Common Issues with Wayne Dalton Garage Doors
The most common issues with Wayne Dalton garage doors are mostly found in the 9100 model which is primarily installed for home builders.
Wayne Dalton garage doors came on the scene hard and fast in our area during the home builder boom. This was mainly due to the fact they had designed a garage door that was quicker to install, and it was offered at a much lower cost on a national builder program.
The most common model we find in our area is the 9100 which is a foam in place garage door section with preinstalled hinges. The snap together tracks, Torquemaster spring system, and preinstalled hardware made it possible for an installer to put one up in about one hour. Of course, this was on a new home with no removal of an existing garage door.
The price to have these garage doors installed as a home builder is so cheap, it’s hard to pass on the program. The Wayne Dalton 9100 door can be found in homes ranging from $200,000 all the way up to over $1,000,000. This is unfortunate considering the build quality of this garage door is subpar.
Let’s take a look at some of the most common issues with Wayne Dalton garage doors. The model we are going to focus on is the 9100 because that is what we see most often.
Broken Torquemaster Spring
The Wayne Dalton Torquemaster Spring is a unique design that features a small spring inside a teardrop shaped tube. It has plastic cable drums and locking mechanisms on the ends that prevent the door from closing if the spring ever breaks.
The springs inside the tube are a small wire size, so the rated life is less than that of a standard torsion spring. One-car garage doors will have one spring inside the tube while two-car garage doors will have two springs.
When a spring does break, and you try to open the garage door, you will most likely hear a clicking noise as the door goes up. This is the anti-drop locking mechanism on the ends that engages into the plastic gear. The system is designed to lock itself in the up position if a spring breaks as a safety precaution.
The only problem with this is that most people do not have a way to get their garage door closed if they cannot get a repair company out to resolve the issue. If that is the case, you can refer to the photo above, which shows how to disengage the lock so you can lower the garage door. Make sure you have two people when completing this step, so the door can be slowly lowered to the ground.
Convert Torquemaster Spring to Torsion Spring
If the Wayne Dalton Torquemaster Spring system breaks, you can have it converted to a standard torsion spring set up. This will give you more cycle life and be less expensive moving forward when you need spring repair. The initial cost will be more than a standard torsion spring replacement due to the parts required for the conversion.
As you can see the difference in size between the Torquemaster and a torsion spring is significant. Standard torsion springs will have a two-inch inside diameter and give you more life.
End Stiles Pull Away From Section
The Wayne Dalton 9100 garage door is composed of very thin metal, so it’s not uncommon to see the end stiles pulling away from the section on a two-car garage door. The metal is so thin it cannot hold the weight of the section over a 16 ft span.
There isn’t much you can do to repair this apart from replacing the section or running carriage bolts through the section. The downside to this is you would see the heads of the bolts on the outside of the section.
Hinges Come Loose and Bending
The hinge screws will start to pull out of the section over time because there is not much to grab onto. The gauge of the metal in these sections is not specified by the manufacturer, which tells us they don’t want anyone to know. While I don’t know the exact gauge, I can tell you it is thinner than what you see on a standard garage door section.
Like I mentioned earlier, the metal is very thin on the Wayne Dalton 9100 garage door, so don’t be surprised if the hinges bend rather easily. This usually happens if the door comes off the track, but the damage can sometimes be more than expected due to the construction of the door.
Torquemaster Tube Cut in Half
We have seen occasionally where the Torquemaster tube that is mounted above the garage door has been cut in half by the center support bracket. This happens when the nylon bushing works its way out of the bracket and the tube is sitting directly on the metal bracket. Over time, the bracket will cut a groove in the tube as it turns in operation.
Horizontal Track Separated from Vertical Track
This problem is not as common, but it does happen because the tracks on a Wayne Dalton 9100 garage door are not bolted together like standard tracks. They use a slide and turn system with tabs to keep the tracks together. As you can see, they don’t always stay connected.
Conclusion
We have worked on hundreds of Wayne Dalton 9100 garage doors. There have been hundreds, if not thousands, of these garage doors installed in our service area, so we have become familiar with most issues.
Make sure if you call a service company to repair your Torquemaster spring to let them know up front what type of spring system you have. This way they know what parts to bring for a Torquemaster spring replacement or conversion to a standard torsion spring.
