• mondo_brondo@lemmy.world
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    11 months ago

    Surely they meant “garage door spring”, which can be quite dangerous if you don’t know what you’re doing while replacing them.

    • Darkassassin07@lemmy.ca
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      11 months ago

      Yup. (during install) You often use two short 1/2" steel rods to wind tension into the spring, using one to hold the tension while you move the other to the next position and/or lock down the set screws that keep it in place.

      If you do this incorrectly and slip, that spring will unwind in a hurry and usually throw one of those ~5lb steel rods with enough force to put it through a wall.

      One of those hits you you’re gonna have a bad time.

      • Big_Boss_77@kbin.social
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        11 months ago

        I can’t even explain it… but this is easily one of the most terrifying things I’ve done. It’s not complicated, just nerve wracking…

      • dual_sport_dork 🐧🗡️@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        Those are the torsion ones. The tension spring kind will just whip you with a steel cable that’s going fast enough to amputate fingers.

        Always put the spring in its least tensioned position (door up) before fucking with it.

        • Darkassassin07@lemmy.ca
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          11 months ago

          If you can… Often the door in the up position blocks access to the springs, leaving you no choice but to do it door down. Part of the reason it’s so dangerous. Wouldn’t have to manually build so much tension if you could leave the door up to install them.

      • OhmsLawn@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        Yeah I did that once. Scary as fuck. I definitely kept my body off to the side and made absolutely certain that I had the bars fully seated. Still, probably not going to do it myself next time.