Torsion vs. Extension Springs

By the Phoenix Garage Door Experts team · Updated September 2026

What the Springs Actually Do

A sectional garage door weighs far more than most people assume. The springs, not the opener, carry that weight. The opener's job is to guide a balanced door up and down; it is a small motor working against almost nothing when everything is set correctly. That is why a broken spring stops the door dead even though the motor still runs.

Torsion springs sit on a steel shaft above the door opening. As the door closes, cables wind onto drums at each end of the shaft and twist the spring, storing energy that is released to help lift the door again. Extension springs run alongside the horizontal tracks, one on each side, and stretch as the door comes down. Both store a large amount of energy. Neither is safe to work on without training.

How to Tell Which You Have

Stand inside the garage with the door closed and look up. A single long coil, or two coils, mounted horizontally on a bar directly above the opening means torsion. Long springs stretched out parallel to the tracks on either side, usually with a cable and pulley at the end, means extension. Many older Arizona homes still run extension systems; most doors installed in the last twenty years use torsion.

Torsion is generally preferred on wider and heavier doors because the load is shared through a single shaft and the door travels more smoothly. Extension systems need less headroom, which is sometimes the only reason they are still fitted. If your extension springs do not have safety containment cables running through them, that is worth raising, because a broken extension spring without a containment cable can travel across the garage.

Why Springs Wear Out Here

Springs are rated in cycles, not years. One cycle is one opening and one closing. A spring rated for ten thousand cycles lasts roughly seven years in a household that opens the door four times a day, and about half that in a house where everyone comes and goes through the garage all day long.

That second pattern is normal across the valley. In most Phoenix homes the garage door is the front door in practice: cars in and out, kids, deliveries, the trash cans, the bikes. The door works far harder than the manufacturer's average. Heat adds to it, because a garage that sits well above the outside temperature all summer dries out the bearings and rollers the spring is working against, so the system runs with more friction than it should.

What a Good Quote Looks Like

A replacement spring has to match the door's weight, height, track radius and lift arrangement. Two coils that look identical can be wound and rated completely differently, and fitting the wrong one leaves the door heavy at the top, light at the bottom, or unable to stay where you put it. Ask what specification is being fitted and why.

On a two-spring door, ask about replacing both. Putting one new spring beside one that has done the same number of cycles usually means a second call-out before long. Ask what else was found: a spring failure often arrives alongside frayed cables, a worn center bearing or a seized roller, and it is cheaper to handle those while the system is already open. Higher-cycle springs are worth discussing on a door that runs many times a day, but they are not a fix for a door that is out of balance.

What Not to Do

Do not attempt to wind, unwind, adjust or remove a spring. Torsion springs are wound with steel bars under real tension and releasing one incorrectly causes serious injuries every year. Do not pull the emergency release cord while the door is part way open, because the springs are no longer supporting it and the weight can drop. If the door is fully closed and you need the car out, releasing it is reasonable only if the door then stays put.

What you can safely do is look and describe. Note whether the door is open, closed or stuck, whether you heard a bang, whether you can see a gap in a coil from a safe distance, and whether the opener runs without moving the door.

Spring Repair in Phoenix

Because doors here cycle so often, spring calls are among the most common jobs Phoenix Garage Door Experts takes across Phoenix and the surrounding cities. In older neighborhoods the door may have been replaced once already, so the spring system will not match what the original builder fitted, and the inspection starts by establishing what is actually installed. In newer subdivisions whole streets were built with the same doors, so springs on neighboring houses often reach the end of their life within a year or two of each other. That pattern comes up constantly in areas like Peoria, where the subdivisions went up in concentrated waves.

Arrange an Inspection

If the door will not lift, leave it closed and get it looked at. Phoenix Garage Door Experts can identify the spring arrangement, check the cables, drums and bearings alongside it, and quote spring repair before anything is fitted. If the door itself is also tired, read the repair versus replacement guide first, or request a visit and describe what you heard and saw.