ah64pilot

So I can't really put into words how pissed off I am right now. Someone, no names named, my kid put a bag chair against the wall at the garage door opening. I am about to leave for San Antonio and I hit the garage door opener button to shut the garage door. I get inside and hear crunching noises. Fearing the worst I go out to find that the garage was stopped by the bag chair and didn't trip the safety beam.

So the garage door opener just kept trying and bent the top section of the garage and then ripped off of the door. Then one side of the garage door came off the rail at the top two panels so now it's hanging above my silver car.

I was supposed to leave at 4pm, now I'm stuck waiting for a garage guy because I can't adjust / fix it and keep it from falling on the car by myself. Stupid freaking some of a beach!!!

GAOldsman

Wow! Sorry about your luck

sicky olds

FIRST OFF.... Why you coming to my town and not letting me know... 2ndly, I hope u get it all fixed

oldcutlass

That sux! Hopefully no damage to the car! You know all kids suffer from dain bramage!

MDchanic

Damn. That shouldn't happen.
The garage door opener at my old man's house is from the 1970s, and it will stop if it encounters resistance to its travel.

I think you may benefit from a different garage door system that actually stops when it hits something.

On the bright side, better to learn that it doesn't work on a beanbag chair than on your car's hood!

Hope you get it fixed (or at leased rigged) soon!

- Eric

Allan R

Oh man, I know how you feel. That happened to my garage door 2 years ago but slightly different circumstances. It's a helpless feeling isn't it?
Remember one thing though - the garage door you can fix. It will be harder to fix the relationship with a child if he ends up being scared of you.

A. Schedules are made to be broken
B. Don't sweat the 'small stuff' life throws at you.
C. Life's rewards are all about how you handle the 'small stuff'.....

Allan R

Eric, agreed it shouldn't happen. Some doors have pressure sensors, others have photo cell sensors, a lot have BOTH. BTW, don't you mean 'other than on your childs head'?

69442C

X2. Metal and doors can be fixed...much harder to fix a child. The good thing is no one was hurt and your child probably learned a lesson.

A lot of openers have an adjustment for the closing force before the door automatically reverses. If yours does, I'd give that a check as it sounds like the adjustment is pretty far off.

Many years ago, we were going to visit family out of state for Easter. The plan was that I would be home from work at 4:00 on Good Friday, she would have the car loaded and I would just jump out of my car into the minvan and we would be on our way. Got home as planned and I see my son, 7 at the time, pacing in the driveway. The minivan was partially pulled out of the garage and my wide was standing behind it. I could tell something was up. My son was dying to relay the events but my wife told him to hit the mute button. Seems she was ready and had the kids in the car and thought she would get gas. But when she backed out of the garage (the driveway went from 2 car down to 1 at that house) she turned the wheel too soon and slammed the RF fender into the door opening. The fender was crushed, the bumper was pulled off and the grille was blown out and laying 6 feet from the vehicle. She blamed the kids saying they distracted her. It was pretty hot at the time but we all have a good laugh over it now. I fixed it that night and we were off in the morning. You'll look back at this someday too and you'll get a laugh out of it even if it doesn't seem that way now. Good luck with the repairs.

AZ455

That sucks! Hopefully the garage door guy will look into why the safety reverse failed. I tested mine on a 2x4 and it reversed, my wife re-tested it on a folding chair...

ah64pilot

Quick trip, was supposed to be there tonight for an 8am appointment but the Army didn't turn my travel card on and because I spent $200 fixing the garage door I'm deciding to go the cheapest route possible and just drive at 3am. Wanna meet for breakfast? lol! I'll just get the mileage and not spend my own coin for the hotel.

This one especially...but he's a great kid. He did what I told him to do, just put the chair a little too close to the door.

Garage door repair guys came out, fixed the whole thing and even installed the whisper quiet rollers for $200. They said that the system has the auto-reverse pressure switch but the way the door was propped (at the extreme end) it allows the door to flex enough and then bend. The unit doesn't see enough pressure because of the door flexing and bending after it's flexed so it keeps on shutting it.

I didn't say anything to my son. I told him I did it. He doesn't need to be upset for that. I was just pissed because I needed to leave and that happened as we were loading up. I hit the button and went back in the house to grab our bags and I heard the "crunch" of the door buckling. I was mad, but at least it was the door and not the car.

So the $300 I made off the wheels this morning...I paid the garage guy $200 of it. So in all, I'm -$50 on the wheels deal. No worries. I'll just have to wait a little longer to get the new wheels for the car.

Mine has both...but as described above even the pressure sensors aren't fool proof.

Lady72nRob71

This same thing happened to my neighbor next door. Same cause, same result. His grandkid propped something against the door frame, not knowing not to - an accident..
I helped him get it back on the track and adjusted it for him. He did have to have the top section of the door repaired by a door company as the metal was all torn up where the arm ripped off.
Yes, the flimsiness of these doors is what causes the reversing sensor to not function well. I think it should be adjusted just a little more than needed to get the door down.
Anyways, glad there were no injury to anyone or the car.
If he did that on purpose, I would be mad. However, he did not know it seems. HEY - I did the same with a broom a while back. The handle got all jambed up in there, finally reversed and stayed on track. It did tweak the framework, as it was all out of square for a while. Took a while to readjust it. So I was POed at myself a while and vowed to never prop up anything in the door's path.
And yes, issues like this always seem to spawn when you are getting ready to go somewhere... Happens to me a lot.

Rickman48

I look at bad things as they could have always been worse!
Door could have fallen on the car;
Your boy, or you, could have been hurt!
Count the little blessings - this was a warning.
What if it happened to your wife, while you were gone?

