I want to start with something I don't think the rest of the trade says clearly enough:

If you're a competent mechanical DIYer with the right tools and you take your time, you can replace a residential torsion spring yourself.

I will lose maybe 6 jobs a year to this post. I'm writing it anyway because the alternative — pretending it's impossible — gets people hurt. The people who try it without a guide make worse decisions than the people who try it with one.

Here's what I want from you in exchange: if at any point during this you have a "wait, I'm not sure about this" thought, stop and call somebody. The cost of calling somebody is $385. The cost of getting this wrong is your hand.

DANGER — read this twice A wound residential torsion spring stores roughly 200–400 newton-metres of rotational energy. That energy is held by two set screws on the winding cone. If one of those set screws lets go while you have a winding bar in the cone, the bar becomes a missile that exits the spring at roughly 35 metres per second. A 0.625" hardened steel winding bar at that speed will go through standard half-inch drywall and the 2x4 behind it. The same bar will go through your forearm.

Five people die in North America every year from garage door spring failures. Many more lose fingers or eyes. The trade industry's recommended PPE for spring work is safety glasses (mandatory), steel-toed boots (mandatory), and leather gloves (mandatory). I add: a clear line of retreat behind you that doesn't have a wall within 2 metres. Spring work is the only residential repair I take this seriously.

If you are not in good shape on the ladder, if you are tired, if you've had a drink, if you are alone in the house — do not start this job today. Reschedule it.

What you need before you start

Tools: - Two winding bars. The correct size for your spring's winding cone — most residential cones take 0.5" or 0.625" bars. Get hardened-steel bars, not screwdrivers, not rebar, not "what's in the garage." - A 7/16" and 1/2" socket wrench with a 6-point socket (not 12-point — 12-point rounds the set screw heads). - A vise grip. - A heavy-duty step ladder rated to at least 113 kg (250 lb). - Safety glasses, leather gloves, steel-toed boots. - A flashlight or headlamp. - A measuring tape and a paint marker. - The right replacement spring. I'll explain how to spec it below.

Estimated time: - First time, careful: 90–150 minutes. - Experienced: 30–45 minutes.

Risks: - Spring failure during winding: severe injury. - Cable detachment under load: severe injury. - Falling from ladder: moderate to severe injury. - Wrong spring spec: door won't balance, opener burns out.

Step 1: Identify your spring

Walk into the garage. Close the door fully. Disconnect the opener (red cord, downward and back — see post 17 if you don't know how).

Look at the spring above the door. You're looking for:

  1. Inside diameter (ID). Measure the inside of one of the cone ends. Residential is almost always 1.75" or 2".
  2. Wire diameter. Measure the thickness of the wire forming the coil. Residential is typically 0.207", 0.225", 0.243", or 0.262". A digital caliper is the right tool. A regular ruler is not.
  3. Length. Measure the spring at rest (it's already wound, so you're measuring the wound length, then adding the equivalent of the wound turns back). For a broken spring, measure both halves and add the gap.
  4. Wind direction. Look at the end of the spring. If the wire spirals outward clockwise as you look at the end of the cone, it's a right-hand wound. Counter-clockwise, left-hand wound. On a two-spring door, the springs are opposite wind direction. They are NOT interchangeable.

Take photos of everything. Bring the photos to your supplier.

Step 2: Source the spring

You can get residential torsion springs from:

Do not buy: - "Universal" springs from generic e-commerce sites. They aren't universal. The specs lie. - Used springs. - Springs without a manufacturer marking.

For Richmond, given our climate, I recommend the IPPC-90 corrosion-coated grade as the DIY upgrade. The price difference at wholesale is $30–$45 per spring. The lifespan difference is roughly double in Richmond's air. It is the cheapest insurance available.

Step 3: Prep the door

Door is closed. Opener disconnected. Cars out. Tools laid out within reach.

Clamp the door track on both sides about 30 cm up from the floor, using vise grips. This stops the door from sliding up while you're working. If both springs are broken, the door has no counterweight and will be heavy — possibly 65–90 kg for a double door. The clamps keep it from going anywhere.

Identify the winding cones. They're at the inboard end of each spring (the end facing toward the centre of the door). The cones have four winding holes around them and two set screws on the side.

If both springs are intact (you're doing a preventative replacement before failure): proceed to Step 4.

If one or both springs are already broken: there's no tension to release. Skip Step 4 entirely and go to Step 5.

Step 4: Release the tension on intact springs

This is the dangerous step. Read it twice.

  1. Insert one winding bar into the bottom-most winding hole on the cone of the spring you're working on. The bar should be inserted so the bar is pointing away from your body and out into the centre of the garage. Never insert the bar pointing toward your face or upper body.
  2. With the bar firmly in place and your body to the side, loosen the two set screws on the cone. Do this with the bar applying a slight pre-load — pull down gently on the bar before loosening the screws to take up the slack.
  3. Once the set screws are loose, the spring tension is on the bar. Carefully lower the bar one quarter turn at a time, swapping bars in adjacent holes as you go. This is called "walking down" the spring. Each quarter turn releases roughly 1/4 of one turn's worth of stored energy.
  4. Continue until the spring is fully unwound. You'll feel the resistance drop to nothing.
  5. Repeat for the second spring.

