garage door opener

[JDuke]

I have 3 garage doors on the house, and 2 on my shop.

I happened to get a great deal on 4 belt drive chamberlain garage door openers about the time one of the original 18yo liftmaster was going dead and was able to get 4 openers for $87 each.

So I replaced the 3 on the house with one in reserve.

When I had the shop built, I had 10 foot wide by 12 foot tall doors installed and had High lift tracks put in the maximize head room in the shop.

When I decided to put an opener on one of the doors, I found that you can’t use a standard opener on a high lift tracks.  So I put a jack shaft opener on it myself.  
The install was very straightforward and if it weren’t for the cost and the fact that the openers on the house are still perfectly good, I would replace all my openers with Jackshaft openers just to open the ceiling space above the garage doors.

[MstrCarpenter]

This has been very interesting to me. I can see the advantages of a jack shaft opener with having no hardware overhead but it's unlikely I would ever want one. When going through the manual for the jackshaft, i saw that cable tension monitor. I can only imagine if the thing kept running and the door didn't come down it would be an unholy mess so it was probably a welcome addition when ever they added it. But my only experience with a door being up and no spring tension was when my spring broke. Once i got the door open (which wasn't easy at all) it stayed up with no tendency to come down...part of what got me going on this extended diatribe. So again, i thank everyone for this discussion which has been enlightening for me.

I've installed, removed, or worked on dozens of overhead doors. I've had two memorable lessons on them. I don't think I've ever attempted to do anything with the springs with the door in the open position without first securing the door in the open position since the first and only time I didn't back in 1982. In my experience, with good non-binding rollers, the bottom of the bottom panel will want to drop down the track by its weight alone; thereby pulling the other panels to do the same.

Learning that (second) lesson required almost an hour of yelling for help while standing on a ladder in pain with my right hand pinned between the S hook and the spring pulley.  It took several stitches to stop the bleeding that had made its way down my arm to my waist line then spread from my backbone to belly button. It looked like I had been gutted!

In case you were wondering, the first lesson I was a just a kid with a momentary lapse of judgment when a sticking door didn't close all the way. Instead of walking over to step on the handle, I reached up to the space between the bottom of the top panel and the one below and pulled it down. I'm not sure which hurt more; the crushed finger tips on one hand or the splinters under the fingernails on the other from trying to lift the door. A motorist finally stopped and raised the door.

[EdL]

Jackshaft openers are a pita to get to work on a regular overhead door, I have 2, I know.
They need tension on the cables at ALL times. The track ends have to be raised a few inches to provide this.
Once set-up properly, they work great.
Not an install for a first timer.

Ed

[Roly]

Jackshaft openers are a pita to get to work on a regular overhead door, I have 2, I know.
They need tension on the cables at ALL times. The track ends have to be raised a few inches to provide this.
Once set-up properly, they work great.
Not an install for a first timer.

Ed

The last Clopay door I installed the tracks were made to include about a 3" elevation on the horizontal section.    You cannot bolt them together to make a 90 bend. I thought they messed up but that is the reason they were made that way.  Roly

[Bob10]

Never heard of a jackshaft opener before, I have to thank you for the introduction. I have a door with no space for a common opener because of the low ceiling. 
I have to give this a look it looks to be what I need to change the hole door situation. The space currently has a wood slider that I have never liked but it worked even with the cut out to allow for the exhaust of a few water heaters.

[EatenByLimestone]

Jackshaft openers need a torsion spring setup. If you have extension springs, you may be able to convert if you have about 4” of room above the track.