My girlfriend’s garage door opener squeaks. I’d like to fix that one day when she’s away at work. She was told that White Lithium Grease on the rails and WD40 on the coil should fix it, but that hasn’t seemed to work (she got lax with doing it for a while).
What works for you guys? Should I just go with what she was told and pound away at it often to stop the squeak, or should I pull out the big guns?
…I confess, I want the big guns.
My Mom had possibly the loudest garage door I’ve ever opened/closed. 'Course, when my dad died, no one ever maintained a lot of things. Last Christmas, while there, I bought some lithium grease. Totally quiet, new door. And this was an old monster, probably 35 years old. Shot it on the screw track–done.
I’ve gone through a can and a half on the tracks and it still squeaks. Either it’s not doing the job (less likely) or I’m not applying it right (more likely). It should go on the tracks, right? Like, the places where the little wheels come into contact with the track, right?
NOpe. On the screw drive track in the middle of the door, up near the ceiling. At least, that’s what the old one I restored had.
Maybe I’m not sure what you mean by “squeaks.”
I’m spraying it all up in the track that gets all the action as well. Hm. Maybe it just needs more [del]cowbell[/del] stuff.
You don’t want to grease the tracks. You need to oil the bearings of the wheels that ride in the track.
WD-40 is no good - it’ll evaporate away in a few weeks.
For the opener’s screw drive, lithium grease is the usual stuff - just a light smear along its length. You don’t want so much that it starts dripping out.
Chain-drive openers get oiled like a bicycle chain.
Yeah. Guess I should have asked what kind of a drive this has. Screw? Chain?
Again–what kind of a ‘squeak’ are you hearing?
This squeak happens when it’s going up or down. I think the squeak originates from the spring, but it’s hard to pinpoint it. It’s a chain drive.
I don’t know what lithium grease is, but I use 3 in 1 oil. Is that the same thing? And I oil all the hinges.
I’ll have to hit up the hinges, too. This is going to be one lubricated motherfuckin’ door when I’m done with it.