Dallas, TX · Open 7 AM to 10 PMCall: (469) 264-8319

Garage Door Cable Repair

Frayed, slack and snapped lift cables replaced in pairs, with the drums checked and the door leveled.

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Garage door cable repair replaces the lift cables that carry the door's weight up and down. On a torsion door, a cable runs from a bottom bracket at each lower corner up to a grooved drum on the shaft above the door, as the DASMA glossary describes. When a cable frays, rusts through or slips off its drum, one side of the door loses its support, and the door hangs crooked or drops.

A door with a loose cable should not be moved, and the bottom brackets should not be loosened. They are under spring tension, and DASMA says the bottom brackets, cables and springs are for a trained door systems technician to adjust. We secure the door, release the spring tension, and fit a cable of the correct length and gauge; in most cases we replace both, because the second cable has the same age and wear.

We also look at what let the cable fail: a worn drum, a bent bracket, a loose track or a broken spring. Then we balance the door and test the opener.

Telltale Signs of Cable Trouble

  • The bottom edge of the door slopes down toward one side.
  • A loose cable dangles next to one of the tracks.
  • Strands are fraying near the bracket at the bottom corner.
  • Closed, the door looks tilted inside its frame.
  • Up at the header, a cable has unwound from its drum.
  • The door snags or jumps partway through opening.

Rain, Rust and Cable Ends

Cable ends sit at the bottom corners of the door, where rain splash and a wet driveway reach the bracket. Love Field averages about 38 inches of rain a year, and moisture on steel is what starts rust at a cable end. In our experience a rusted bottom bracket or a cable end worn thin is where a lift cable usually fails, even when the length above it looks sound. We inspect the bracket, the cable end and the drum together, and replace what shows wear before the next storm season.

Close view of a frayed lift cable wound on its drum
Two technicians on ladders fitting hardware around a door opening
Technician on a ladder working at the header of a windowed door

How We Replace Lift Cables

Step 1

Describe what the door is doing

A person answers and asks whether a cable is visible, which side is low and whether anything hit the door. Please leave a crooked door where it is.

Step 2

Inspect and quote

The crew checks both cables, the bottom brackets, the drums, the springs and the tracks. We give the exact quote on site before any work starts.

Step 3

Replace the cables

We secure the door and release the spring tension, then fit new cables, seat them in the drums and set the tension so both sides lift evenly.

Step 4

Balance and test

We check the balance at several heights and run the door through full travel with the opener, then test the safety reversal before we leave.

Cable Repair Prices

Garage Door Cable Replacement per cable
From $150
Diagnostic Service Call $0 with a completed repair
$0

Figures shown are where each job starts. Your door's weight, the parts it takes and the grade of hardware set the final number, which you see and approve at the house first.

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Lift Cable Questions

What usually makes a lift cable give out?
Cables wear from years of cycles, rust at the bottom bracket, a drum that is worn or misaligned, or a door that was forced while a spring was broken. Once strands fray the cable is on borrowed time. A snapped cable drops one side of the door, so we replace a frayed cable before it breaks.
Why does the door sit lower on one side than the other?
A cable that has frayed, snapped or slipped off its drum leaves one side without lift, and the door sags on that side. A broken spring, a bent track or a bad roller can do the same. Leave the opener off; running it can bend the track or pull the other cable loose.
If a cable has slipped off its drum, can the door still be used?
No. The door is no longer balanced, and the opener can push it into the track or drop a corner. Keep people and vehicles clear and leave the opener off. Cables and brackets are under tension, so a trained technician should reset them.
Should a homeowner try replacing a lift cable?
According to DASMA's safety tips, only a trained technician should replace a lift cable, since the springs behind it hold the door under heavy tension, and the bottom brackets carry that tension too. We secure the door and unload the springs before we remove a cable.
If one cable failed, do both need replacing?
Usually yes. The two cables are the same age and carry the same load, so if one has frayed the other is not far behind. Replacing both also lets us set equal tension, which keeps the door level in the opening.
Cable Calls by Neighborhood

Where We Replace Lift Cables

Dallas, TX

Garage Door Cable Repair in Dallas →

University Park, TX

Garage Door Cable Repair in University Park →

Highland Park, TX

Garage Door Cable Repair in Highland Park →

Preston Hollow, TX

Garage Door Cable Repair in Preston Hollow →

Bluffview, TX

Garage Door Cable Repair in Bluffview →

Devonshire, TX

Garage Door Cable Repair in Devonshire →

North Dallas, TX

Garage Door Cable Repair in North Dallas →

Lake Highlands, TX

Garage Door Cable Repair in Lake Highlands →
Contact Us

Reach the Sherry Lane Garage Door Desk

Describe the noise, the stuck spot or the part that snapped, and a technician from our Preston Center office phones you back. Jobs start at the figures on the price list; the number for your own door is settled at the house, before anything comes apart.

Reunion Garage Door Repair Expert of Sherry
5956 Sherry Ln 20th Floor
Dallas, TX 75225

Phone: (469) 264-8319
Email: info@reuniongaragedoorrepairsherry.com
Hours: Open 7 AM to 10 PM, 7 days a week

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