To prevent major repairs to your garage door, regularly inspect your garage door hinges and rollers. Replace any broken or loose parts.
By design, you can’t replace a garage door roller without removing the hinge and you can’t fix a roller that is misaligned without first uninstalling the hinge.
The two factors that make replacing the garage door rollers potentially difficult is the weight of a wooden garage door and the spring tension.
It’s best to have a hardware store assistant/rep help you in purchasing the right number or rollers for your door.
The recommended way to repair a garage door is in the up position. This position minimizes the spring tension. Use c-clamps to stabilize the rollers on the garage door tracks six inches below the first side hinge of the door. Alternatively, you may use a longboard to wedge between the door and the ground, to safely hold it in the up position.
It’s very important to ensure that your garage door opener is unplugged for your safety.
To hold the sagging door panel in place when the hinge is removed, use a ladder, board or another person.
Loosen the nuts from the hinge bolts and tap the hinge bolts with a hammer for easy removal. Disengage the roller by tipping the hinge outward from the door. Pull the roller out of the track. Place a new roller on the hinge. The next step is to slide the roller onto the door track. Position the door hinge on top of the bolts until the hinge is positioned against the door section.
Rollers will usually wear out before hinges. Bottom rollers which do not have a hinge, will be associated with a garage door cable which attaches to the bottom roller bracket. First, remove all of the tension from the cable before you remove the bracket. Keep in mind that the weight of the spring actually exerts a fair amount of pressure.
Sometimes the cables are too difficult to disconnect since they may be permanently attached to the lower bracket. In this case, clamp the cable to the garage door track, while leaving a slight slack on side of the roller bracket.
When the bolts are fastened down, test the door manually before starting the power. Check that all of the nuts are tight. Restart the garage door opener, if you have one, and check that it works smoothly.
Garage door lubricant should be applied to the moving parts of your garage door either twice a year or one a year. For most of the garage doors moving parts a silicone spray will work fine. For the garage door track powdered graphite will keep your door moving smoothly.