Garages and Carports - torsion spring won't wind

I am putting up a brand new ideal door .i lnly have one green spring which goes on the left side. I'm almost done except the spring will not wind when i try to wind it. Everything seems to be tight and in the right places as far as hookup. When i turn the deal that is suppose to tighten it ,nothing happens . The spring is in the deal that turns it.I'm wondering if i got a bad winder. Any ideas out there? This is kind of disappointing after a week of putting this together. Im pretty slow and deliberate. thanks for any help. By the way i used a socket to try to set it not a drill. does that make all the difference. Looks to me like a drill would go to fast if your trying to count revolutions.:confused:

Actually the drill takes a pretty good while on the ones I've done. Normally you count revolutions of the spring..not the winding mechanism. I've only done Wayne Dalton (which has a numbered gauge thingy) and Clopay (where you count the twists in the spring.

The gearing in the winder mech has to be pretty low, just because of the torque needed. Try they cordless drill and see what happens. Make sure of the direction.

Thanks so much. I feel so stupid .I should have realized that about counting the spring revs even though this is my first door.

I have my door where it is opening and closing with spring set perfectly. When i hook up the opener ,the door opens then when i try to close it the trouble starts. It usually gos down about 3 ft then stops.I have talked to the people on hotline at ideal door co. They seem to think its in the spring tension. The spring is 47 inches long. The directions say wind it 10 and one half turns. If i do that it really throws the door up hard. If you unhook the opener you can't even control the door. When i take the tension to say 9 turns the door works good manually. Then i hook up the opener ,it opens fine ,then it closes maybe a couple of ft or whatever it chooses. I 've tried all kinds of spring tensions no change. The door works great at about 8 winds not by the directions 10 and a half by hand. It only works great by hand no opener,not to the specified no. of winds on spring. I know i made this long but i tried to let you know how it is working. Anyone have any ideas.Im not getting anywhere talking to ideal co.. thanks for any help.

I don't think that the problem is with your torsion spring. The installation book says so many winds on the torsion spring. Thats what you should use. When you try to use the opener to close the door and it only goes down a little bit, it is probably either the tension screw or the downward travel screw on the back of your opener. This is where you adjust it your door travel. Good Luck

Gotta disagree a bit with Jack

The windings on the spring in the manual are starting points, sometimes it needs more..sometimes less. The actual test is how the door operates. It should basically stop anywhere in the middle 2/3's of the opening w/o slamming down or rolling up out of control. It shouldn't bind or jam at any point. Never use any sort of oil or lube in the tracks (though a dry teflon lube is ok..just shouldn't be needed). A drop or 2 of oil on the hinges and at the axle for the wheels 1 or 2 times a year.

If it operates fine by hand..then yes..your opener needs to be adjusted. Go by the manual..as some of the steps depend on the prior step and can interact.

You guys are both right.I rewound the torsion spring to specifications and adjusted my door opener with more downforce and i got a smooth working door. I can't tell you how much i appreciatte your help. After playing with this darn spring for over a week. Putting the door itself up was pretty easy ,just a few adjustments. Thank you guy very much.

Your very welcome. Glad we could help.