Torsion springs are the workhorse of your garage door. They counterbalance the entire weight of the panels so your opener (or your arms) only has to nudge the door into motion. A standard spring is rated for about 10,000 cycles — roughly 7 years of typical use. After that, failure isn't a question of if, but when.
Sign 1: The door feels heavier than it used to. Disconnect the opener and lift the door by hand. A healthy door takes maybe 8–10 pounds of effort. If it feels like you're deadlifting a couch, the spring is fatigued.
Sign 2: Visible gaps in the spring coils. Healthy torsion springs are tightly wound with no daylight between the coils. A 1–2 inch gap is a classic sign of a partial or complete break.
Sign 3: The door opens crooked or jerks. When one of a pair of springs weakens (or fails), the door rises unevenly and may bind in the tracks.
Sign 4: The opener struggles or won't lift the door at all. Your opener was sized to push, not lift. If it strains, hums or only opens a few inches, the spring is doing none of its job.
Sign 5: Rust, pitting or a loud bang from the garage. Surface rust accelerates fatigue. And if you hear a sound like a firecracker in the garage with no obvious cause — that's almost always a torsion spring letting go.
Never attempt to replace torsion springs yourself. They're loaded with several hundred pounds of force and require specialized winding bars. The internet is full of horror stories — broken arms, knocked-out teeth, worse. A professional swap takes about 60–90 minutes and most springs are stocked on our trucks. Call 970-541-4025 and we'll have you back up the same day.
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