Wheel Keeps Coming Off Track

We have a wheel that keeps coming off the track on our garage door. It's the first wheel, and it comes off when the door reaches the top. My husband is able to pop the wheel back into place. It doesn't happen every time, and we can't figure out what is making the difference.

Even though the house is 8 months old, the garage door has only been used regularly for the last 5 weeks. Before that the garage was used for storage.

The garage door is under warranty, so the company has been out here twice (on the same day) less than a month ago, and we're having the problem again, so we think we may have to try to figure this out ourselves.

The second repairman greased everything really good, and he switched out the first wheels on each side with wheels with longer stems.

Any ideas or thoughts on this?? I can send pictures if you tell me what you need to see. Any help is appreciated. Thank you.

 

They greased the track ??
Sounds like a track problem. Bent or out of alignment.
Open the door by hand. You should see what happens when the wheel hits the bad spot.

 

Yes, they greased the track. The 2nd repairman said that it's essential.

You and my husband are on the same page. He believes there's part of the track that's bent more than it should be. The question is: Why doesn't it get off the track every time if that's the case??

 

The tracks should not be greased. The grease will attract and hold dirt causing excessive wear.
Tracks need to be clean so the wheels can track properly.
Some use a silicone spray on tracks. That's ok but not necessary.
Lightly greasing the wheels (bearing) is important.

The wheels float in the track and follow the curve.
If you watch the wheels you should see them move in and out while following the track.

 

No reputable garage door person will ever ever ever grease the tracks... I tell my customers this " would you grease the road before driving down it?" If it were me I would keep calling the company who has warrantied the door every time the roller falls out. post a picture if you can.
Post a picture with the door open, looking forward on the side that the roller falls out.

 

Okay. I talked with my dear husband about the concerns on here about the "greased track". When I wrote my post, my husband helped me, because he was present when the 2nd repairman worked on the problem. I read out loud what I wrote, and he "approved" it.

However, today he said, "Well, he didn't spray the track, he sprayed the bolts."

Now that we've gotten that straightened out, I wanted to post some pictures as you requested Doorman2722. A repairman from the company that installed the door is coming out tomorrow. They say he has 30 years of experience with the company.

We still want to hear what all of you think, because this will be the 3rd time in less than a month that they've been out here.

The first two pictures are ones I took when the roller came out a few weeks ago. They're the only ones I have, so I hope it is what you're looking for.

The other pictures show where my husband feels like the track is bent. In the second picture of him pointing, he is pointing to the area where he believes it's bent, and it doesn't look like that on the other side.
My questions is still: Why isn't this happening every time?

Thank you!

 

When the door is closed... 3rd photo, measure from the top roller down to the joint where the curved track meets the straight vertical track. Then measure that same thing on the opposite side that is not pictured. I'm wondering if the tracks are level with the door.

Perhaps as the door is being lifted, the roller is being lifted out of the track on that side as a result of that track being a little low or out of level. Measure to the ceiling on both sides (photo 1, rear end of the tracks) to ensure they are parallel to the ceiling, and presumably level.

Also, do your cables have the same tension on them? Strum them like a guitar string and see if they make a similar sound.

I doubt the ding in the last photo has much to do with it unless it's worse than it looks in the photo. Couldn't hurt to gently bend it back with a pliers.

 

We're on the same page, XSleeper. I was about to post these pictures I just took when I saw your reply.

My husband's other theory is that on the side where the wheel keeps coming off the track (1st picture below), the top set of "brackets" or whatever they're called are not level. They dip slightly down to the right.
It looks more pronounced to us when comparing the "stem" or whatever it's called that's sticking out from that first roller.

It looks to us just based on the comparison of the two sides, that something is "off". The difference is slight, but it's definitely there.

Our questions is still: Why isn't this happening every time???

 

Hopefully our garage has now been repaired correctly. I thought I'd post the resolution here in case it could help you help someone else at another time.

I've posted two pictures below that hopefully will show where the problem was. It was NOT the crimped area in the pictures I posted yesterday, and it was none of our best guesses as to what was wrong.

The first picture below is of the side where the wheel was coming off. Can you see that there is more space between the outside metal edge and the door than what there is on the right side?

The repairman said that it was something overlooked during installation, and he made the adjustment. We noticed instantly that the garage door was MUCH quieter upon opening and closing. One "symptom" that we didn't even know was a symptom was that sometimes the door would make a popping noise. The repairman said that anytime someone tells him that, he immediately knows they have the problem we had with ours.

He had no explanation as to why the wheel would come off sometimes but not every time.

Thanks for all of your help.

 

Photos don't really capture that, it just looks like perspective. But yeah, the tracks pretty obviously need to be parallel with each other and with the door... and square (equal measurements when measured diagonally), if they aren't, the gaps won't be even. Those rollers sure appear twisted.

 

The back hangers are set too wide and the roller stems need to be lubed... the roller is being pulled out from friction on the stem and a combination of cheep (thin easy to bend) track. Also the adjustment slide on the left top fixture needs to be squared up so it's parallel with the door section.

 

Doorman,

Here is a picture of the final result after the adjustment. This is the side where the roller kept coming off. You can compare this picture with the "before" above.

 

Yes that looks better, and hopefully doesn't happen again... use any petroleum based lubricant that has an application straw and squirt lube into each hinge barrel to allow the roller stem to float, just a few drops, it doesn't take much.