I like the idea of belt drive. The wife is always complaining about the noise the old chain drive makes. Got to keep the wife happy. You know how that goes.
...speaking of springs, that may be failure reason. Possibly lost tension, causing opener to lift more weight. If replacing, definitely go torsion, much easier to do now with ratchet-driven adjuster instead of winding springs with 2 half-inch bars...
Not the springs. Doors and springs only a few years old. Definitely something white plastic because shavings fell on car.
I put a belt drive with DC motor/battery backup on mine last year when my chain drive bit the dust and I'm very pleased with it. It's crazy how much quieter it is. We lose power fairly regularly so the backup is nice when the wife comes home with the kiddo and it's pooring rain and no power.
There should be a pinion and worm gear inside that are usual plastic. U shouldn’t have to remove the opener from the ceiling, just open it up enough to see. Had he same thing happen years ago. Just replaced the gears and it was good to go.
Replace the plastic gears as others have mentioned, lube everything up and run it. I replaced my gears about 5 years ago after having the shavings show up. Troy
All good advice - did my gears last year. The old openers are the best unless you want to drop a lot of coin.... Also, make sure your door is well lubed to reduce the load on the opener. Hit it once a year!
