Garage door service in Clark County, WA
Frayed, snapped or unwound garage door cables replaced
We replace garage door lift cables in pairs in Vancouver, Washington and every corner of Clark County, and we inspect the drums and bottom brackets on every call, because the lower corners of a door sit in the wettest spot in the garage.
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Signs you need this repair
Cable trouble shows up at the door's lower corners and along its sides, and these are the signs people describe.
- The bottom edge of the door is tilted, one corner riding higher
- A lift cable dangles beside the track or has spun off its drum
- Broken or rust-orange strands near the loop at a bottom corner
- The door jerked or banged on the way down and now sits crooked
- A cable jumped its drum after the door closed onto ice or something in its path
How a cable replacement visit runs
Cables carry spring tension from the drum to the floor, so the work starts by taking that tension away and ends by proving it is even on both sides.
Steady the door where it stopped
A door hanging on one cable can twist out of its tracks if it moves, so both tracks get clamped, the low side gets propped, and the opener's power is pulled before anything else happens. If the door stopped partway open, it stays supported until the springs are dealt with, and nobody stands under it in the meantime.
Take the load off the cables
Safety step: torsion springs are unwound with winding bars until the cables go slack, and side springs are relaxed by raising the door and clamping it open. Through all of it, the bottom brackets stay bolted. They hold the cable ends against spring tension, and one unbolted under load can throw the bracket and the door edge without warning.
Inspect drums, brackets and the track
With the cables off, each drum is checked for cracked flanges, chipped grooves and set screws that have backed out, and each bottom bracket for rust scale, a bent lip or a worn pin hole. We sight down both vertical tracks as well, because a door that hung crooked can pinch a roller or kink the track on its low side.
Fit and wrap the new pair
Each new cable is looped over its bottom bracket pin and its swaged stop seated in the slot on the drum, then wrapped into the grooves with no crossovers. The drums are set so both cables reach the floor at the same moment, which is what puts the bottom section down level and keeps one side from carrying the door.
Rewind, level and cycle the door
The springs go back to their turn count, and the door is lowered, raised and stopped at several heights to confirm both cables stay tight in their grooves, including fully open, where cable tension is at its lowest. The balance test follows, then the opener's travel and force settings and the reversal test.
Off the drum or broken: what your cable is telling you
A loose cable and a broken one look alike from across the garage, but the cause and the fix differ, and the table sorts them out.
| What you see | Likely cause | What we do |
|---|---|---|
| Cable unwound from the drum but whole | Slack, from ice, an obstruction or a door that stopped while the drum kept turning | Fresh cables if the old pair kinked, plus a fix for whatever let the slack in |
| Cable snapped near a bottom corner | Rust and broken strands at the loop around the bracket pin | Both cables replaced and the bracket checked for rust |
| Cable frayed up at the drum | A chipped groove, a drum out of line, or cable rubbing a bearing plate | New cables, plus a new drum if the groove is damaged |
| Cables whole but the door sits crooked | Uneven wrap on the drums or a drum slipped on the shaft | Drums reset on the shaft and the door leveled |
| Cable hanging after a spring broke | The spring let go and the shaft stopped holding tension | Spring replacement first, then cables where the break damaged them |
Why replace both cables when one failed
The cable that held is the same age, the same steel and the same distance from a wet slab as the one that broke, so it has been wearing at the same rate.
Why the lower corners rust first in a Clark County garage
The bottom bracket and the cable loop sit at slab level on the outer edge of the door, right where rain that gets past the bottom seal collects.
Pearson Field in Vancouver averages more than 37 inches of rain a year, with the heaviest months from November through January, and Battle Ground and Longview record more wet days still. Water working under a garage door is a well-documented problem, and a driveway that slopes toward the door makes it worse.
Galvanized cable is coated against corrosion, but a corner that stays wet all winter wears through that protection at the loop.
Why ice and obstructions knock a cable off its drum
Cable leaves a drum only when it goes slack, and anything that stops the bottom of the door while the drum keeps turning can slack it.
Freezing rain is the local version. In January 2024, ice built up to as much as an inch thick around the Greater Vancouver area, and a door closing onto a ridge of ice stops at one corner while the opener keeps driving the top down. The drum pays out cable with nowhere to go, and the wrap slips off.
