I have a problem with my garage door opener. The mechanical section. The gear inside has worn out and is no longer grabbing the teeth of the motor. I need to replace this small, plastic piece; however, I can not figure how to get the piece out. Can you help?

I live in Northern New Jersey. I have a detached, two car garage that is getting up there in years. It has the old style carriage doors. The wife wants to replace the two with one 16' overhead garage door. The garage also needs a new floor and a new roof. The garage is a total of 24' wide by 24' deep. We had a few contractors in to give us estimates. They range from $8500-$12000. I started to think about this at the office last week... With all this money being spent, I am wondering if it might be better to tear the thing down and start over. I travel often and have seen advertisements for pre-fab garage kits in the mid-west. I have also seen contractors that specialize in building garages. I have looked for something like that here in NJ, but haven't had any luck. Getting a gerneral contractor in to give an estimate is like pulling teeth. I was wondering if anyone here in the tri-state area had done something like this, or knew someone who does it. Any help or advice would be appreciated. I'd hate to find out that for only a few dollars more, I could have had a whole new garage.... Thanks