Garage door openers

It looks like my mid-70s-era Craftsman garage door opener has bitten the dust. Since I know nothing about garage door openers, figured I'd ask you all...

Chain, belt or screw drive?

How hard are these things to install.

Overhead door will be happy to sell me one for $340, installed, and it looks like I can DIY for less than half that.

My folks have a chain drive. I put a screw drive in my old garage. For the life of me, I can't remember what brand it was. My current GDO is belt drive (came with the house). If/when I have to replace it, I WILL put in a screw drive like I had at my old house. That sumbich was fast and quiet. Smoothest GDO I've ever seen. 'Course, that might have been because of the new overhead that I put in at the same time.

They are really not bad to install yourself.
Chain is the strongest, but noisy.

Belt is strongish, and a lot quieter. Good for an attached garage.

Screw drive is quietest, but not as strong.

Dont get the cheapest model, if it doesn't include all the remotes, they are expensive to buy afterwords.

Joey

+1 for screw drive..... mine lifts a 16' wide solid wood door quite quickly.

another option is rarer, but someone sells a unit that mounts entirely at the front of the garage.

think commercial trucking bays...but for residential

They are not hard to install at all, though it helps to have an assistant to lift/hold the track and stuff. My decidedly non-mechanical wife was able to give me all the help I needed, and it was only for a few minutes.

I went with a middle of the road Craftsman. It's been about 5 years and it's still fine, though it always burns out one of it's two lights, must be a bad socket on that side. It's a chain drive, and it's not that loud inside the house, which is all I care about. You can hear it, but it's just a low hum. I wouldn't spend the money on a belt or screw. If I had a bedroom above the garage or something, I might, but I don't.

+1 on chain drive and not the cheapest...I did both, and was also dealing with craftsman. I think I got a step up from cheapest ($75 on sale IIRC) to lift a single door for a standard 2 car garage. Most of the attachment hardware between the door and chain/pulley system was a direct swap (my old model was an early 90s unit, so YMMV), but all I had to do was pop the new motor in the system, replace the chain and such and use the new systems sensors. Other than that, it was litteraly a motor swap. No real measuring or anything too difficult. Reused the old rail and connectors to the door/ceiling etc. Was even able to use the same wires for the switch on the wall, so no new wires to run. All said and done, I think I spent ~2 hours including adjustments to lift force and travel adjustments. I really like craftsmans door openers, and will be a customer in that department again whenever the time comes. I would stick with them.

FWIW, make sure the door isnt LATCHED before trying to operate the door for the first time...I spent a solid half hour trying to figure out why when I clicked the remote, the door would move up a few inches, and then the whole thing looked like it was trying to implode into my garage...rails bending, gears grinding, metal squeaking. Im lucky my force was turned all the way down, or I coulda done some real damage.

Oh yeah, door is single-bay (about 8' wide or so) and is wood. It's a heavy sucker, but the springs were replaced last year.

the screw drives are supposed to be the best and smoothest/quietest operating ones, but they're a bit more expensive iirc. A buddy and I installed one (chain drive) in his new house once over a weekend. Made the 75 bucks or so that sears charges seem worth it.

Kinda like ceiling fans, once you figure the first one out, the balance are easy to do. I like to hear the noise as I know if someone is home or going out......

Last summer the F-I-L went to Alabama and I cut his grass. Most tools are in the shed but the blower and cord, so I was going to carry the cord and blower through the house to do the driveway. I then figured that it was hokey to carry the tools through the living room so I punched the button only to watch his entire shaft bend in half towards the roof of his Le Sabre.

Somebody (F-I-L) had thrown the door latch into the rail to lock the door. (you know, planes flying overhead trigger doors to open)

And I wonder why I removed my lock when I installed my opener. So I had an opener to NOW install that weekend.

Strizzo wrote: A buddy and I installed one (chain drive) in his new house once over a weekend. Made the 75 bucks or so that sears charges seem worth it.

+1

If there is a bedroom or other area you want quiet immediately adjacent the garage, I'd get a screw drive. Otherwise, I'd get a chain.

Incidentally, my Grandmother has a chain drive (Overhead Door, I think) that is quieter than the screw drive (Geenie, I think) in my parents' house.