What else gets replaced when a garage door cable breaks?
Whatever started the failure goes in with the new pair, because a fresh cable on a rough drum or a worn pulley fails the same way, so we trace each cable from floor to shaft first.
| Where it started | What gives it away | What goes in with the new pair |
|---|---|---|
| The bottom bracket loop | Broken wires at slab height and scale flaking off the bracket | A new bracket and clevis pin |
| A burr or chipped groove on a drum | Fraying along the length that wraps the drum | That drum, and its partner if worn alike |
| A worn pulley on a side-spring door | The door stalls or scrapes partway before the cable frays | All four pulleys, which wear together |
| A wall-mount opener on standard-lift or low-headroom track | Cable going slack or leaving the drum with the door fully open | Cable keepers or other tension provisions the door and opener makers specify |
| Cables cut too short | With the door shut, no turns of cable remain on the drum | A pair long enough for the drum maker's minimum wrap |
What changes the price
The posted price covers two new lift cables on a standard door with sound drums and brackets; any of these adds a line.
- A cracked or chipped cable drum, or one that slipped on the shaft
- A rusted or bent bottom bracket
- A spring that broke along with the cable
- Kinked track or bent rollers on the side that dropped
- High-lift or vertical-lift drums on tall ceilings and shop doors
- Extension spring doors that also need pulleys or containment cables
When replacing beats repairing
Replacement beats a cable repair only when the bottom section has rusted through around the bracket or rotted along the bottom rail, leaving the bracket nothing solid to bolt to.
Cables are among the least expensive parts on a garage door, so a cable failure by itself almost never justifies a new door. On a failing section, a new bracket is a short fix, and we say plainly whether a fresh bottom section or a whole new door is the smarter spend.
Cable replacement: questions and answers
Why replace both garage door cables when only one frayed?
Because the survivor is the same age, has carried the same load and has sat in the same damp corner. Pairing a new cable with an old one can also leave the door landing tilted. Unloading the springs is the same work for one cable or two, so the second cable adds little to the bill.
How can I tell a cable off the drum from a broken garage door cable?
A cable that runs unbroken from the bottom bracket upward came off the drum; one that ends in frayed strands broke. Look on the slack side, low, where the cable meets the door. Either way the springs can still hold tension, so the door stays put and hands stay away from the bracket.
Can I keep running the garage door on one cable?
No. With one cable gone, a single drum and bracket carry the whole door from one side, and the free side can drop, twist or leave the track. Running the opener makes it worse, because it keeps pushing or pulling the top section while the bottom hangs crooked. Pull the plug on the opener and let the door sit until we arrive.
Do the cable drums need replacing along with the cables?
Only when they are damaged, and we check them on every cable job. A drum with a cracked flange, chipped grooves or a cable slot worn sharp will cut or throw a new cable, so it gets replaced. A drum that simply slipped on the shaft is reset and its set screws tightened instead.
Is rust on the garage door bottom bracket a reason to replace it?
Light surface rust usually is not, but flaking scale, a bent lip or a pin hole stretched out of round means a new bracket. That bracket holds the cable against full spring tension, so it is never one to gamble on. We change it with the springs unloaded, never by unbolting it while they are wound.
What makes a lift cable keep unwinding off the same drum?
Slack, every time. Something lets the cable go loose: a door closing onto ice or an object, an opener set to drive past the floor, a drum slipping on the shaft, or low-headroom track that leaves little tension with the door open. We fix that cause instead of rewinding the same cable again.
Why did my garage door cable snap at the bottom and not at the drum?
The bottom loop sits at slab level, where water that slips under the door keeps it wet, so rust thins those strands first. The cable also bends tightly around the bracket pin there. When we find broken strands at one bottom corner, we check the bracket and the foot of the track on both sides.
Where to go next
Where we do this work
We replace cables in every corner of our area, including the rainier ground around Battle Ground and up the I-5 corridor to Longview.
Want a price before anyone drives over?
Call and describe what the door is doing, or text a photo of the door and the spring above it. You hear the likely repair and where its price starts, then decide.