Lift cables connect the bottom of your door to the springs. When one frays, snaps or jumps off its drum, that side drops and the door hangs crooked. We secure the door, release the spring tension, replace both cables, check the drums and bottom brackets, then rewind the springs and balance the door. Do not run the opener until it is fixed.
What you get
- Both lift cables replaced as a pair and tensioned evenly so the door sits level
- Cable drums checked for cracks and worn grooves, replaced when needed
- Bottom brackets inspected for rust and replaced while the tension is off
- Springs rewound, door balanced, opener force and safety reverse tested
- Door set back on its tracks if the cable pulled it crooked
What the lift cables do
On a torsion spring door, a steel lift cable runs from each bottom bracket up the side of the door to a grooved cable drum at the end of the torsion shaft. As the springs unwind, the drums turn and wrap the cables, and the door rises. On an extension spring door, the cables run over pulleys to the springs along the tracks.
Either way, the cables are the only link between the springs and the door. When one frays or snaps, that side loses its lift, and the door tilts, jams or stops halfway.
Safety: cables, drums and bottom brackets are under full spring tension. Never loosen, adjust or unbolt them, never run the opener with a snapped cable, and keep everyone out from under a crooked door.
Frayed cables and cables off the drum
Most cables fail at the bottom, where they meet the bottom bracket a few inches off the floor. Water, floor cleaners and salt air collect there, the strands rust, and they start breaking one at a time. Look for loose strands, rust or a kink near the bracket.
A cable comes off its drum when it goes slack. That happens when the bottom of the door lands on something while closing, when the door binds in the track, or when a spring breaks. The slack cable jumps its groove and unwinds off the drum.
Doors near the water in Imperial Beach tend to fray cables sooner. The cable snapped or off the drum page lists the signs.
Need a garage door cable replaced today?
Call or text with your address, single or double door, and what the door is doing. The price is firm before the truck leaves the yard.
Drums and bottom brackets
A cable drum is a grooved wheel locked to the torsion shaft with set screws. Drums wear where the cable rides, and a cast drum can crack, especially after a cable has jumped off and been run crooked. A worn or cracked drum throws the new cable off again, so we replace it rather than reuse it.
The bottom bracket, also called the bottom fixture, holds the lower end of the cable and the bottom roller. It is under spring tension whenever the springs are wound, so it must never be unbolted until a technician has released that tension. On coastal doors these brackets rust thin around the bolts, and we swap them while the springs are unwound.
Cables only, or cables plus springs
Cables and springs work as one system, so we decide them together.
- Cables only when the springs are fairly new, show no gaps or rust, and the door balances once the new cables are on.
- Cables plus springs when the springs are original or near the end of their cycles, when a broken spring threw the cables, or when the door will not hold halfway. A cable job on a torsion door means unwinding the springs anyway, so doing both saves a second round of unwinding.
- Always both cables, since they went in on the same day, carry the same load and see the same rust. They must be tensioned evenly, or the looser one slips off its drum.
On houses in Bonita that still have the springs and cables they were built with, both are usually due. The spring side of the job is on our spring replacement page.
How a cable job goes
- We clamp the door so it cannot drop or rise.
- We unwind the springs and take the load off the cables.
- If the door is crooked or off its track, we level it and set the rollers back in.
- The old cables come off, the drums and bottom brackets get checked, and worn parts are replaced.
- New cables go on and wrap the drums with matching tension on both sides.
- We rewind the springs, confirm the door holds halfway by hand, then test the opener force and safety reverse.
On an extension spring door we also check the safety cables that run through the springs, since those keep a broken spring contained. A straightforward pair of cables takes about an hour.
Cable and Drum Replacement: common questions
How long do garage door cables last?
There is no fixed number of years. A lift cable wears where it meets the bottom bracket, because water, floor cleaners and salt air collect there, and where it rides the grooves of the drum. Replace a cable when it shows broken strands, rust or a kink near the bracket. We look at both cables on every spring job, since the two parts wear together.
Do the cable drums need replacing along with the cables?
Not always. A drum is replaced when its grooves are worn, when it has cracked, or when it has slipped on the shaft, and cast drums often crack after a cable jumped off and the door was run crooked. A worn drum throws a new cable off again. With the springs unwound for the cable job, we check both drums and show you any we would replace.
Should both garage door cables be replaced at the same time?
Yes. Both cables were installed together, carry the same load and see the same rust, so when one frays the other is rarely far behind. Replacing both also lets us tension them evenly, so the door rises level and neither side carries more than its share of the weight.
Do you replace the cables on extension-spring doors too?
Yes. On an extension-spring door the lift cables run from the bottom brackets over pulleys to the springs along the tracks, and we check the pulleys for worn bearings or cracks while the cables are off. We also check the safety cables that run through each extension spring, because they keep a broken spring from whipping across the garage, and some older doors are missing them.
Should the springs be replaced when the cables are?
Only if they are due. Replacing a cable on a torsion door means unwinding the springs, so if they are original or near the end of their rated cycles, replacing them on the same visit saves unwinding the door again later. If the springs are fairly new and the door balances, we leave them. We show you the springs, and you decide.
The FAQ page has more answers. Not sure which part failed? Send a photo and we will name it.
Where we do this
We cover all of San Diego County, same day in most cases. Some of the places we work:
Related guides
- Broken Garage Door Spring: What to Do Right Now: Heard a loud bang in the garage? How to spot a broken spring, why the door stays shut and the opener off, and what to do while you wait for the repair.
- Garage Door Maintenance Near the Coast: A San Diego Guide: What salt air does to garage door springs, cables, tracks and brackets near the San Diego coast, what you can safely maintain, and a seasonal checklist.
- Torsion vs Extension Garage Door Springs: What's the Difference?: How torsion and extension garage door springs work, how to tell which you have, pros and cons, safety cables, conversion and what each means for repair.
Ready to get the door moving again?
One call or text gets you a straight answer and a firm price before the truck rolls. Mon to Sat 7am to 7pm.