My garage door cable broke, how can I fix it?

Garage door cables are individual wires wound together to form strands and then the strands

are wound together to form the cables. The cables are important because they actually lift the

weight of the door using the tension provided by the springs. The cables wrap around the

drums as the door opens and unwind from the drums when closing. The cables attach at the

bottom end to the bottom bracket that is mounted to the bottom of the bottom panel. The

cables then run up the height of the garage door and attach to the drums. The drums attach to

the ends of the spring bar/torsion tube that is mounted to the header above the garage door

opening. These describe a torsion spring system.

If your garage door operates on an extension spring system then the cable attach to the bottom

bracket as described above. In this system the cables travel the height of the garage door and

then go through a series of pulleys that attach to the springs. The cable then attaches to an

adjustment bracket that is attached to the vertical tracks.

Replacing the cables is probably as job you want to leave to a garage door technician. The

cables are under a great deal of tension created by the springs and are dangerous to replace if

you do not have the proper training and tools. Replacing a broken cable will require either

locking down the tension created by the springs or by unwinding the spring(s) and then

properly rewinding the springs after the cable has been replaced.

An average cost for a pair of  cable replacement on a residential door will be $130 – $180.

*Note: Garage door springs and cables are under a great deal of tension and caution must be

used to prevent serious damage even death. The proper tools and techniques must be used

and safety precautions followed.