A standard residential spring takes 28–32 turns to fully wind. Releasing it takes the same number of quarter-turn steps. Plan for 5–10 minutes per spring.

Step 5: Remove the old springs

  1. Loosen and remove the set screws on the stationary cones (the cones at the outer ends of the spring shaft, away from centre).
  2. Slide the cones, springs, and any bushings off the torsion bar.
  3. Note the order and orientation of everything as you remove it. Take photos.

Step 6: Install the new springs

  1. Slide the new springs onto the torsion bar in the same orientation as the old ones came off. Left-hand spring on the left, right-hand spring on the right. This matters. Wrong wind direction = door won't balance and the spring will rapidly destroy itself.
  2. Slide the new stationary cones into position. Tighten the set screws onto the torsion bar firmly.
  3. Make sure the cable drums are properly oriented and the cables are seated correctly in the drum grooves. The cables should run straight down from the drum to the bottom bracket of the door, with no twists or wraps around the torsion bar.

Step 7: Wind the new springs

This is the second dangerous step.

  1. Insert one winding bar into the bottom hole of the winding cone.
  2. Lift the bar a quarter turn upward. The spring is now under 1/4 turn of tension.
  3. Insert the second bar into the next hole and continue. Walking the bars up, a quarter turn at a time, swapping bars between holes as you go.
  4. Count the turns. The number depends on door height — standard formula is door-height-in-feet x 4, plus 1/4 turn. For a 7-foot door: 7 x 4 + 0.25 = 28.25 turns. For an 8-foot door: 33 turns.
  5. Once you have the right turn count, tighten the set screws onto the torsion bar firmly. Use a torque wrench if you have one — 9–11 ft-lb is the spec.
  6. Repeat for the second spring.

The most common DIY failure: forgetting to tighten the set screws fully, or tightening one and forgetting the other. The spring will then unwind explosively. This is the failure mode that hurts people.

Step 8: Test

  1. Remove the vise grips from the track.
  2. Lift the door manually about halfway up. It should stay there. If it sags downward, the spring is under-wound (add a quarter turn each spring). If it rises by itself, the spring is over-wound (release a quarter turn each spring).
  3. Repeat until the door is balanced — stays put at any height when you let go.
  4. Reconnect the opener.
  5. Cycle the door three or four times manually with the opener disconnected, then three or four times with the opener engaged. Listen for unusual noises.

Step 9: Clean up and document

  1. Dispose of the old springs at a metal recycling depot.
  2. Take photos of the new install — spring type, wire gauge, install date — and tape them inside the breaker panel for future reference.

What I see go wrong

In six years I've been called out to "fix" maybe 20 DIY spring jobs in Richmond. The failure patterns:

  1. Wrong wind direction. Springs installed backwards. Door doesn't balance, springs destroy themselves in 6–18 months.
  2. Under-tightened set screws. Spring lets go during operation. Lucky — nobody's been hurt by this in my Richmond cases. Could have been.
  3. Wrong spring size. Door is heavy or light. Opener burns out or door doesn't stay closed.
  4. Cables off the drum. Drum cable came out of its groove during the install. Door binds, cables tear themselves apart.
  5. Working alone with no plan for failure. Person realises mid-job they can't finish. Door is partially stripped down. Calls me Saturday night.

The Saturday-night calls are the most expensive way to get to a finished door. Emergency call-out: $425. Spring replacement: $625. Cable replacement (if cables came off during the DIY attempt): $345. Track straightening (if the door fell at any point): $245. Total: $1,640 to finish a job that would have cost $525 if I'd done it from the start.

My honest recommendation

If you're a confident, mechanically-experienced person who has read this whole post and watched two or three reputable YouTube videos (look for IDA-certified installers, not generic DIY channels), and you have the tools: yes, you can do this.

If you've read this post and felt your hands sweat at any point: don't.

I make a fair living off being the person who does it right. I will respect you for trying. I will respect you more for knowing when to call.

Cost reality check (2026, Lower Mainland CAD) - DIY parts only (pair of springs, online or wholesale): $120–$245 - DIY tools (winding bars, sockets, ladder if you don't have one): $185–$385 one-time - Pro install (pair, scheduled): $385–$625 - Pro install (after a botched DIY): $685–$1,485 - ER visit for hand injury (BC MSP covers most, but lost work is real): incalculable

A Riverdale story

A guy on Park Drive in Riverdale called me on a Sunday morning in March 2025. He had attempted his own spring replacement on the Saturday afternoon. He'd watched three YouTube videos. He had the right tools. He had the right springs.

He had also, somehow, put both springs on the same side of the door. (I don't know how. I'm still not sure.) When he tried to wind them, the bars wouldn't seat correctly. He tried to force it. The bar slipped. He didn't get hit — he got lucky — but the bar went through the wallboard and into the joist behind it.

He left everything as it was, came inside, drank a beer, and called me Sunday morning.

I rebuilt the install from scratch. Replaced the springs (the ones he'd bought were fine — I reused them). Replaced one cable that had come off during his failed attempt. Patched the drywall as a courtesy. Total: $725.

He thanked me. I thanked him for calling rather than trying again. He said his wife told him to.

He was right to listen.

That's the post.

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