An opener chain is one of the most reliable garage door types ever invented.
Despite making a noise during the operation, it can be easily fixed when it’s damaged.
Another thing is, it’s cheap, which is why most homeowners choose this type of garage door.
While maintenance is crucial to prevent damage to your garage door opener chain, the opener chain is still susceptible to damage.
If your opener chain is old or wearing due to frequent usage, here are the steps to consider on how to fix a busted garage door opener chain.
Procedure on How to Fix a Broken Garage Door Opener Chain
Maintenance can prevent further damage to garage doors.
But as mentioned, factors such as age and frequent usage can affect an opener chain’s performance.
If you begin to see problems on the opener chain, consider these methods to fix them.
Step 1. Inspect All Areas and Parts
Before starting the repair of the opener chain, determine if the opener chain is the problem with your malfunctioning garage door.
To inspect the problem, operate the garage door multiple times and check the opener chain’s performance.
If the garage door gets stuck once you either open or close it, there must be a problem with the opener chain, opener motor, or carriage assembly.
To isolate the opener chain problem, close the garage door and unplug the opener motor’s power source.
Inspect the carriage assembly if the nuts are in place.
Also, check the opener motor wiring system if it is in good condition. Lastly, check the opener chain for corrosion.
If there are no problems with the carriage assembly and opener motor, the opener chain must probably be the culprit for your faulty garage door.
Step 2. Apply Grease to the Opener Chain
Once you have narrowed down the issue to the chain, address the rust problem first if you see it.
Rust can promote friction between the chain and the carriage assembly, which might affect the moving mechanism of overhead doors.
Depending on the corrosion level, you need to apply a lubricant in different ways.
For minor rust, apply a lubricant to a clean towel and wipe the towel with the product to the chain’s surface.
For heavy corrosion, remove the chain from its place and soak it in the lubricant for hours.
This will get rid of the rust that is residing in the chain.
After, use a dry towel to remove the chain’s grease to prevent dirt from sticking to the chain.
Step 3. Repair the Carriage Assembly
If your chain is rusty, there is a possibility that the carriage assembly might also be affected by the corrosion.
To deal with it, apply lubricant to the rusty areas of the carriage assembly and let it soak for a few hours.
After lubricating the chain from the previous step, you need to return it to the carriage assembly.
Use a step ladder to carefully assemble the chain into its place.
Then, adjust the chains as needed to make sure it is working correctly.
In some cases, you can adjust the bolts which are located inside the carriage assembly.
The nuts fasted these bolts in place to make sure they don’t go anywhere.
For this case, loosen the bolts to place the chain back in its place.
Then, secure the nut and bolts to their position.
Aside from rusting, chains can loosen as well.
To fix a dangling chain, you can watch this video for the procedure.
Step 4. Reconnect the Motor
Once the chains are fixed, reconnect the opener motor.
Then, test the door’s functionality by opening and closing it.
Make sure there are no issues you can hear on the operation.
If there are still issues, ask help from a garage door repair company near you on how to fix a busted garage door opener chain.
Leave the repairs to Garage Door Pitt!
While opener chains can be easily fixed, you need to have the necessary handyman skills to pull off the job.
Follow the steps above to prevent problems from occurring again.
However, there are cases that minor repairs are not sufficient in bringing back the excellent condition of your opener chain.
With this, you can check the issue with Garage Door Pitt.
We offer 24 7 garage door repairs since we know issues on the opener chain can happen any time.
We are available 24/7 to cater emergency requests. Call our team in Pittsburgh, and we’ll fix your opener chain!
