Today’s garage door openers are sleek, high tech, quieter, and packed with innovative features. Unfortunately, they still have parts that wear out or simply go bad over time. One such part is the drive gear. This is the gear that transfers power to the rail or channel that opens and closes your garage door.
Why does this gear wear out? Well, for a couple of reasons. Gears on garage door openers wear out from the belt or chain not being adjusted properly. They also wear out when the springs on the garage door are either the wrong size or not properly adjusted to pull the weight of the garage door.
The Weakest Part of Your Garage Door Opener
Don’t misunderstand, the garage door openers today are capable of pulling up to 1000lbs of weight, depending on the horse power. However, garage door openers are designed to pull the weight with the assistance of the spring system, cables and pulleys and properly aligned tracks and properly functioning garage door rollers. Now if any of these are off, your garage door opener is going to have to bear more of the actual weight of the garage door. This is where your problems begin. Even though the garage door openers motor is capable of pulling large amounts of weight it does have an Achilles heel, the drive gear.
The drive gears are the weak link on almost every garage door opener. Some garage door openers like the lift master garage door openers have drive gears that are made of a softer type of material that’s when over stressed it becomes weak and begins to strip the teeth on the gear. With Genie garage door openers the gears are made of a harder type of material which breaks when it reaches its peak load over time. Bottom line, most garage door opener drive gears will wear out or break, especially if you don’t maintain your garage door.
First the Bad News
Replacing a garage door gear will run in the neighborhood of 100 – 150 dollars depending on the market that you live in.
The Good News
Replacing the garage door drive gear is a relatively simple repair that most do it yourselfer’s can perform on their own. Usually 1/3 of what a professional would charge.
So how do you know when your garage door openers drive gear is going bad?
- You hear a whirling sound while the opener is running but the garage door wont open.
- The garage door opens slowly or slips when opening.
If you do decide to save yourself a small bundle and do it yourself you will need to follow a couple of safety guidelines.
Before your work on your garage door opener
Always unplug the unit from the outlet to avoid electrical shock.
Disengage the unit from the garage door by pulling the emergency release (THE RED CHORD). This will prevent the door from being opened while performing the repair.
And finally, lock the slide lock or keyed lock to avoid being knocked of your ladder while doing the repair.
Then follow the manufactures instructions for replacing the drive gear assembly.
| Choose a gear below for your garage door opener repair below to save money |
 Lilft Master Drive Gear Only |
 Lift Master : Gear and Sprocket |
Lift Master Sprocket Assy.Recommended for easy installation |
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Genie Drive Gear |
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