Need schooled on garage door openers, mine took a crap...

[5.0calypso93lx]

The other day, my g/f is pulling her car out of her garage in the morning to go to work, and I hear this nasty noise from the garage door opener. I could hear the motor trying to work, but the door wasn't moving anywhere.

The unit is a 1/4 HP Sears, thats just a plain jane model. No numeric pad, and its just the basic chain driven model with a push button mounted in the garage.

So I pulled the back cover off of the motor just now, to find that the big white plastic gear's teeth are sheered off.... Just like what happened to my parents sears opener.

I make a trip to sears and ask how much the gear is, and not only do they not sell them in the stores, but they guy told me they only come in packs with all the gears, and its $90 DOLLARS!!! A brand new unit is only $130!!!

I figured, might as well get a new one, since who knows what else will go wrong with this thing.

Is it possible to buy the gear seperately/by itself? How hard is it to replace it if I do find it?

Should I buy an entire new unit? If so, which one? I saw one at Sears for $190, that said it was quiet, maintenance free, and came with a warranty.

Let me know what you guys think.

[bobtsgt]

Depending on how long you plan on staying at your place would depend on which one I would get. $190 doesn't sound all that bad

[5.0calypso93lx]

Depending on how long you plan on staying at your place would depend on which one I would get. $190 doesn't sound all that bad

Well, I found the gears on ebay for $15 shipped, but now I need to figure out which one I need.

Also read the reviews on my particular opener(well the newer version of it), and they are pretty bad. Not sure what I'm gonna do yet, hope to get some more opinions first.

[bobtsgt]

are there any numbers or markings on the old gear? might be able to find the teeth count based on that. is there atleast a 1/4 of the gear left?

[5.0calypso93lx]

are there any numbers or markings on the old gear? might be able to find the teeth count based on that. is there atleast a 1/4 of the gear left?

I'll look in the morning. There's enough of the gear left, that I could count the teeth if necessary. I just don't see how to get the gear off the shaft? It looks like there is some sort of c clip at the top of the shaft, but it doesn't wanna move.

[bobtsgt]

any way to get some pics?? Might have to pop the clip up off the shaft if its a gooved shaft and it should slide off.

[5.0calypso93lx]

any way to get some pics?? Might have to pop the clip up off the shaft if its a gooved shaft and it should slide off.

Yea, I'll snap some in the morning.

[5.0calypso93lx]

What do you guys think about this one:

http://www.sears.com/sr/javasr/product.do?BV_UseBVCookie=Yes&vertical=TOOL&cat=Home+Security+%26+Garage+Door+Openers&subcat=Garage+Door+Openers+%26+Accessories&pid=00953990000

So far, its the only one sears offer, that I've seen with good reviews.

What about Liftmaster or Genie?

[89notch]

I bought my gear driven with 3 openers for 190 at lowes

[Black Horse]

Scofield Window and Door in Hamilton may be able to get you hooked up with the gear - they order parts and may have some "donor" units in their shop.
The Genie, Sears and Chamberlain units are all basically the same made by the same manufacturer. (Most of the differences are age/model related)
My unit fried a control board and they hooked me up real quick!

[93hulk]

I have direct drive Genie that I got from lowes and I love it. Super quiet and one of the fastest on the market.