Garage door chain tight one side loose other

If you find your garage door chain sagging, you may need to adjust the chain to avoid issues in the future. Ignoring chain issues could result in problems in the future, so we have a few tips to help you get started.

In this article, you will learn how to tighten garage door chain and avoid problems in the future.

Contents

How to Tighten Garage Door Chain

The Importance Of Your Garage Door Chain

1. Take Safety Precautions

2. Find The Adjustment Bolt

3. Tighten Up The Chain

4. Reconnect The Power

5. Test The Opener

Maintaining Your Garage Door

How to Tighten Garage Door Chain

Have you found that the garage door opener chain belt is coming loose?

This is a common problem, as it will get loose as you use it. It will cause problems if you leave it though, so you’ll want to repair it sooner rather than later. 

Here’s how to tighten garage door chain to ensure your door works properly.

The Importance Of Your Garage Door Chain

The chain belt on your garage door opener is what moves your garage door, when you need to open and close it. Over time, it gets loose thanks to the vibrations in the system as it moves the door. The weight of your garage door also contributes to this. 

There are several ways you can tell if the chain is loose. If the garage door opener is more noisy than usual, that’s a good sign that it’s coming loose. You’ll also find that it can make the garage door jump the track. Hopefully, you’ll be able to catch the chain and fix the problem before this happens. That’s why regular inspection and maintenance is so important. 

Luckily, it’s quite simple to fix your garage door chain. Here’s how you can get it done. 

1. Take Safety Precautions

Before doing any work on your garage door or garage door opener, you need to take some safety precautions. You don’t want to be working on that machinery only for it to turn on while you’re dealing with it. 

Start by turning off the power to the garage door opener, and closing the garage door. Then, detach the garage door from the opener. There’s usually a manual release pull you can use to do this. Just remember to connect everything back up, once you’re done. 

2. Find The Adjustment Bolt

On your garage door opener, there should be an adjustment bolt for the chain. If you’re not sure where yours is, check the operation manual. It usually will be on the side of the trolley assembly. It’s a threaded fastener that has two nuts screwed onto it. One is the locking nut and the other is the adjustment nut, and they should have a divider between them. The locking nut will be closer to the opener. 

3. Tighten Up The Chain

Now that you’ve found the adjustment bolt, you can get started fixing your chain. You’ll need a half inch wrench for this, as you’ll start by loosening the locking nut. Once you’ve done this, you’ll be able to tighten up the adjustment bolt. 

Take care not to over tighten the nut, as over-tightening will lead to the rollers wearing out prematurely and more maintenance work for you. Tighten the nut until the chain sits about a quarter inch over a square rail, or a half inch over a T rail. If you’re not sure, you should err on the side of caution and leave it slightly looser. 

Now you’ve got the chain where it needs to be, you’ll need to tighten the locking nut again. You’ll need to wrenches for this, one to hold the adjustment nut in place, and one to tighten the locking nut. 

4. Reconnect The Power

You’ve done the work, so now you need to reconnect everything. Plug the opener back into the mains, and reattach the opener to the garage door. This is done either by pulling the manual release rope back until it snaps back into place, or opening the garage door with the wall button to make it reattach automatically. If you’re not sure which one you should do with your garage door, check your manual as it will have that info for you. 

When you do this, you may notice that the chain droops slightly. That’s not a problem, as once you reopen the door it will regain that tension. 

5. Test The Opener

Now everything’s tightened and back in place, you’ll need to test your repair. To do that, just open and close the garage door a few times. If everything has worked, then it should be working normally. If the chain is still slapping against the assembly, just repeat the above steps and try it again. This should be enough to keep everything in place until you next do a maintenance check on your garage door. 

Remember that if the chain is going slack often, that’s a sign that it’s wearing out and needs to be replaced. If that’s the case, then you’ll want to talk to your local garage door repair service, and they can arrange that repair for you. 

Maintaining Your Garage Door

Ideally, you’ll be doing these checks of your garage door chain when you’re doing annual maintenance on the door itself. A regular check is always a good idea, as it allows you to stop problems in their tracks before they get any worse. Plus, you’ll be able to avoid any unnecessary wear and tear on that chain. 

When maintaining your garage door, you should do some basic checks to see if anything needs to be repaired. For example, use a 2 x 4 to test the auto-reverse on the garage door opener, and ensure that it’s safe. Look at the balance of the door by opening it halfway, and seeing if it stays open. If not, that could be a sign that the springs need to be replaced. 

You’ll need to do some basic tasks too, such as lubricating all the moving parts, and repairing any dents that you find. Ensure you’re doing this maintenance regularly, and you won’t need to worry about expensive repair jobs later down the line. 

If your garage door chain is loose and rattling, you don’t have a lot to worry about. Just follow these tips and you’ll be able to get it working properly again in no time. Remember, good maintenance will ensure that you don’t have any major problems with your garage door, so always be sure to be doing those checks on your door. 

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