Garage Door Spring Replacement Explained: Torsion vs Extension, Why Both Springs, and What Drives the Price

How springs carry the door

A sectional garage door is heavy, and the opener is not what lifts it. The springs are a counterbalance sized to the door’s weight, storing energy as the door comes down and returning it as it goes up through two cables that run from the bottom brackets at the lower corners to drums near the top. When they are right, the door moves easily with one hand and the opener only guides it — which is why the instructions every opener manual must carry include install only a properly balanced garage door, and why DASMA’s checklist says the door, the operator and its entrapment protection all depend on a balanced door.

Balance can be observed without touching anything. Chamberlain’s balance test, like DASMA’s checklist, starts with the door closed: disconnect the opener with the release cord, move the door by hand — it should open and close easily with one hand — then lift it three to four feet and let go. A balanced door stays put, supported entirely by its springs; a slow rise or gentle fall is acceptable, and a door that slams shut or shoots upward is out of balance. Chamberlain’s page puts the rest in capitals: never adjust door springs, cables, pulleys or brackets; always call a trained door system technician if the door binds, sticks or is out of balance. DASMA adds that a door may begin to open the moment the operator is disengaged, so stand clear, and never run the test with a broken spring.

Torsion vs extension: which do you have?

Most doors use one of two spring systems, and a glance from the floor tells you which. Torsion springs are the tightly wound coils on a steel shaft above the opening, with the cable drums at the ends of the shaft. Extension springs are the long springs beside each horizontal track, one per side, that stretch as the door closes. A few brands enclose the springs — Wayne Dalton’s TorqueMaster hides them inside the shaft tube — so a break shows only as a door that will not lift. Both types are safe when correctly sized and contained.

Signs of a broken spring

The bang. A torsion spring stores its energy as a twist, and when the steel cracks the coil lets go all at once. Clopay describes it as a pop-bang-gunfire noise; Genie, a firecracker or a gunshot.

The gap. From the floor, with the door closed, a broken torsion spring is physically separated into two pieces with a gap between the halves. A broken extension spring hangs slack beside the track.

The door that won’t lift. With the counterbalance gone, the opener is lifting the door’s entire weight: it hums and nothing moves, or it raises the door a few inches and gives up. Chamberlain and Genie both list broken springs among the causes of that hum. A door that opens crooked usually means an extension spring has failed on one side or a cable has left its drum. See our garage door troubleshooting guide for what is safe to check from the floor; a trapped car or a hanging door is emergency garage door repair.

With a broken spring, do not lift the door, do not run the opener, and do not pull the red release cord — it hands the door’s full weight to whoever is holding it. The warning federal rules require in every opener manual: weak or broken springs may allow the door to fall rapidly, causing injury or death.

Why both springs are replaced

On a two-spring door, the spring that did not break is the one about to go: both were wound together and have made every cycle together. DASMA’s advice is unambiguous — if your door has two springs, replace both, even if one is not broken, to prevent the damage of the second break and keep the door working efficiently — and Clopay says the same, because springs are wear parts.

There is a balance reason too: a new spring paired with a fatigued one, or with a different size from an earlier repair, lifts unevenly; DASMA says an out-of-balance system wears other components early, and Chamberlain warns it may not reverse when it should. And a practical one: the second spring on the same visit is a part, not a second trip.

Cycle life: what 10,000 cycles means in years

Springs are rated in cycles, not years; DASMA defines a cycle as fully closed to fully open and back. Standard residential springs are rated at 10,000 cycles — Clopay says most springs are designed for that figure, Amarr says the same, and DASMA’s standard for commercial rolling doors sets 10,000 as the minimum with higher cycle life as an option.

What that means in years depends on use. Clopay says the average door cycles about 1,500 times a year, roughly four trips a day, so 10,000 ÷ 1,500 is about 6.7 years; Amarr says three or four uses a day should give at least seven. The table does the arithmetic for your door.

High-cycle springs are the same counterbalance rated for more cycles; Clopay’s commercial doors list the standard 10,000-cycle spring and upgrades to 25,000, 50,000 or 100,000. On a busy door the table is the whole argument; whether a higher rating fits depends on the shaft and the room above the door, and we price it as an option.

A rating is not a promise. DASMA’s data sheet lists what shortens spring life: a spring wrong for the door’s weight, the wrong number of turns, a door made heavier by paint or added hardware, rust, salt air, a door left open for long periods, and no lubrication; the last two are the owner’s share.

What drives the price

We do not publish a spring price: the honest number depends on the door, and it is written before anyone touches the springs. What moves it:

• Door weight and size. The spring is sized to the door’s weight, which rises with width, height, insulation, glass and wood; DASMA says the installer must verify the spring meets the door’s counterbalance requirement, not copy the old one.
• Spring type. Torsion and extension springs are different parts; an enclosed system such as TorqueMaster takes its own, and an extension-to-torsion conversion is a larger job.
• Cycle rating. A higher-cycle spring costs more and is listed as an option.
• One spring or two. A two-spring door gets two; a heavy door fitted with one is sometimes better served by a pair, which we say if it applies.
• What wore out with them. Lift cables fray, shaft bearings seize, and a drum can be damaged when a cable jumps it; replacing them with the springs is cheaper than a second visit.
• The hour. Weekends and evenings before 8 pm cost the same as weekdays. After 8 pm an after-hours charge applies, and after midnight it is an extra $300–$400 on top of the repair. Unless a car is trapped or the garage cannot be closed, we usually suggest the morning, at the standard $45 service call.

What does not move it: the brand. The spring is chosen by the door’s weight and dimensions, not its label, and Method services doors independently rather than as any manufacturer’s dealer. Anything else the technician finds is priced before it is touched, as on every garage door repair we do.

Why this is not a DIY job

The parts are sold online and the videos make it look like a half-hour job; the injuries come from what the videos leave out. A wound torsion spring holds the energy that lifts the whole door, and a tool that slips or a fitting that lets go releases it at whoever is on the ladder; Amarr says you don’t want that strain to lash out in your direction, and Clopay says do not attempt this on your own.

The less obvious hazards are the ones DASMA lists for installers: a spring that does not match the door’s weight, the wrong number of turns, a spring wound backwards, cast fittings cracked by a drop. The cables and bottom brackets are, in DASMA’s words, under extreme tension, to be adjusted or loosened only by a trained door systems technician. So we give no steps, and neither does anyone who does this for a living; our spring repair service is the qualified service person the opener manual tells you to call.

What the visit includes

On the phone we ask what you heard, whether the door is open or closed, and whether you can see a gap in a spring; a trapped car or a hanging door is dispatched as an emergency. On site, the technician identifies the system and sizes the replacement to the door rather than to the broken spring, since an earlier repair may have fitted the wrong one; where the weight is in doubt, DASMA’s method is a scale with the counterbalance disabled.

You see the price in writing — springs, any cables, bearings or drums that should go with them, higher-cycle springs as an option — and approve it before work starts. Both springs on a two-spring door are replaced, the tension is set to the manufacturer’s specification, and the door is tested as Chamberlain and DASMA describe: by hand, then at three to four feet, where it has to stay put, and the opener’s reversal with a 1½-inch block. A cable off its drum is an off-track repair and a damaged opener is opener repair, quoted on the same visit.