Cables Fail Louder Than You Think

The lift cables run from the bottom corner brackets up over the drums on the torsion shaft, and they carry the load the springs are holding. They are wound strands of steel, and strands break one at a time. That is why a cable usually gives no warning you can hear until it snaps — but if you look, you can often see a broken strand sticking out of the cable or a rat nest of wire piling up on the drum. Once enough strands are gone, the cable lets go, the door drops on one side, and the panel that hits the floor usually cracks or bends. By that point it is a cable repair plus a crooked door.

Salt air is the reason we see more of this near the coast than inland. In Hallandale Beach, Dania Beach and along the beachside parts of Hollywood, cables, drums and bottom brackets corrode from the inside out, and a rusted cable loses strength long before it looks obviously bad. Fraying at the drum is often the first sign. We inspect both cables, the drums, the bottom brackets and the spring assembly, because a snapped cable usually means the springs are also tired. Then we release the tension with the proper winding bars, fit new cables, set the door level and rebalance it, and test the full travel before we leave. Attempting to swap a cable on a live torsion system is a genuine hazard, and it is not a job to take on in a driveway.