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So my son arrives for the weekend, calls inbound, low volts, thinks the alternator is dead [it is, 8 volts], dark when he arrives. Next morning go to diagnose the situation, cannot open the garage, the spring detonated during the night. So dead vehicle in the driveway and two Saabs stuck in the garage.
So we muscled open the door, all 176 pounds, got alternator at advancedautoparts.com 25% discount, almost too good to be true, and picked up at the store and installed. That worked out well. [Chevy Silverado]
So torsion springs are very hocus-pokus. Seems that most are designed with an expectation of failure in 10K cycles. My double wide door had a single spring sized for 150 pounds, someone did that wrong. You can get thicker spring and make then longer so its is not too stiff. I will be ordering two springs with a life expectancy of 50,000 cycles. Replacing rollers and winder shaft bearing and cables for good measure. The springs are custom wound to my specs and delivery is meant to be fast. All of this is cheaper than having a local guy install, replacing the spring identical to the old one.
Spring variables: Weight of door, height of door, number of springs [1|2], spring ID, life expectancy. Diameter of winding drum [typical 4"] and door height translate to number of turns on the winding drum shaft and the spring. From there, everything else is combinations of wire gauge and length to get the required spring rate and number of turns tolerance.
The springs will live longer than I will, but I will give them a run for the money; my dad is 97, lives in Canada and shovels snow, drives to the store every day, cooks really good meals, has a GF and a social life.
Yes, these springs can be dangerous to work with.
I will update when the parts arrive.
posted by 64.216.10...
, Mon, 26 Mar 2012 22:09:54
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