It happened on a Tuesday morning in February, which is honestly the worst possible time for anything to break in Connecticut. I hit the button to back the van out, the motor groaned, the door lifted about six inches, and stopped. One of the torsion springs above the door had snapped clean in half. I could see the gap from across the garage. Four boys to get to school, temperatures in the teens outside, and a 300-pound door that wasn’t going anywhere under its own power.
I’ll be honest — my first instinct was to call someone. Garage door springs have a reputation, and it’s not entirely undeserved. A wound torsion spring stores a significant amount of mechanical energy, and if you handle it carelessly or use the wrong tools, that energy releases in a way that can cause serious injury. But I did my research, I took my time, and I replaced both springs myself for about $60 in parts. A service call in our area for this repair typically runs $200 to $350 depending on the company and the spring type.
This guide is written specifically for homeowners who want to tackle this job safely and correctly. I’ll walk you through everything — how to identify your spring type, what tools you need, how to work safely with a tensioned spring, and how to get your door balanced and running smoothly again. I’ll also be straight with you about the one scenario where you should absolutely call a pro instead.
Know Your Spring Type Before You Buy Anything
There are two main types of garage door spring systems, and you need to know which one you have before you order a single part.
Torsion springs are the most common type on modern residential garage doors. They mount horizontally on a metal bar directly above the door opening, and they work by twisting under tension as the door closes. Most single-car doors have one torsion spring. Most double-car doors have two. These are the springs this guide focuses on.
Extension springs are the older, simpler type. They run along the horizontal tracks on each side of the door and stretch as the door closes. If you have springs running parallel to your ceiling tracks with S-hooks or clips at each end, that’s what you’ve got. Extension springs are generally considered safer to DIY because they hold less stored energy per spring, but the process is different from what I describe below.
Once you confirm you have torsion springs, you need to measure them correctly to order the right replacement. You’ll need the wire diameter, the inside diameter, and the length of the spring. You also need to know the wind direction — right-wound springs have coils that angle to the right when you look at them straight on, and left-wound springs angle to the left. On a two-spring setup, one of each is used. Measure carefully, because the wrong spring won’t work and could damage your door or opener.
What You’ll Need
- Two replacement torsion springs (always replace both, even if only one broke — more on this below)
- Two winding bars — these are solid steel rods, typically 18 inches long and 1/2 inch in diameter. Do not use screwdrivers, rebar, or other substitutes.
- A sturdy step ladder
- Two C-clamps or locking pliers
- A socket set or adjustable wrench
- A tape measure
- Safety glasses — non-negotiable
- Work gloves
- A marker or masking tape for marking the drum cable positions
Winding bars are the one specialized tool you absolutely must have. You can find sets online for $15 to $25. They are not optional. The winding cone on a torsion spring has holes specifically sized for these bars, and trying to substitute something else is how people get hurt. I keep my set in the garage now — once you own them, you’ll have them for life. If you’re still building out your toolkit, you might also want to check out my complete guide to building a DIY starter tool kit for a solid foundation.
Why You Should Always Replace Both Springs at Once
If one torsion spring on a two-spring system breaks, the other one is right behind it. Springs are sold in matched pairs and installed at the same time. By the time one fails, the other has endured the same number of cycles and is operating on borrowed time. Replacing both costs maybe $20 to $30 more in parts and saves you the exact same job again in three months. My 15-year-old was watching me work through this and asked why I was replacing one that wasn’t broken. It was a good teaching moment — preventive thinking is worth a lot more than reactive scrambling, whether you’re talking about garage springs or anything else in life.
Step 1: Disconnect the Opener and Secure the Door
Before you touch anything, unplug your automatic garage door opener from the outlet. Then pull the red emergency release cord to disconnect the trolley from the door. You do not want the opener engaging while you’re working.
Close the door fully and clamp it to the track with C-clamps or locking pliers on both sides, just below the bottom rollers. This keeps the door from flying open unexpectedly while you’re working with the springs. Double-check that the clamps are firmly seated before you proceed.
Step 2: Unwind the Old Springs
This is the step that requires the most care and focus. Put on your safety glasses now and leave them on for the entire job.
Insert one winding bar into the bottom hole of the winding cone on the spring. Hold it firmly with both hands. Insert the second bar into the next hole up, then remove the first bar. You’re “walking” the bar around as you release tension a quarter-turn at a time. Most residential torsion springs have 30 to 36 quarter-turns of tension stored in them when properly wound. Count your turns as you release so you know how many to put back in.
Work slowly. Never let go of a winding bar while tension is still in the spring. Keep your face and body to the side — not directly in front of the winding cone. When all tension is released, the spring will feel loose and the bar will turn freely. At that point, loosen the set screws on the winding cone and slide the spring off the bar toward the center bracket.
Repeat the process on the second spring if you have a two-spring setup.
