Garage Door Opener questions | GTAMotorcycle.com

Garage Door Opener questions

FLSTC

Well-known member
I have a sectional garage door with tracks and a garage door opener that is mounted in the middle. Two single doors actually, same arrangement.

I was just looking at wall mount openers that spin the spring-rod (counterweight) instead of pulling on the top edge of the door.

Then was thinking that maybe I could just move my existing openers off to the side of the door instead of central.

Thoughts? Too much stress on the side will cant the door making it difficult to lift?

Would free up some storage space above... Central tracks get in the way sometimes, especially as I have a higher ceiling on one side.
 
I am not a garage door expert. If your door is like any door I have ever worked with, it would not play nicely with an offset opener (it would rack like crazy and probably pop some wheels out of the tracks assuming it didn't bind completely solid).

There is an easy test. Disconnect the opener and attach a strap where you want to put the opener and open and close it by hand to see if it binds up.

EDIT:
If you really want to free up space, roll up doors are amazing and have become more affordable and less ugly with time. I'm still not sure they are ready for prime time in residential though.

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Put a rack in over top?

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I think GreyGhost has the answer, offsetting the opener will rack the door out square over time, or almost instantly, they just aren't designed for a side load like that.
 
As long as the spring bar has cables and pulleys on both ends, and the opener acts directly on the spring bar, there shouldn't be any issues as far as I can see.

Edit: FWIW I used to install garage doors many years ago. I have never installed an opener that mounts to the end of the spring bar.
 
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Yeah, the one gatekeeper shows mounts to the springbar. But it got me thinking if I could move my regular track opener from the middle to one side. I’ll try a manual side pull first as greyghost suggests to see how the door works like that.
 
manual pull from the side won't be putting the same forces as an opener. I'm inclined to think that the opener offset from the center will twist the door in the tracks after some time.
 
Yeah, the one gatekeeper shows mounts to the springbar. But it got me thinking if I could move my regular track opener from the middle to one side. I’ll try a manual side pull first as greyghost suggests to see how the door works like that.


Gotcha, in that case I'm with Riceburner on this one. Over time it will cause the door to twist in the tracks.
 

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