Garage Door Opener

Need a little help. My garage door opener ground the plastic gears off last night . It is 13 years old. Worth fixing or not? If I were to buy a new one, 1/2 horse, any recommendations?

Thanks for your help.

Worth it…. if you can do it yourself. Gear kit is around $15….. 2 beer job

big G

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Worth it…. if you can do it yourself. Gear kit is around $15….. 2 beer job

big G

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Fix it but take your time and make it a 6 beer job

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Worth it…. if you can do it yourself. Gear kit is around $15….. 2 beer job

big G

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Fix it but take your time and make it a 6 beer job

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I would go with fix it or make it a 12-20 beer job and see if it fixes itself….

Gears are no doubt only part of your problem. They are the canary in the coal mine that tells you to take a look at your rails and rollers..as well as the pressure trip sensers that keep the door from taking little kids heads off. Chances are if your problem took out the gears, you may well have an electronic $$$$$ problem too.
Buy a new opener on sale after you’ve examined the helper extension springs, roller bearings and track alignment.
You can use your present engineering as far as the garage structure goes but plan to replace all the wires (included) and use the new control systems to validate your warranty. Craftsman has switched radio control frequencies, simplified the programming and added millions of rolling codes to make your garage safer….they even offer a fingerprint recognition keyless opening system.
Spend $15 for an initial year of service, which includes one maintenance visit that you can use right away to learn how to set your sensers–well worthwhile, in fact a real bargain. Only the motors, which are usually the last to give trouble, are covered in the advertised one 2 or 3 year warranty period–rest is 90 days. The serviceman can also show you how not to lubricate gears (usually, don’t) tracks (never, since slides are nylon now and rails 4-sided) and rollers (replace).
Most gear problems occur in cold weather when grease build up from your exhaust added to floor dust or improper lubrication eventually breaks the camel’s back — wears them out–being nylon, the gear problem shows up when it warms up.
Properly maintained, a brand name like this one should last you twenty years or better. Do it the smart way-lot cheaper in the long run and won’t let you down on a cold rainy night. Today’s units are still a winner, even if assembled in Mexico.

I do this everyday. I’d rather have the new opener vs paying someone to put the gears in. The gears themselves are pretty cheap if you buy them on the net and change them yourself.

Hp doesn’t mean anything with openers. They really only apply like 20 pounds of force and that’s all they need. They just write HP on the box so you have something to recognize on there.

The upside of having someone else do it is getting the little naggy problems fixed for free or little cost. At least that’s how it is where I work.

I got three Liftmaster belt drives from Fleet 15 years ago. Not one problem. Gregory