Garage Doors Repair: Understanding Garage Door Rollers

In a typical garage door, there are more than a hundred small parts and technical components that are put there in order to facilitate and control the operation of the door and the opener mechanisms. Some of the technical parts of a garage door that we can think of include capacitor, springs, bearing plates, gear and sprocket, RPM sensor, cables and the rollers. The function of a capacitor is to store enough energy necessary to operate the motor when the user presses the button. Springs are the ones that lift the heavy doors up and down. Bearing plates are meant to turn the torsion tube. Gear and socket are integral parts of openers. The cables and rollers assist in the moving mechanisms. Most of the parts we listed require regular maintenance which is often neglected by the property owners. This article talks of maintaining the garage door rollers in particular.

You will find garage door rollers set inside the hinges. Depending on the motion of the door, these rollers move up and down. If you keep the door unused, the rollers will always remain intact without inviting any problems. The moving action that takes place several times a day accounts for wear and tear in rollers. Therefore, families that use the garage door very frequently face problem with the rollers. There are three kinds of garage door rollers namely steel, nylon and Teflon.

The most economical kind of roller is the nylon roller. Most newly installed doors come with nylon rollers. These rollers turn brittle over time and usage. Generally they do not hold up for long. While wearing down, they pop out and come off the track. This kind of roller also accounts for the deterioration of the gear and sprocket since when the rollers drag, these components experience more strain.

The next kind of rollers we find are the steel bearing rollers. These kinds of rollers show great performance in the beginning. However, they tend to report bad performance in about two years of installation. Though these are rather great kind of rollers, they do not have any bushing to hold on to the stem that allows them to roll up in a straight line. These kinds of rollers can report more damage since they are prone to pop totally off the stem causing a serious condition leading to the entire door to fall off. Also, these rollers make a big noise. Though these rollers are inherently noisy, the other reason for the noise is that metal is moving on metal accounting for a louder sound and undesirable noise.

In fact, the best kind of rollers is the Teflon bearing rollers. Garage doors fitted with this kind of rollers tend to be very quiet. Over and above, this type of rollers is known to be more durable even over heavy usage. Since these rollers tend to last for so long, most companies do not mind giving life time warranty on these rollers. When compared to the other two kinds of rollers, Teflon rollers have an added advantage. They feature a bush that holds the bearings firmly inside the roller far better than the other two kinds of rollers.

While attempting to replace your garage door rollers it is always wise to call professionals who are experts in the job since they will know what they are doing and they will implement best practices. More so, you need to exercise great care if you are attempting to change the bottom roller. Since it is connected to the cable, mishandling without precautions might result in serious injuries. If you think of replacing the garage door rollers, consider buying Teflon bearing rollers.