Garage Door Question

[John Turney]

I assume most of you spend time in a garage, perhaps someone can give me some help with a problem with our garage door.

We have the old-style swing-up garage door, installed ~1957. For a number of reasons, we want to keep this door and not replace it with the kind that moves up on tracks. It works ok, except that it rubs against the right jamb unless I pull it toward the left when lifting it. I raise and lower it manually since it only goes up and down no more than once a week, and ssometimes only once a month.

Questiopn - is there a way to adjust it so it will be centered (left-right) in the door opening? I've Googled "adjust garage door" and all I get are the kind with tracks, since apparently they don't make the swing-up kind anymore.

 

[Banjo]

My search came up with nothing of any use... Maybe post some pictures of the mechanism, and we could offer some ideas.

 

[elrey]

Chances are it is a Holmes, and if so there are hinge plates on both sides of the door opening about half way up. Generally the hinge plates are lag bolted to the king and jack studs on either side of the opening. The lag holes are usually slotted so that you can slide/tilt the hinge plates to one side or the other. Decide which way you need to move the door,loosen one plate at a time, and slide/tilt it whichever direction it needs to go and re tighten. Many times one only needs to tilt one side to obtain the desired outcome. The hinge plate does not have to be plumb to work properly. [It can be tilted.] You may wish to mark the position of the plates with a pencil before you proceed to change their positions. I place a block of wood against the hinge plate and tap the wood with a small sledge to move the plate.

 

[John Turney]

You're right, elrey, it is a Holmes. They kind of look like this . A pair of counterbalance springs attach to the bracket in the upper right of the picture.

Both hinge plates are tilted inward at the top.