replacing gear in craftsman garage door opener...HELP!!
after reading the posts on: http://forum.doityourself.com/showthread.php?t=194172 i ventured to replace the worn out gear on my craftsman garage door opener. Everything was going pretty cool, until I reached the gear shaft, and it was time to slip the plastic gear off it. The gear is held on the shaft by two roll pins one above andd one below. After a couple hours and lots of swearing, I still cannot get these pins off the shaft, not even the lower one. These are stuck real hard as the pins are some sort of compression type. I tried spraying lube/rust dissolving spray, using a punch and hammer, drilling inside the hollow drill with a bit, but too no avail. I dont want to get the whole unit down because I dont want to mess with the rail (attached to the unit) and the chain, sprocket, etc. I am close to calling for a technician to help, but I thought I would check here to see if anyone had similar problems, and if there is a work around. I guess i can buy the whole center shaft with the gear on it, and replace the entire thing, but that would involve removal of the chain, rail, etc. Please help. -Mash I did mine a few years back so I can't give you a lot of detail. I recall I had to use a punch bigger than the roll pin until It was flush with the shaft, or the punch would go inside the roll pin. Once I did that I could use a punch about the same size as the roll pin. I believe I had to use pliers to get the pin out (with a bit of pulling and some bloody knuckles) after I ran out of length on the punch. By the time you call a pro, you might as well buy a new unit if you can install it yourself. I only replaced it because it it was cheaper. I just replace my gear and it was a snap. Remove the entire assembly (you don't have to remove the motor and casing) Removing and replacing those pins is far easier on your bench...took me 2 minutes to reinstall You have to remove the drive chain and remove the whole gear assembly.You do not have to remove the rail. The assembly comes out from the top of the opener by removing (3) hex bolts (5/16) end wrench. If there is not enough room to remove the gear assembly from the top (IE. the ceiling is in the way), then un hook the motor from the ceiling and drop it down and let it rest on top of the open garage door. It would be better to replace the whole gear assembly with a new one that already has the plastic gear installed. The reason being is the upper bushing just below the drive sprocket most always goes bad too I have a Craftsman garage door opener as well and have just replaced the worn gear this evening. Like you said, mine is installed to hold the rail as well. The clearance above the opener is not enough to pull out the shaft. It took me about 2 hours to get the lower pin out. I saw your post and got the idea of spraying the pin with WD40. I used two flat screws, one slightly larger, and one the size of the pin, as punches. Once the pin is flush with the worn gear, I used the smaller screw. That's when I had problem getting it out until I soaked the pin with WD-40 for a while. Then I hammered it all the way through until the pin popped out. I had to remove the three screws holding the shaft in place, so that I know I won't bend the shaft with excessive hammering. I had to use the other hand holding the shaft and the screw in place. I left the upper pin in place. Once the new gear is in place, I had trouble inserting the new pin all the way in as well. I just stopped when the new pin is securely in place (one side flush with the hole at the other side of the shaft). Since the new gear is secure anyway (and there's not much play underneath the gear), I guess that will do until other parts of the opener fails (and warrants a total replacement of the unit). Thanks for all your suggestions. I ended up removing the whole shaft from the top as indicated by Virch. My fear was not to mess with the chain alignment, tension, and more so I noticed the center rail was attached to the unit. I still managed to remove the shaft by unscrewing the three screws holding it to the unit and pulling the whole thing from the top. I had to tilt the opener a little since there was hardly any room between the opener and the ceiling, so I could pry the shaft with the gear out. Once out, it was a breeze to get those suckers out working on the bench, after propping on small 2x4 blocks. Thanks, again. I feel a pro already! one other related question....any pointers on tighten the chain. I tried tightening it as as mentioned in the instructions that came with the gear kit, but notice the chain since hangs quite loose in teh closed door position. Is this normal? The door closes and opens fine after i did the adjustments and the safety tests. All you need to know here: http://tinyurldotcom/gearfix (fix the url by removing the dot and putting in a .)
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