Step 3: Remove the Cable Drums and Old Springs
With the tension fully released, loosen the set screws on the cable drums at each end of the torsion bar. Mark the drums’ position with tape before removing them so you can reinstall them in the same spot. Slide the drums off and carefully unhook the lift cables from them. Set the cables aside where they won’t get tangled.
Now slide the old springs off the torsion bar and take them to your workbench. Confirm that your replacement springs match — wire diameter, inside diameter, length, and wind direction. Double-check before you proceed. Installing the wrong spring is worse than not doing the job at all.
Step 4: Install the New Springs
Slide the new springs onto the torsion bar, positioning them so that the stationary cones are facing the center bracket. The right-wound spring goes on the left side of the center bracket (when facing the door from inside), and the left-wound spring goes on the right. Tighten the set screws on the stationary cones securely.
Reattach the cable drums, align them to your tape marks, and run the lift cables back into their grooves. Pull the cables taut and tighten the drum set screws firmly. Make sure the cables are seated properly in the cable drum grooves and not crossing over each other.
Step 5: Wind the New Springs
This is the reverse of the unwinding process, and it requires the same focused, unhurried attention. Insert the winding bar into the bottom hole of the winding cone and begin turning the spring upward in quarter-turn increments. Use the second bar to hold each position as you reposition the first. Wind the spring to the same number of quarter-turns you counted when unwinding — typically 30 to 36 for a standard 7-foot door, but this can vary based on door weight.
After winding, stretch the spring about a quarter-inch toward the end bracket by tapping the winding bar gently. This seats the coils properly. Then tighten the set screws on the winding cone firmly — usually two screws, tightened in alternating passes. Repeat on the second spring.
Step 6: Test the Balance and Reconnect the Opener
Remove the C-clamps from the tracks. Manually lift the door to waist height and let go. A properly balanced door will stay in place or drift only slightly up or down. If it falls quickly, the springs are under-wound and need more tension. If it shoots up, they’re over-wound and need to be backed off slightly. Adjust in one-quarter-turn increments until the door holds its position.
Once the door is balanced, reconnect the opener trolley, plug the opener back in, and run the door through several complete open-and-close cycles. Listen for smooth, consistent operation. If you hear grinding, uneven movement, or the opener is straining, recheck your cable tension and spring wind count before using the door regularly.
The Door and Access Systems Manufacturers Association (DASMA) publishes safety guidelines for garage door systems that are worth reviewing if you want more technical background on spring ratings and cycle life.
When to Call a Professional Instead
I want to be straight with you here, because I always would rather give you the honest truth than a false sense of confidence. There are situations where this job belongs in a professional’s hands.
- If your door is over 10 feet tall or unusually heavy (some commercial-style residential doors), the spring tension involved is significantly higher than average and much less forgiving of error.
- If your torsion bar, center bracket, or end brackets show signs of rust, cracking, or damage, replace the hardware before proceeding — or call someone if you’re not sure what you’re looking at.
- If your opener cable has frayed, kinked, or jumped its pulley, fix the cable before addressing the spring.
- If you attempt to unwind the spring and the winding cone feels stripped or won’t hold the bar securely, stop immediately and call a pro.
There is no shame in knowing where your comfort level ends. I’ve called professionals for basement waterproofing when the situation called for it. The goal is always a safe outcome, not a personal pride project. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has published guidance on garage door safety that reinforces this point clearly.
Connecticut Winters and Your Garage Door
Living in Connecticut, there’s one thing worth knowing about garage door springs that most guides skip: cold weather affects spring tension. Metal contracts in the cold, and a spring that was perfectly wound in October can feel tight and sluggish by January. If your door seems slow or straining during a cold snap, don’t immediately assume the spring is failing — give it a day and check again. That said, cold weather does accelerate spring fatigue, which is why I always recommend replacing springs before winter, not after they break during one.
While you’re thinking about your garage’s weathertightness, it’s also worth checking your pipe winterization if you have any water lines running through or near your garage — a frozen pipe in an attached garage is a bad day nobody needs.
The Bigger Lesson Here
After I finished the job that February morning, I brought my 12-year-old out to the garage and walked him through how the spring system works. He got his eyes wide when I explained how much tension those springs hold — and then he watched me demonstrate the proper winding bar technique on a loosened spring with no tension in it, just so he could see the motion. He’ll be old enough to do this job himself in a few years, and I want him to have the respect for it before he ever picks up a winding bar on his own.
That’s the point of all of this. Not just saving the $250 service call, though I’ll gladly take that. It’s the chance to look at something broken, understand how it works, do the job safely and correctly, and come out the other side with both the skill and the confidence that comes from having earned it. God gave us minds to solve problems and hands to do the work. A Tuesday morning in February turns out to be a pretty good classroom.
