front of them, the sensors will misalign and prevent the door from closing.
• It is possible that you’ve inadvertently pushed the motor switch button inside of your garage or that a tree branch has blocked the sensor signal. This is a minor problem that can be remedied with some troubleshooting and possibly a reset of the motor switch.

The Door Won’t Stay Open

• A garage door relies on many components to function. If one of those cables snaps, it will transfer extra tension onto the remaining cable, making it work overtime to move your door up and down. Eventually, that additional strain will cause the remaining cable to wear out and break as well.
• The garage doors cables travel over a system of pulleys and wind on a cable drum to help lift and lower the heavy doors. Over time, the cables may wear from friction or weathering and rubbing against other hardware items like the track and rollers.
• A broken cable can also block the photo-eye safety sensors, causing your garage door to refuse to open and close. If this happens, remove any objects in the path of the photo eyes or call a service to have them realigned. The safety sensors consist of two pieces that align face-to-face across each side of your garage door, roughly four feet above the ground. When activated, each photo eye sends a pea-sized LED laser beam to the other, preventing the garage door from opening or closing until both are clear of obstructions.

The Door Won’t Stay Closed

• If you find yourself constantly pushing the lock button to open or close your garage door, it’s probably because it won’t stay closed. Fortunately, it’s a simple fix. Often, it’s just because the sensors’ beam is blocked by miscellaneous objects or dirt, and this can be remedied by moving the object. Sometimes, this will even reset the sensors’ LED lights so that they’re properly aligned again.
• In other cases, the sensors’ beams may be blocked by a physical obstruction that is too close to the door or by sunlight or glare. The solution here is to move the item away or call a professional to have the photo-eye components realigned correctly.
• The good news is that most problems with a garage door will resolve themselves once a professional technician addresses any underlying causes of the problem. This might include realigning the tracks or adjusting spring tension. A trained technician will also offer preventive maintenance advice to prolong the lifespan of your cables.

Visit us today to schedule a professional inspection and repair service for your garage door. Don't compromise on the functionality and safety of your garage door – trust our experts to get it back in proper working order.