Cables often jump the drums when the spring lets go.
Loud bang · door lifts a few inches and stops
Garage door spring replacement, and why it comes in pairs
Springs carry the weight of the door; the opener only steers it. When one snaps, the door turns into a few hundred pounds of dead steel. Garage door spring replacement is the most common repair call there is, and the one where a do-it-yourself attempt most often ends with an injury.
(888) 217-1757The call reaches an independent garage door company in your area to book a visit.
A garage door is balanced, not lifted. With healthy springs a 16-foot steel door weighing well over a hundred pounds can be raised by hand with one arm, because the springs cancel almost all of the weight. The opener is sized for that balanced door. Take a spring away and the opener meets a load it was never meant to carry.
Garage door torsion springs and extension springs
Most doors installed in the last few decades use torsion springs: one or two coils mounted on a steel shaft right above the door opening. Closing the door winds them up; opening it lets them unwind, and the torque turns two drums that reel in the lift cables. A spring breaks at a single point along the coil, and you can see the gap from the floor.
Older and lighter doors often use extension springs instead, one along each horizontal track, stretching as the door closes. They break more violently, because a stretched spring that fails can travel. The industry standard for counterbalance systems, ANSI/DASMA 103, requires each extension spring to be restrained, usually with a cable threaded through the coil and anchored at both ends. A spring without that cable is a hazard even while it works.
How long garage door springs last
Springs wear out by cycles, not years. DASMA’s sectional door standard, ANSI/DASMA 102, defines a cycle as the door moving from closed to fully open and back to closed. A standard residential torsion spring is typically rated by its maker for about 10,000 cycles, and longer-life springs rated for several times that are sold as an option. Two cycles a day is roughly 730 a year; a busy household that uses the garage as its front door can run through a standard spring in well under a decade.
Cycle rating is the maker’s number, and several things eat into it. DASMA’s technical sheet on spring life lists surface rust, which pits the wire and starts fatigue cracks; doors left open for long stretches in heat, cold or salty coastal air; the wrong number of turns at installation; and a door that has grown heavier than its springs were sized for, for example from layers of paint or something mounted on it. Coastal houses and garages that stay damp see springs fail early for exactly those reasons.
What garage door spring replacement involves
- The door is closed and clamped in the track so it cannot move.
- The unbroken spring is unwound with two steel winding bars, a quarter turn at a time.
- The old springs come off the shaft, the new ones go on, and the technician checks the drums, cables, center bearing and end bearings while everything is apart.
- The new springs are wound to the turn count for that door’s height and weight, then stretched slightly so the coils do not rub.
- The door is balance-tested by hand and the opener force and reverse settings are checked.
New springs are matched by measurement: wire size, inside diameter, length and wind direction. Many makers mark wire size with a color code on the spring, and the technician measures anyway, because a spring that is slightly off leaves the door drifting up or down and shortens the opener’s life.
Why this is not a weekend jobA wound torsion spring holds enough energy to break a wrist or throw a screwdriver across the garage. The accidents happen during unwinding, with improvised tools such as screwdrivers in the winding cone, and with set screws loosened while the spring is still under load.
Garage door spring replacement cost
Fixr’s national ranges from January 2025 put spring work at $120 to $350. The figure moves with a handful of things you can see from the floor: one spring or two on the shaft, the size and weight of the door, whether longer-life springs are chosen, and whether cables or drums are worn enough to replace at the same visit. A written price should list the springs by size, not just say “springs”.
A small advertised number does not always end as a small bill. A low visit fee followed by an expensive spring upgrade is a pattern worth recognizing; the guide to garage door companies near me covers how to compare two written prices fairly.
Garage door spring repair or replacement?
There is no repair for a broken spring; the coil cannot be joined. What sometimes passes as garage door spring repair is an adjustment: adding or removing turns on a spring that still works but no longer balances the door. That is legitimate when the door drifts, and it is still a job for someone with winding bars. If the door is old, heavy with water damage or missing sections, compare the spring bill with garage door replacement before approving it.
Garage door spring replacement: common questions
How do I know the spring is what broke?
Look at the shaft above the door. A broken torsion spring shows a gap of an inch or two between two parts of the coil. The sound is usually a single loud bang, often at night or on a cold morning, and afterward the opener lifts the door a few inches and gives up.
Why replace both springs when only one broke?
They went in together and have lifted the door the same number of times. The survivor is close to the end of its life, and a new spring paired with a tired one leaves the door out of balance. Most technicians quote the pair for that reason.
Can I drive the car out with a broken spring?
Only if the door can be opened safely, and with a broken spring it usually cannot: the opener is not built to lift the full weight and the door can drop. If a car is trapped, say so when you call so the visit can be booked with that in mind.
How long does garage door spring replacement take?
On a standard residential door, about an hour once the technician is on site, a little longer if cables, drums or bearings are replaced at the same time.
Parts connected to the springs
Gears strip when an opener fights an unbalanced door.
Balance tests catch a tired spring before it breaks.
The full symptom table and what to leave alone.
Sources checked for this page. Page last reviewed September 25, 2026.