How to Install Garage Door Extension Springs

Extension springs serve as a mechanism that allows the garage door to lift evenly on each side. After several years of opening and closing of the garage door, you may find it necessary to install new springs on your garage door. You purchase them and their replacement hardware at your local hardware store.

What You'll Need:

• 2 pairs of vise grips


• Wrench set


• Eye bolt

1. Take off the existing springs and raise the garage door until it is completely open. Ask someone else to raise one side of the open door evenly while you hold the door up with one hand and attach the vise grips to the track just under the bottom roller.


2. Attach an eyebolt to the rear hanger of the horizontal track and tighten it with a wench. Ensure that the open end of the eye is pointed up.


3. Connect one end of the extension spring onto the eye bolt.


4. Install the front pulley onto the other end of the extension spring and insert the "U" shaped clip inside the end of the spring. Connect the pulley by pushing it between the "U" shaped clip ends and secure it with a nut and bolt.


5. Locate the pulley and install it on the front portion of the horizontal track that is located closest to the header of the door opening. Connect the bolt through the track flag from the inside the track. Position the pulley on the bolt from the outside and secure it with a nut.


6. Pull the door cable upward and over the top of the pulley that is located on the track. Begin threading the end of the cable upward and over the top of spring pulley then back through the bottom of the pulley.


7. Continue threading the cable through the hole on the front of the three-hole holding plate. Find three or four adjacent holes that create the "S" hood on the front of the horizontal track.


8. Pull the cable until the string feels stretched. Take your other hand and align it with the other end of the three-hold plate that is closest to the adjusting hole and connect the cable to the plate.


9. Put the "S" hook inside the open end of the holding plate and insert the hook in one of the adjacent holes located on the horizontal track.


10. Attach one end of the safety cable on top of the eyebolt on the rear hanger. Insert the opposite end through the spring and ensure that it comes out on the opposite side of the pulley.


11. Pull the safety cable tightly and connect the end to the hole that is the farthest on the horizontal track.


12. Repeat these steps on the opposite side of the garage door and remove the vise grips.