Ewing sits just north of Trenton along the Delaware River, with The College of New Jersey and Trenton-Mercer Airport inside its borders and a housing stock that leans toward modest post-war homes. Many of those houses have garages that have been through several doors and openers, and the spring system is often the first part to give out.
A broken spring is the failure most likely to leave a car stuck in the garage, so this page starts there and then covers the rest of what keeps a door working in Ewing and in nearby Trenton, Lawrence and Hopewell.
Why torsion springs break
A torsion spring is the tightly wound coil on the bar above the door. It does nearly all of the lifting: as the door closes, the spring winds up and stores the door's weight as tension, and as it opens, the spring unwinds and does the work. The opener mostly steers.
Every spring has a finite cycle rating, and each open-and-close counts as one, so a family that comes and goes through the garage can wear out a spring in a few years. Rust from humid Delaware Valley summers adds friction between the coils, and cold mornings make tired steel more likely to crack. The break usually sounds like a gunshot in the garage.
Signs a spring is failing or already broken
If you notice any of the following, stop using the opener. Running it against a broken spring can wreck the drive gear, kink the top panel or snap a cable.
- A visible gap of a few inches in the coil on the bar above the door.
- The opener strains, the door rises a few inches and stops, or it reverses right away.
- The door looks crooked as it moves, or one lift cable has gone slack.
- With the door closed and the opener disconnected, the door feels far heavier than it used to.
Why spring work is not a DIY project
A wound torsion spring holds a large amount of energy. Winding or unwinding one takes proper winding bars, practiced technique and knowing how many turns the door needs. A slipped bar or the wrong tool can spin violently and cause serious injuries, and online videos rarely show how fast that happens.
There is also a sizing problem. A spring has to suit the door's weight, height and drum size. The wrong wire size or length throws off the balance, which overworks the opener and can make the door slam shut or fly open. A technician weighs or measures the door and chooses springs to match.
Older extension springs and torsion conversions
Some older homes in the township still have extension springs, the long springs that stretch alongside each horizontal track. They work, but if one snaps and no containment cable runs through it, pieces can whip across the garage. If you have extension springs, make sure those cables are in place.
Converting to a torsion system gives smoother, more controlled movement and is often worth doing when both extension springs need replacing anyway.
What a proper spring repair includes
A good spring replacement is more than swapping the coil. Before you agree to a quote, ask whether it covers these steps:
- Sizing springs to the door's actual weight, not just copying the old spring's label.
- On doors with a pair of springs, replacing both at once, since the survivor is nearly as worn.
- Inspecting lift cables, drums and bearings while the system is unloaded.
- Balancing the door so it stays put when stopped halfway.
- Testing the opener's force settings, auto-reverse and photo-eyes after the repair.
Last updated by the American Garage Door Team.