garage door hinges replaced, door won't open

[thairiam]

Hello all,

I just replaced both hinges on a one piece garage door. The kind made of a plywood frame.

The hinges are the same brand "Holmes E900" but slightly different model as the originals. The original model isn't made anymore. But these are good for single or double wide doors.

They are the same size and when measured down from the door frame as, noted in the instructions, they screw into the existing holes. The springs are not attached yet and the connection to the opener track is disconnected. So it should open freely.

The problem is that the door will only open about 1/2 of the way! The only adjustments I see are three holes on the bottom of what is described as the "master plate". I've tried the pivot arm on all three with no luck.

Any ideas? Should I try moving the whole hinge assembly up or down? I'm grateful for any input.

Rich L.

[Nestor]

This might sound like a dumb question, but are you sure you installed the new hinges correctly?
I'm thinking that if you installed the hinges with the hinge pin on the wrong side of the hinge (relative to the door) the motion of the hinge could interefere with the raising of the door.

That said, after propping up the garage door in it's fully partially open position with a piece of lumber or something, I'd go inside the garage and see if any of the wheels on the door are hitting something. Or for that matter, if anything on the garage door is hitting something to prevent it from moving further upward.

And, failing that avenue of investigation leading to a solution, I would phone the Holmes 1-800 customer service phone number.

If this has happened to you after replacing the old hinges, it very well may have happened to lots of other people after replacing their hinges, and Holmes would have investigated and found out what was causing the problem.

They'd be the people most likely to know what the problem is because anyone else in your situation wouldn't have gone online to find a solution. They would have phoned up Holmes and asked "What am I doing wrong here?", "Why doesn't my garage door work properly with your new hinges?".

I hope you didn't throw the old hinges out yet. You might just need to reinstall them to confirm the door works properly with the old hinges re-installed.

[thairiam]

Hinges are installed with the correct orientation.
No rollers on this type door.
Can't contact customer service until Tuesday.
Not sure that no one else would use the internet to research possible solutions. Seems like a good idea to me.
I'll double check for obstructions in case I missed something.
Thanks for responding.

[TJR]

The springs are counter balance to the weight of the door. No springs = very heavy door and dont use the opener without or broken spring/s

[Ben Tullipan]

These doors would be very hard t open with wrong or no springs attached.