A standard torsion spring sits open on a round steel shaft and is wound with two bars at a cone. Enclosed and winder systems change that: a gearbox, ratchet or worm gear does the winding, and on some the spring disappears inside a tube. Replacing any of them is spring replacement, but the parts and the method differ by system.
Brand detail lives on the brand pages: our Wayne Dalton page covers TorqueMaster models and conversions, and the Clopay page covers its retail doors and EZ-Set. This guide compares the systems side by side so you can tell which one is over your door.
Why door makers built their own winders
Door makers built winders to take the winding bar out of spring work, and a spring supplier says plainly why: winding residential torsion springs is dangerous.
That supplier sorts the results into a family of systems, each tied to a maker or a parts line: Wayne Dalton’s TorqueMaster, the EZ-Set system from Ideal, Holmes and Clopay, the Arrow Tru-Line center winder, and others. Each one holds the spring’s force behind gears or a ratchet instead of a cone gripped by bars.
A winder makes the work more controlled for the people trained to do it; it does not take the force out of the spring. Wayne Dalton’s own instructions warn that a powerful spring releasing its energy suddenly can cause severe injury, and DASMA’s checklist leaves every spring repair and adjustment to a trained door systems technician, whatever the system.
How to identify each system from the floor
Start at the ends of the shaft above the door, because almost every system here puts its winder at an end bracket, then check whether you can see coils at all.
| System | What you see from the floor | Where it winds | Spring visible? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard open torsion | Coiled springs on a bare round shaft, a cone with holes at each spring’s outer end, and a center bearing plate on the header | At the winding cone, with two winding bars | Yes |
| TorqueMaster (One) | A plain tube spans the header and no coil shows; on a single-spring door the right end bracket carries a drive gear, a counter cover and a winding bolt head, with a numbered counter wheel | At the end bracket, through a worm gear turned by a drill | No, it is inside the tube |
| TorqueMaster Plus | The same plain tube, right and left hand end brackets, the right one with a disconnect cable guide hole in its top and a ratchet inside | At the end bracket, with a ratchet wrench | No, it is inside the tube |
| EZ-Set (Clopay, Ideal, Holmes) | Springs with small gaps between the coils, black winder housings marked R or L beside the drums, drums lettered L and R; Clopay uses green labels on the left and orange on the right | At the end bracket winder, with a drill | Yes, gapped |
| Arrow Tru-Line winder | Ordinary tight-wound springs, with a geared winder near the middle of the shaft serving as the spring anchor | At the center winder, with a drill | Yes |
| Overhead Door Armortite | Each spring inside its own aluminum tube, the winder on the end plate inside the cable drum | At the end plate, with a hand drill | No, each spring has its own tube |
Two details settle close calls. A spring supplier notes that the TorqueMaster tube is not round, because one quarter of it juts out to form an edge that the stationary cone inside is shaped to match. And the gaps in an EZ-Set spring are made at the factory, not a sign that the spring has stretched.
Labels help too. Wayne Dalton has installers write the spring turns on an end bracket warning tag, and Clopay stencils its EZ-SET springs LEFT and RIGHT with a spot of paint for spring strength. When a gapped spring is too hard to measure, a supplier suggests reading the door’s width, height and model number off its stickers.
How each system is wound and replaced
Each system holds the full force of its springs until that force is released, but the tool, the motion and the replacement spring change from one system to the next.
TorqueMaster and TorqueMaster Plus
Wayne-Dalton’s 1995 patent describes the idea. The spring is mounted inside the tubular shaft so it is not outwardly exposed, the drums are fixed to the non-round tube, and tension is set through a worm and worm gear turned with a hex socket on a drill. The original version counts turns on a numbered wheel at the end bracket.
The Plus version winds through a ratchet and pawl in the end bracket and has no counter wheel, so installers mark the shaft to count turns. Its instructions say tension must be relieved before any hardware is removed, take it off a fraction of a turn at a time, and tell the installer to be ready to hold the spring’s full tension on the tool.
Replacement Plus springs slide into the tube perch end first. Wayne Dalton also sells a kit that converts a TorqueMaster One to the Plus winder, a middle path between keeping the original system and moving to an open shaft.
EZ-Set
The EZ-Set system was first developed by the Ideal Door Company in Baldwin, Wisconsin, and Holmes Garage Door Company used it as well. Clopay bought both companies, so the same system is sold under all three names.
Its springs are gapped at the factory and held at length by a spacer on the shaft inside the spring. A drill turns the winder at the end bracket, set screws fix the spring to the shaft at its other end, and the cone a standard system winds from serves as the stationary end. Clopay’s manual says winds are adjusted only with the door fully closed.
EZ-Set’s smaller drums take more winder turns than a standard drum for the same door height, and a spring supplier notes that they do not suit wall-mount openers. Some of the winder parts are plastic, which matters when a replacement spring is chosen.
Center and end winders on standard springs
Arrow Tru-Line’s winder mounts near the center of the shaft and works as both the spring anchor and the winder for standard residential springs, which are stretched and locked with set screws before a drill turns its tensioning screw. It takes only standard springs and standard lift drums.
The Torsion Spring Safe-T-Winder mounts at the end of the shaft and winds every spring on it with a drill, rated by one supplier for doors up to 1,500 pounds. The Spring King, also sold as Simple Set, sat near the shaft ends on special end bearing plates and is no longer made.
Armortite
Overhead Door’s Armortite puts each spring in its own aluminum tube, with the winder on the end plate inside the cable drum, turned by a hand drill. Overhead Door’s residential installation manual carries the instructions for it.
Why parts do not cross between systems
Parts do not cross because each system’s spring is built around its own winder and shaft, so a spring from one system will not hold properly in another.
A TorqueMaster spring has a perch end made to slide into the tube and is marked right or left hand on that perch, so an ordinary spring and cone do not fit it. An EZ-Set winder fares worse with the wrong spring: a spring supplier says standard tight-wound springs typically dislodge or strip the gears inside the winder and break its plastic tabs.
Ordering differs as well. A gapped EZ-Set spring is hard to measure, so the door’s model number and size from its labels do more work than a tape. EZ-Set springs are also sold by part numbers tied to a color and a letter, not by wire size alone.
A text with four photos taken from the floor lets us identify the system and order the right parts before the visit.
- Each end of the shaft, close enough to show the end bracket, any gear housing or ratchet, and the drum.
- The whole header, from one side of the door to the other, so we can see whether coils show and where any winder sits.
- Every label you can find, such as a sticker on the inside of a lower section or a warning tag on an end bracket.
- The cables at both bottom corners, because slack cables on both sides point to a broken spring in a single-spring tube.
When converting to a standard torsion shaft wins
A move to an open torsion shaft pays off when the system’s own hardware has worn out along with its springs; when only a spring failed on sound hardware, replacing it in kind is the simpler repair.
Both of the systems this guide opened with can be converted: Wayne Dalton’s TorqueMaster to standard torsion, and EZ-Set to standard springs. The conversion swaps the tube or the winders for a round shaft carried on end bearing plates and a center plate, with standard drums and open springs chosen for the door’s weight.
Three reasons come up. A plastic winder part has been stripped or broken, a spring breaks inside a tube that is itself bent or worn, or the owner wants a wall-mount opener that EZ-Set drums cannot carry. That last choice still rests on the door and opener makers’ instructions.
Until a technician arrives, treat a heavy door with an enclosed system like any door with a broken spring. Unplug the opener, do not lift the door by hand or stand under it, and leave the end brackets, bottom brackets and any red fasteners alone, because they hold the springs’ force even when nothing seems to move.