442much

I understand your frustration Steve. I came back from our Olds show in Olds, AB. I opened the gargage remotely and backed the car partially in. While grabbing some stuff off of the front seat I hear the garage door starting to lower. The trunk is in the path. There is no time to start the car and move it so I jump out and notice the antenna is bending under the door at this point.

With only about 5" between the trunk and door, I put my arms in a fork lift position and catch the door before it hits the trunk and spoiler. In my mind I'm saying to myself. "You'll have to break my arms and back before I let go." The door feels the resistance and reverses. I shut off the power, move the car and go into the house to see if anyone hit the opener remote. Nobody is even close to it. Perhaps it was the remote in the car that was bumped by something?

Anyway, the antenna was bent, I went to Canadian Tire and even though this antenna was about 25 years old, they had a replacement mast for $15. It was black, but I bought it, spray painted "chrome" and it looks as good as the old one. No damage to the car, but it could have been worse.

ah64pilot

Rob, that's what happened to mine. The top panel was totally bent in the middle where the arm ripped out of it. Then the wheels came off that one side and it was just hanging there half way down. I was glad no one was out there when it happened, but then again if I had just looked around the corner of the car before pushing the button it could've been prevented. Oh well.

I was in no way upset with my son, my frustration was just that I didn't do my normal check of the back of the car to make sure it would clear. If I had I would have noticed the chair. And in the back of my mind I knew it was there because I had him move it there lol! Oh well...it was an off day for me anyway.

coppercutlass

it's alright last year i backed mine into a forklift while in storage/work quarters for the winter. My car had a light film of dust., well i didnt see the forlift and back into it pretty good. i pushed my bumper in and crumpled up the area between the bumper and quarter. I fixed it all up but man was i pissed off.

Lady72nRob71

I always feel if my property is going to get damaged, i would much prefer it to be MY fault!

garth66

So, the lesson to be learned is, never just hit the button and leave (go in the house, etc). I ALWAYS watch my garage door close, and stand ready at the button to stop it if there's a problem.

'Why' you ask?

I'm nearly finished with an engine rebuild (351C for a Pantera) and it's on the stand at the front of the garage, behind the car. My garage is small so it's a pretty tight fit with the engine, transaxle, and other miscellanea all bunched up at the front of the garage. I had the garage door open earlier in the day, then closed it to within a foot of the floor to shade me from the sun and maintain some fresh air flow while working. When I finished up, I hit the button on the wall on my way into the house, fully expecting the door to close the last foot. But since it had previously been closed and was stopped a foot or so before closing completely, the door opened when I hit the button on my way into the house.

While climbing in and out of the engine compartment I must have bumped that engine stand or shifted something slightly, because as the door began it's upward travel, one of the support rails on the door frame caught/hooked my engine and began to lift it off the floor. When it's grasp wasn't sufficient to hold the the extra 400 lbs. (no heads on it yet), the engine and stand slipped off the rail and came crashing to the floor, and my car!

That's when I knew there was a problem, when I heard the huge CRASH from inside the house!

By some miracle, damage to the car was little more than a paint chip. Apparently the garage floor and an adjacent rolling stool took the brunt of the blow - thankfully!

Now, I always watch the garage door go up and down to make sure there are no problems.

I did have one other time when I closed the door and something small triggered the auto-reverse safety feature, but I had already gone into the house for the night. I came out in the morning to find my garage door had been wide open all night! Thankfully, all my parts and tools were still present and accounted for.

But it's the engine incident that began my current practice of watching the door when opening or closing.

Anyway, glad no one was hurt and your car was not damaged!

1970cs

Yea just last night I spotted a broken kick stand from step sons bike laying on my ladder, which hangs on the garage wall horizontaly next to the 70 Supreme.

I asked the boy what happens if I don't spot that, and pick the ladder off the wall? He look at it and said "it will hit the car" my question why of all places to put a broken anything on a ladder? "I don't know". BTW if your wondering he is almost a stright A student!

Comes right down to what my old man used to chew my A$$ "Always think before you do"

Pat

Napoleon Solo

Kids, you can't live with 'em, can't bury 'em in the backyard.

bdub217

The sounds you guys described of crashing and crunching metal made me cringe.

Glad your family and car is okay! BTW what wheels are you grabbing?

ah64pilot

Getting Billet Specialties Street Lite wheels...or trying to lol! Every time I get cash save up I have to spend it on something like this

bdub217

Nice! I checked em out! They look sharp, a bit spendy though at what 250 a pop?

ah64pilot

Think they're about $279 or so...

bdub217

Plus rubber and you almost have a used car wrapped up in wheels. =/ If i see a deal on those wheels I will shoot you a pm.

coppercutlass

Stephen. I too am in search of new wheels. But I'm going old school with cragar sst's trying to find a good set cheap is becoming hard. I gotta say those street lites look killer. I wanted the ones from centerline I think they are called qualifiers? Almost the same. I'm too cheap though lol.

ah64pilot

Well I have a new car wrapped up in the rest of the car, I've got $22K in it right now. I guess $2,000 for wheels and tires isn't too bad lol!

I figure if I'm restoring a car or modding it out like the silver car I might as well get what I want. I'd kick myself for spending $1000 on something that'll do when if I had waited to spend the extra $1000 I could have gotten exactly what I want.

bdub217

Yeah, what's 2k when you've spent 22k.
+1

coppercutlass

I'm also stuck on the rallye wheels. They just look so damn good. I got the right rubber on there.

ah64pilot

I like the rallye's but to have them widened cost almost as much as new wheels, and then I still have a steel wheel.

coppercutlass

That's my dilema. Which is why I run 14x6 in fron with a tall skinny tire and 15x7 in the rear with 275 60 15 rubber for the street .