Maintenance for your garage door is very important. Many tend to neglect this part of their property. They use it on a day to day basis, and don’t realize that like anything else, it needs to be taken care of. It is exposed to the elements; it uses many different parts that all need to work in unison for the door to function; and it gets a lot of use. One area that needs maintenance is the garage door pulley. What is the pulley? It consists of ball bearings, in addition to a clevis hook. It lets the torsion cable run when the garage door is being closed or opened. For weather resistance, the pulley is often made of galvanized steel. It is a very important part of the garage door and it needs to be maintained in order for everything to function smoothly.

Four pulleys can be found in connection with extension spring garage doors. There are two pulleys that are stationary, on the horizontal track. And there are two pulleys that have pulley forks which are connected to the springs on the horizontal track’s sides. It is a good idea to keep everything properly maintained because if the pulleys become worn or damaged, cable wear can occur and the garage door might not open and close smoothly. Yes, you can buy replacement parts, but why not try to maintain what you have? Proper upkeep can go a long way.

Now that you know what the pulley system is referring to, you are probably wondering how to maintain it. So, how do you maintain your pulley system properly? What are you supposed to do? Is this something you can do yourself or do you need a garage door expert for this? Keep reading to learn more and to get the answers you are looking for!

Some Things to Know

The garage door pulley might be worn if your garage door does not close and open as it is supposed to. Yes, many things can cause it to not function smoothly, but the pulley could easily be the culprit. Does your door open some of the way, or close some of the way and then stop? When you try to open it, does it go a portion of the way up but then close? Can you hear a noise that doesn’t sound right, like a scraping sound? Does the garage door stick? If any of these things are happening, it could be the result of a worn ball bearing, or even a split pulley or a damaged rivet. Of course, these are all issues that you do not want to deal with because you need to be able to use your door.

Another thing that can happen is the door might jerk in a sideways motion – if you notice it moving from side to side when you try to operate it, you might want to look at the pulleys as the potential problem. So, how can you know if you need pulley maintenance?

If you want to see if the pulleys are damaged or worn, you will want to remove the spring tension. You can do this by opening the door, which will eliminate a lot of the tension from the spring. You can hold the door up using grips on the track so it doesn’t come crashing down. The next step is to gently shake the pulley or wiggle it, if you will, in order to see if it moves a lot from one side to another. Shake the ball bearings to see if they are loose. While the bearings are attached to the pulley fork, twist them and see if they are turning smoothly. These are things that will tell you whether or not something might be off with the pulley system.

Proper Pulley Maintenance

One thing that is encouraged is replacing pulleys when the extension springs are replaced, as they might not be expected to last for more than 10,000 cycles. If your extension springs are worn out, the pulleys are likely to follow shortly behind. If the pulley is rough at all, it can cause issues with the door and its performance.

How to Maintain Pulleys

You can maintain your pulley system by keeping it lubricated, to start. Hinges, springs, pulleys and chains are all parts that should be properly lubricated in order to stay in good shape. You might want to check with your garage door manufacturer on the best thing to use to keep things lubricated, but there are quite a few products on the market that are worth looking into. You will find that keeping everything lubricated, including the pulleys, can prevent sticking, corrosion, rust and even squeaking noises from occurring. This can also help to lessen the accumulation of dust, which is a nice bonus.

Speaking of lessening the accumulation of dust, you are going to want to keep these parts clean. Simply brushing away dirt or dust can go a long way. Brushing off snow or ice is important, too, depending on where you are located. You might live in an area that sees very harsh weather conditions, and this is even more reason to maintain the parts of your garage door.

Take a damp rag to parts to keep them clean. Just be careful because there are so many parts that work together to make your garage door function, and you don’t want to damage one or mishandle it and cause your door to come falling down. So, only work on the parts of your door if you have confidence in doing so.

The garage door pulley might be worn if your garage door does not close and open as it is supposed to. Remember that all parts have to be properly maintained in order for you to enjoy a smooth functioning, safe to use garage door. Hopefully you now have a better understanding and appreciation of pulleys and know how to maintain this important part!