Garage Door Hinge Replacement - Continued

"If you choose to replace the hinges when your door is fully opened,
the spring tension is minimal but working overhead is a little more difficult"

Garage door hinge replacement requires a number of steps. Step One was selecting the proper replacement hinge. Following are the next steps for replacing your broken or damaged hinge or hinges. Please pay close attention to safety tips as you work through the process.

Step Two

If you have an electric garage opener, unplug it. Why? To keep someone from attempting to open or close your garage door while you are making the repair.  Not good.

Step Three

Although you can replace a garage door hinge with your garage door in the closed position, a door that is partially or completely raised can place the hinge at a more comfortable working height AND release tension on the door spring. My preference is to raise the door to a comfortable working height and lock the door in position with a set of securely fastened locking pliers or with a C-clamp secured to the door track under the door or to a block of wood under the door.

If you choose to replace the hinges when your door is fully opened, the spring tension is minimal but working overhead is a little more difficult. You will also need to support the door panel when you unbolt the hinge to keep the panel from sagging.

Step Four

Remove the nuts from the hinge bolts. If your garage door uses plastic hinges (argh!), they are likely attached using large, hex-head screws and you will need to remove the entire screw.

Step Five

Slip the hinge off the bolt(s) as you are tilting the hinge/roller assembly away from the door. This will enable the roller to come out of the door track. Garage door rollers are held in the track by the curved rail and they must be tilted to remove them.

Step Six

Remove the roller from the hinge. Your roller shaft may be held to the hinge with a retaining clip, so that will need to be removed first.

Step Seven

Insert the old roller shaft into the new garage door hinge and replace the retaining clip if that applies to you. Be sure to put the roller shaft in the same hole where it was located on the old hinge. If your roller is steel, this would also be a good time to put a few drops of light weight lubricating oil in the roller's ball bearings (3-IN-ONE® Oil Works well).

You might also consider replacing the old garage door roller with a new one at the same time you are replacing the hinge. For the small cost of a new roller, this is a good preventive maintenance measure and a future time saver. If your "old" roller is relatively new, this probably isn't necessary.

Step Eight

Insert the roller back into the garage door track by tilting the hinge/roller assembly away from the door and slipping the wheel into the track like you did in Step Five when removing the assembly. Slip the hinge back onto the hinge bolts if they are protruding from the door, or hold the hinge flush with the door over the bolt holes and tap the bolts back through the holes in the hinge.

Step Nine

Replace the hinge bolt nuts and tighten them.

Step Ten

Remove the clamps and any other creative paraphernalia you may have used to hold your door in place while replacing the garage door hinge, and test the door. If you have a garage door opener, it's best to disconnect it so you can open and close the door manually.

Testing manually will allow you to feel whether the door is binding or operating smoothly. If your garage door is binding, the door panels may not be properly aligned and you may need to adjust the hinge placement to line things up.

Once you are happy with the door operation, reattach and plug in the garage door opener, and you're done!

Installation of the Lift Bracket and Top Roller Carrier
require additional steps, care and caution.

Go to Step One of hinge replacement showing you how to SELECT the proper replacement hinge

Go to Lift Bracket and Top Roller Carrier installation instructions

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