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Repairing the Broken Trolley Carriage on Garage Door Openers

For the majority of issues you may have with your garage door, we don’t usually recommend DIY garage door repair. Why? Because a lot of the moving parts to the garage door are kind of dangerous to deal with, and if you remove the wrong thing your entire door might come crashing down. There are also a lot of opportunities to badly pinch your fingers, like between the panel hinges on the door. But something you can safely do yourself is to replace the trolley carriage.

What is a Trolley Carriage, Though?

The trolley on a garage door opener is the rail that connects the garage door to the garage door opener, and the trolley carriage sits on the rail and uses a belt, chain or cable to pull the garage door open or lower it closed. The trolley carriage is possibly the most important of the garage door’s moving parts. It’s where the emergency release is located and it’s also how you can manually pull the door open and closed via a rope that hangs from it.

How Do I Know my Trolley Carriage is Broken?

When you try to open your garage door, does the trolley carriage move but the door doesn’t open? This is the telltale sign that you’ve got a broken trolley carriage. Luckily, for most garage door openers, you can easily find a replacement trolley carriage for about $25 to $40, depending on the model. It’s a fairly easy part to fix; all you need are some simple household tools and a few garage door parts. Repairing a typical garage door trolley usually takes less than 30 minutes and is completely safe to do, since because the trolley carriage is broken, the door is already down and there’s no way for the chain or cable to slip.

Preparing the Garage Door for Repair

  1. First, position the door in a down position. It likely already is, but it is integral to your safety for it to be down before you disengage the door. Otherwise, it could come crashing down, which can be very dangerous.
  2. Pull the emergency ripcord, which is generally a red cord connected to the opener and the carriage. This is what connects the opener to the trolley carriage. It will let you manually close and open the door. (Don’t worry. Reinstalling it is easy. Simply raise the door with your automatic opener, and it will automatically reconnect.)
  3. Next, pull the emergency release toward the door. This will disconnect the door from the motor.

Replacing the Trolley Carriage

  1. To start, clamp the cable/chain to the rail before you do anything else. This way, the chain remains in its correct placement on the sprocket, which will save you a lot of time later when you have to readjust the tension of the chain.
  2. Once you’ve secured the chain, separate both ends from the trolley carriage.
  3. Disconnect the rail from the header, moving the rail to the side.
  4. Slide off the old trolley and then slide on the new one.
  5. Reattach the chain to the carriage and adjust the tension so the chain is tight but not over exerted.
  6. Replace the trolley on the belt drive (reversing what pulling the emergency cord did).

Call Us Anytime if You Have Trouble

Overall, this is a fairly simple and safe repair for you to do yourself on your broken garage door. But if you have any problems, concerns or questions, please call us at SACS Garage Door Repair anytime of the day or night, 7 days a week. We’ll be happy to simply give you advice or even come out and take a look at it. We offer a 100% customer satisfaction guarantee. We’re a local company serving the greater Sacramento and Los Angeles areas.

Troubleshooting Garage Door Opener Repair

Often times when your garage door opener is misbehaving, it’s an easy remedy- not even a repair. Sometimes it’s just a matter of changing the batteries in your remote or fixing a fuse in the fuse box. Here are a couple simple things you can check before you start to consider your garage door might need repaired:

  1. If you push the button on your remote and the garage door doesn’t budge at all, it’s probably a power issue. Start by replacing the batteries in your remote. Next, check to see if the opener itself has become unplugged or the battery backup has been depleted.
  2. If there are other lights in the garage or house not working, it’s probably a blown fuse. Check your home’s fuse box and see if any of the switches have flipped.
  3. Try to move closer to the door. It may be possible that your antenna is out of range. Check the antenna to see if it is damaged.
  4. You might need to reset the programming on your opener, remote and keypad. Consult your operating manual or look online for specific instructions for your garage door opener; each model is different.

Quality Garage Door Service for the Sacramento and Los Angeles Communities

It’s not easy to find a quality garage door repair service you can trust. There are too many options, but there is also a lot of uncertainty with most of those options. Contracting companies or commercial garage repair companies may offer residential garage repair services, but they don’t specialize in residential garage door installation and repair. But SACS Garage Door Repair is different- our focus and expertise, for decades, has been designing, installing, repairing and maintenancing garage doors. We’re definitely the people you want to call if you need your garage door opener repaired, a new garage door installation, garage door parts or even just some professional garage door repair tips for simple fixes like the trolley carriage you just replaced on your own garage door.

We’ve been faithfully serving the Sacramento area for years with quality garage door installation and repair, and have recently expanded into the Los Angeles area as well. We are garage door experts, and we pride ourselves on our friendly, quality and efficient customer service. All of our work is certified and guaranteed. You don’t have to worry about uninsured workers or paying a whole fee just to be left with a half-finished project. Our business model is centered on serving our customers like they’re our own family, so if you’re not completely satisfied, we’ll fix it until you are. That’s our policy.

When It’s Time to Consider Garage Door Replacement

Most garage door problems can be fixed, but there eventually comes a time when you really might want to consider outright replacing your garage door. Dings and dents will naturally happen over time, and most are acceptable, but if you have splintered pieces, it might be worth it to just go with a brand new door. And of course there is simply the curb appeal factor. A new door can greatly improve the value of your home, so there are real, intrinsic benefits to consider. Sac’s Garage Door Repair specializes in not only door repair but installation. Call us anytime for some free advice. We’d be glad to take a look at it.