I've installed a chain drive to replace a dead one, and it was easy peasy. In the current place I installed a screw drive from scratch, and it sucked - nearly 6 hours of screwing around with that sucker. It's noiser in the house than I like and would have expected. One of these days I'll put some thick rubber washers on all the connections on the mounting brackets and see if that makes a difference. Of course, I've been saying that for 5 years now LOL. I also need to clean and re-lube the opener and all the garage door joints and rollers when I get around to it, that should kill many of the squeaks I hear now.

For anyone who has basic mechanical skills, its an easy install. As long as you have a step ladder, you can do it yourself. I've installed 4 over the last 10 years, all chain drive, and they're all still working fine today.

I have a screw drive Genie and it's been pretty good so far (5 years). Chain drive is probably stronger but has a lot of slop. As far as installation: if you put the bracket over the door up first, then put the slotted L brackets on the ceiling where the motor needs to go you can lift it into place and hang it temporarily with a couple of those good quality rubber bungee cords. Makes it a lot simpler.

My dad always had Craftsman openers and he replaced each of them at least once every ten years or so.

When I built my house, I went with Overhead Door units (chain), mainly because they were installing the doors and I didn't have time to install them myself, especially with 10.5 foot ceilings. They were worth every penny, by far the best openers I have used.

FWIW, my mom and I installed their first GDO when I was about 11. Pop was away for the weekend and we wanted to surprise him.

I've been in my house 22 years and had to change the Sears garage door opener for the primary space once. Both bays now have openers and both are 1/2 hp Sears chain drive units. Oddly enough, I did have to repair the one I bought for the second bay not long after I got it. I stripped the plastic drive gear. Bought the replacement part and it wasn't too expensive or too ahrd to change.

A lot of folks on Garage Journal like their Chamberlains.

spitfirebill wrote: A lot of folks on Garage Journal like their Chamberlains.

I have a Chamberlain, and it's fine, but no better than the Craftsman in my previous house.

From what I've been reading, Chamberlain makes all the Craftsman openers. Sure looks like it.

+1 for 1/2-hp craftsman chain drive. easy to install, relatively quiet, faster than the 30-year-old genie screw drive that it replaced.

Tim Baxter wrote: From what I've been reading, Chamberlain makes all the Craftsman openers. Sure looks like it.

That would explain why my current Chamberlain seems no better than my prior Craftsman.

4 screw drive Genies at my house. I hear my wifes Altima with stock exhaust but not the opener. I had them installed for $350.00 each including the opener, labor AND steel door. Never a minutes trouble altho I did turn the impact sensitivity to max as I have a very busy 3 year old. I wnt that door to reverse NOW if it touches ANYTHING. My old house had a 20 year old Crapsman chain drive that would wake the entire neighborhood. Seems to me that screw drive would be simpler with fewer moving parts.

My opener used to blow the light bulb frequently. Installed a "rough service" bulb. Been in there several years.

billy3esq wrote:

Tim Baxter wrote: From what I've been reading, Chamberlain makes all the Craftsman openers. Sure looks like it.

That would explain why my current Chamberlain seems no better than my prior Craftsman.

My buudy who installs garage doors and openers said the Chamberlain and Craftsman are made by the same people. Buy whichever is on sale, he tells me.

Mine is 3/4 horse with battery backup. Important if the garage door is the only way into the garage, if the power is out. Not the case at my house, but it was on sale, and only 10 bucks more than the 1/2 horse. I wanted the extra power, as I have a 18 foot insulated door, and didn't want any trouble with over working the opener.

Just be sure to get a door with all the controls included, as they are RIDICULOUSLY expensive to buy after the original purchase. Like 40 bucks a piece. Two car units and a keypad will cost as much as a whole new opener!

Joey

I have a Chamberlain on one of my garages. The other is opened by Dr.Hess. I've had a Genie before. Back in the 70's, my dad went though openers all the time. The neighbors never had a problem. He asked them what they were using and they were all using Genies with screw drives. He bought one of those and never had a problem with it again.

We put a keypad on the one we have. It's on my extra house/garage. The keypad is battery operated with the "brains" inside and a keypad outside, connected by a phone-like cable. Just shorting the wires won't open it, if someone tried to break into it. It wasn't too much and I got it at a locksmith. It comes in real handy. Oh, and the receiver we have isn't compatible with the Lexus' built in opener, so we have to carry the opener in that car. If that's important to you, get a receiver system compatible with your vehicle's built in system.