Tempe · Extension springs and safety cables
Best Garage Door Spring Replacement Service Near Me in Tempe
If the springs on your door run along the tracks on either side rather than across a bar above the opening, you have extension springs. That changes the price, the parts and one safety detail most quotes leave out.
Above All Garage Door Service replaces both extension and torsion springs across Tempe. Torsion spring replacement runs $180 to $290 depending on size and whether the door takes one or two, extension spring work is quoted per pair with safety cables included, and the service call is $35. Arizona licence ROC338265, working the Valley since 2012.
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- AZ ROC licensed and insured, license ROC338265
- Written price before anything is touched
- Nate C. wrote this
Two different systems
Which springs you have decides most of the quote
Stand inside with the door closed and look up. If there is a steel bar across the top of the opening with a spring or two wound around it, that is torsion. If instead there are long springs stretched along the horizontal tracks on each side, that is extension.
Tempe has a higher share of extension systems than the newer east Valley cities, because it has more single-car garages, more small two-car doors on sixties and seventies tract houses, and more alley-loaded and townhome garages. Those are the doors builders fitted extension springs to.
They do the same job by completely different means, and a company that quotes you a torsion price for an extension door, or the reverse, has not looked at your door.
The detail most quotes omit
Four things an extension spring job must include
- Safety cables through both springs. An extension spring under tension that breaks becomes a loose piece of steel moving fast. The safety cable runs through the centre and contains it. On older Tempe doors it is very often missing.
- Both springs replaced together. They stretch at the same rate. A new one beside an old one pulls the door out of square.
- Pulleys and the cables checked. Extension systems run over pulleys that seize and fray cables. They are cheap and they are right there.
- The door balanced afterwards. Extension springs are adjusted by which hole the cable is hooked into, not by winding. Getting it one hole out is the difference between a door that stays put and one that drifts.
What each system costs and why
Torsion spring replacement here runs $180 to $290, driven by the wire size and length of the spring and whether the door takes one or two. Bigger and heavier doors use bigger springs and sit at the top of that range.
Extension spring work is normally quoted as a pair with the safety cables, and on a small or single-car door it is often the cheaper of the two systems to put right. The variable is usually how much of the hardware around it, pulleys, cables, brackets, has also worn.
Either way the full price is written before the work starts, and the $35 service call is the only figure you owe before that.
Should an extension door be converted to torsion?
- It is quieter and better balanced. Torsion holds the door more evenly and is easier on the opener.
- It needs headroom. Roughly twelve inches above the opening for a standard conversion, which many older Tempe garages do have.
- It costs more than a spring change. It is a hardware job, not a part swap, so it makes sense at the point where the extension hardware is worn out anyway.
- It is not required. A correctly fitted extension system with safety cables is perfectly safe. Anyone insisting on conversion for a healthy door is selling, not advising.
What we do on a Tempe spring call
We identify the system, measure what is there, quote the pair rather than the single, and fit safety cables on any extension door that does not have them, whether or not that was what the call was about.
Then the door gets balanced by hand with the opener disconnected, and the opener force and travel are reset afterwards so the new springs are not fighting old settings.
Spring systems
What Tempe homeowners ask about springs
How do I know whether I have torsion or extension springs?
Stand inside with the door shut and look. A bar across the top of the opening with springs wound on it is torsion. Long springs stretched along the tracks on both sides are extension. The two systems need different parts and are priced differently.
What is a safety cable and do I need one?
It is a steel cable threaded through the middle of each extension spring and anchored at both ends. If the spring breaks it keeps the pieces contained instead of letting them fly. Any extension spring door should have them, and many older Tempe doors do not. We fit them as part of the work.
Do both springs have to be replaced if one broke?
Yes on an extension door, and on a torsion door with two springs. They were fitted together and have done the same work, so the second is usually close behind. Replacing one means paying the labour twice within months.
What does spring replacement cost in Tempe?
Torsion spring replacement is $180 to $290 depending on the spring size and whether the door has one or two. Extension springs are quoted as a pair with safety cables included. The service call is $35 and the exact price is written before any work starts.
Tell us which springs you have and get the right number
Call (480) 405-0909 and say whether the springs run across the top of the door or along the tracks at the sides. That one answer gets you an accurate price on the phone.