What’s Happening

A loud bang from your garage door almost always means a torsion spring has broken. The spring snaps under tension, releasing stored energy in an instant – that’s the bang you heard. The door is unsafe to operate until the spring is replaced by a trained technician.

Call (254) 602-5116

Torsion springs are the heavy coiled steel components mounted horizontally above the door opening. They carry the full weight of the door every time it moves. Springs are rated for a set number of cycles, and when one reaches the end of its life it doesn’t fade – it lets go all at once. You may also see a broken cable, a snapped roller track, or a loose panel, but a spring failure is the single most common cause of that distinctive gunshot-crack sound. In some cases the door drops a few inches when the spring goes; in others it stays put but feels impossibly heavy if you try to lift it manually.

Why It Happens

A torsion spring snapped

This is the cause in the majority of cases. Torsion springs are wound tight and under enormous tension 24 hours a day, even when the door isn’t moving. Over thousands of open-and-close cycles, the metal fatigues and eventually fractures. You’ll usually see a visible gap in the coil above the door, or the spring may be hanging in two separate pieces. Because these springs are under extreme tension, this is not a component a homeowner should touch – stop using the door and call.

A lift cable snapped or jumped the drum

Lift cables run from the bottom brackets on each side of the door up to a drum near the spring assembly. When a cable breaks or unwinds from its drum it can produce a sharp crack and sometimes a whipping sound as the steel cable releases. If the door dropped on one side or sits visibly crooked, a cable failure is likely. Like springs, cables are under significant tension and should be left alone until a technician arrives.

A roller or roller bracket broke

Nylon rollers crack and steel rollers can shear, especially on heavier doors. A broken roller produces a sharp pop that can sound similar to a spring failure, but the door usually still moves – just roughly, with grinding or skipping. Look along the vertical tracks on each side. If a roller is missing, sitting at a wrong angle, or the bracket it rides in looks bent or cracked, that’s your cause.

A panel seam separated or a hinge snapped

On older sectional doors, the hinges that connect panels can corrode and snap, or the panel seams themselves can buckle if the door takes a hard impact or has been running misaligned for a long time. The bang is typically less sharp than a spring failure – more of a crack than a gunshot. You’ll see the damage when you look at the door face-on: a panel that sits out of plane, a hinge hanging by one bolt, or a visible crease across a section.

What to Do Right Now

• Stop using the door. Do not press the opener button again and do not try to lift the door by hand. A door with a broken spring can fall without warning and weighs anywhere from 80 to over 200 pounds depending on the size and material.
• Disconnect the opener if the door is currently closed. Pull the red emergency release cord to separate the trolley from the door so the opener motor doesn’t strain against a door it can’t move. Do this only if the door is fully closed and on the ground – never on a door that is partially open.
• Take a photo from a safe distance. Stand back and photograph the spring assembly above the door, the cables on both sides, and the door face. A clear photo helps the technician identify the exact parts needed before they arrive.
• Do not attempt to rewind, re-tension, or remove any spring or cable. These components store enough energy to cause a serious injury in a fraction of a second. Leave them exactly as they are.
• Call your local Brock Garage Door Repair team at (254) 602-5116. A live person answers around the clock – nights, weekends, and holidays included. Tell them what you heard and what you can see; they’ll confirm availability and get the right parts on the truck.

How We Fix It

When your local Brock technician arrives, the first thing they do is a full assessment of the door system – not just the part that’s obviously broken. A spring failure, for example, often puts extra stress on cables, drums, and the bottom brackets, so a responsible repair addresses the whole picture rather than swapping one part and leaving the rest worn.

After the inspection, they hand you a written price before any work begins. That’s not a formality – it’s how every Brock job runs, under The Garrison Standard. The number you approve is the number on the invoice.

Most spring and cable repairs fall under our Garage Door Repair and Garage Door Cable Repair services. The work itself typically takes one to two hours on-site for a standard torsion spring replacement. Every repair is covered by the 365-Day Done Right Promise: if the repair fails within a full year, we come back and correct it at no charge. That promise is in writing on every job – not a verbal assurance that disappears when the truck leaves.

Frequently Asked Questions

Get It Fixed

Call (254) 602-5116 – a live person picks up 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Your local Brock Garage Door Repair team will confirm availability, get the right parts staged, and come to you with a written price in hand before anything starts. The 365-Day Done Right Promise is on every repair, in writing.

Written by Wade Mercer, Owner & Technician at Brock Garage Door Repair, operating under the Garrison Partners network since 2001.