Recommended Hand Winch for Garage Door

Question:

I have a 14ft tall x 10ft wide insulated metal garage door for my shop, the company put an amazing spring on it so it moves upward easily but its difficult for me 28f or my dad 66m to bring the door back down. We wont be using the door often and dont want to put a door opening system on it. Would this wench be a good fit for it?

asked by: Jenna B

Expert Reply:

A worm gear winch wouldn't be a good choice as you'd need to crank to play out the cable and to retract it. I'd go with a plain old light duty boat trailer winch like # DL15002, which is inexpensive and manufactured in the USA.

You'll also need some winch cable, part # FWC3250100. The cable would attach to the spool as shown in the diagram I provided. The 25 foot length will work just fine with your garage door.

Since this isn't necessarily the application the winch was designed for, I can't really offer much in the way of installation advice. You'll need to find a way to attach the cable end to the door, making sure that the attachment is reinforced so the hardware attaching the cable doesn't actually pull through the thin metal sheathing that covers the door panels.

I've linked to a product demonstration video featuring the winch I recommended.

expert reply by: Mike L