First the damage... this is what I came home to.
One dead spring, one broken safety cable. It's important to replace the safety cable because it's what kept the broken spring from flying into the wall, one of the cars or the door. If the spring is strong enough to hold up the garage door it's strong enough to do some damage to you or anything in the garage.
First open the garage door and secure it with a C clamp through the track. To attach the safety cable, first run the loose end through a hole in the framework by the garage door opening (you can see it in the last picture). Now thread the straight end of the cable through the middle of the new spring. Attach it to the framework indicated below by wrapping it through the holes and securing the loose end.
Now you can attach the spring assist cable. Secure the loose end of the cable in the framework located at the top of the garage door. Now wrap the other end of the cable back through the pulley attached to the spring.
The last step is to attach the looped end of the cable to the peg at the bottom corner of the garage door.
Now you can remove the clamp in the garage door track and reattach the garage door opener.
The first time you do the job it will probably take about an hour. But if you have to do it again the job goes by much faster. This is the second time I have repaired this kind of garage door and it took about 20 minutes.
Congratulations! You've saved yourself at least $100 or so by not needing to call someone out to service it.
