That bang you heard, and the door that now will not lift. A broken torsion spring is the single most common garage door failure in the metro, and it is not a repair to attempt yourself.
Your garage door weighs between 130 and 400 pounds depending on whether it is a single, a double, insulated, or a solid wood door on an older Midtown house. The opener does not lift that weight. The springs do, by storing energy as the door comes down and giving it back as the door goes up. The opener only overcomes the small imbalance left over and guides the door along the track.
So when a spring breaks, the opener is suddenly being asked to lift the entire weight of the door on a motor rated for a fraction of it. That is why the door will not move, or moves a few inches and stops, or makes a straining noise and gives up. Continuing to press the button after a spring has gone is how people burn out an opener that was otherwise fine, and turn a spring bill into a spring and opener bill.
Torsion springs sit on a steel shaft above the door opening and wind up as the door closes. Extension springs run along the horizontal tracks on either side and stretch instead. Most Tulsa homes built since the 1990s have torsion, and most Midtown houses with original single-car garages have extension.
Extension springs matter for a safety reason worth knowing. Without a containment cable running through the middle of the spring, a snapped extension spring becomes a projectile inside your garage. If your door has extension springs and you cannot see a cable threaded through them, that is worth fixing regardless of whether anything is currently broken.
Springs are rated in cycles, not years. A standard spring is good for roughly 10,000 open-and-close cycles. A household that comes and goes four times a day gets through that in about seven years.
Two Tulsa-specific things shorten it. Humidity rusts the coils, and a rusted spring binds against itself instead of winding smoothly, which concentrates stress and fails early. And wind loading matters more here than most places: a door that flexes in a gust is working its springs even when nobody is opening it. If you want a spring to last, ask for high-cycle springs rated at 25,000 cycles and keep the coils lightly oiled so they do not corrode.
If your door has two springs and one has broken, the other one is the same age and has done the same number of cycles. It is not a question of whether it will go, only when, and replacing a single spring means paying a second trip charge in a few months.
There is a mechanical reason as well. A new spring and an old spring have different remaining tension, so the door hangs unevenly, the opener pulls against a twist, and the rollers and cables wear unevenly on one side. Matched pairs keep the door balanced, which is what everything else on the system is designed around.
We say this on every spring call. A wound torsion spring stores enough energy to break bones, and the winding bars are not interchangeable with a screwdriver or a piece of rebar, which is exactly what the emergency room sees. The parts are cheap online and the tutorial videos make it look manageable. It is not.
If the door is stuck and you need the car out today, pull the red emergency release cord and lift the door by hand only if you can do it safely with help, then prop it. Do not leave a door held up by nothing but the opener rail after a spring failure.
Local techs measure the existing spring, wire gauge, inside diameter and length, because a spring that is merely close is a spring that fails early. Local techs check the shaft, bearings and drums while the door is down, since a spring failure often takes a bearing with it. They go in as a pair, wound to the correct tension for your door's actual weight rather than a generic setting, then balance-check by hand and test the safety reversal before local techs leave.
For most doors, expect roughly $160 to $360 for a single spring replaced, and $240 to $520 for a pair, depending on wire gauge, length and whether bearings or the shaft also need attention. High-cycle springs cost more up front and last two to three times as long. Local techs quote the exact number before starting.
No, and trying is expensive. The opener is not built to lift the full weight of the door, so every press works the motor and the gears far beyond their rating. A stripped drive gear or a burnt-out opener on top of a spring replacement is a common and completely avoidable bill.
Most are 60 to 90 minutes, including the balance check and safety test. Doors with unusual spring sizes, a seized shaft, or heavy corrosion from years of humidity can take longer. Local techs carry the common sizes on the truck so most calls are finished in one visit.
If your garage door is the main way your household comes and goes, yes. The 25,000-cycle version costs modestly more and typically outlasts two standard springs, which means one less trip charge over the life of the door. On a garage that opens twice a week it matters much less.
Related: Cable Repair · Off-Track Repair · Repair Cost Guide
Same-day spring replacement across the metro. Local techs carry the common sizes, replace in pairs, and quote before work starts.
