Garage door opener?

Westtown Willy

TJ dummy
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so my trusty old Craftsman garage door opener made it a few months shy of its 25th birthday when it died last night. I had a similar one at my prior house which was great while I was there so I like the brand but as far as I know Sears has pretty much died too? I see that Lowe's sells 'Craftsman' openers but I'm guessing it's probably a piece of crap made in China with the old name on it...

Anyone have any recommendations on a good replacement, not sure of the width of my door but it's a two car garage so it's a pretty big one. I'd also love to be able to just replace the motor unit itself & use the existing chain drive if possible.
 
I liked the Genie screw drive units I had at a previous house better than the chain drive ones I have now.
 
I have been very happy with my Chamberlain opener with Wifi. You might think that there is no need for Wifi but I use it all the time. I can open it to let a neighbor in to borrow a shovel, I get an alert when it goes up or down, and I can use my phone to open and close from any where. The belt drive is very quiet.
 
I liked the Genie screw drive units I had at a previous house better than the chain drive ones I have now.

I always thought the screw design seemed better, but what happened in this case was the house came with a Craftsman chain drive & I can't remember what the problem was with it, it could have been a remote or sensor issue, but in any event I just grabbed a new one to start fresh & replaced the motor unit only & used the old chain drive setup which is still there to this day working, could be 35 years old or more for all I know... I kept the one that came in the new box for maybe 10 years before tossing it in the trash. They seem clunky & noisy but damn those things last forever.

I found what looks like the modern replacement, $200 at Lowes & from what I'm seeing in the comments it bolts right up to the existing drive so I may just take a shot at that one.

My prime motivating factor here is laziness :ROFLMAO:, I really don't want to install a whole new drive.

I have been very happy with my Chamberlain opener with Wifi. You might think that there is no need for Wifi but I use it all the time. I can open it to let a neighbor in to borrow a shovel, I get an alert when it goes up or down, and I can use my phone to open and close from any where. The belt drive is very quiet.

hahaha I saw the 'Wifi' feature advertised in most of these new units, & I'd dispute the need for it, just one more overly complicated piece of shit to break; I've also managed to own garage doors for 30 years without ever once needing to open it remotely, fuck my neighbors & their shovel needs :LOL:.

Though, I'm pretty sure @Zorba needs one with Wifi ASAP!
 
I always thought the screw design seemed better, but what happened in this case was the house came with a Craftsman chain drive & I can't remember what the problem was with it, it could have been a remote or sensor issue, but in any event I just grabbed a new one to start fresh & replaced the motor unit only & used the old chain drive setup which is still there to this day working, could be 35 years old or more for all I know... I kept the one that came in the new box for maybe 10 years before tossing it in the trash. They seem clunky & noisy but damn those things last forever.

I found what looks like the modern replacement, $200 at Lowes & from what I'm seeing in the comments it bolts right up to the existing drive so I may just take a shot at that one.

My prime motivating factor here is laziness :ROFLMAO:, I really don't want to install a whole new drive.



hahaha I saw the 'Wifi' feature advertised in most of these new units, & I'd dispute the need for it, just one more overly complicated piece of shit to break; I've also managed to own garage doors for 30 years without ever once needing to open it remotely, fuck my neighbors & their shovel needs :LOL:.

Though, I'm pretty sure @Zorba needs one with Wifi ASAP!

You asked for a good replacement. Pretty sure all of them are available with wifi now.

Nothing wrong with doing it the easy way when it meets your needs.
 
Craftsman was simply rebranded Chamberlain/Lift-Master. Wi-Fi? More technological stupidity that drives up costs and hassles. And all I need is someone hacking my home network and opening the door. Belt drive is very nice if you need quiet - like I did in a townhouse with MBR over the garage. I had one with battery backup at one point - added an additional battery and solar panel setup so I didn't have to run electricity to the detached garage.
 
I have a lift master that is 4 years old. The range is impressive, I can hit the button 100 yards away and my garage door is open by the time I round the corner. It seemed a bit clunky and loud but after lubing every hinge piece, chain, track and spring cable, it is very quiet. Our garage door is opened multiple times a day, I've been overall happy with it.

If I were to get a new opener today, I'd probably go for a wall mount version just to have the overhead space available.
 
I'm happy with the Liftmaster 8500 jackshaft openers I have to replace the traditional chain drive openers what used to reside in the garage. We have a room above the garage and this really keeps the noise down when opening the door as well as frees up ceiling space and has an locking bold thru the track to make it much harder to get in through the door than a traditional opener. Perhaps a bit more than what you want to spend/do, but I'm quite happy with mine.

With regards to wifi, these are also connected. I can open/close the door from my phone, receive alerts when the door opens, and set a schedule to ensure it is shut by a certain time each night in case the kids leave it open.
 
Jack shaft lifter is nice as you lose the bar/chain hanging down the middle of the garage. But I believe you need to a torsion spring across the top of the door - $$. I love the wifi aspect but only have it in the house in PA, it allows me to let in contractors from here in NY.
 
I have been very happy with my Chamberlain opener with Wifi. You might think that there is no need for Wifi but I use it all the time. I can open it to let a neighbor in to borrow a shovel, I get an alert when it goes up or down, and I can use my phone to open and close from any where. The belt drive is very quiet.

Same here, but mine are chain drive. The noise it makes doesn’t bother me, but I do think they are quieter than the old screw drive Genies they replaced. I like the Wi-Fi WAY better than I thought I would. I have habit every now and then to forget to close the door. Now I can check and close it myself instead of turning around to go check or text my wife to have her check.
 
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Same here, but mine are chain drive. The noise it makes doesn’t bother me, but I do think they are quieter than the old screw drive Genies they replaced. I like the Wi-Fi WAY better than I thought I would. I have habit every now and then to forget to close the door. Now I can check and close it myself instead of turning around to go check or text my wife to have her check.

I use my security cameras to confirm the doors are closed.
 
I use my security cameras to confirm the doors are closed.

I can see my workshop door with one of my cameras, but can’t see the two garage doors attached to the house with what I have, so the app for the doors comes in handy for me. Ive been thinking about adding a 4th camera in an area where I can see the entire back yard and the whole driveway. That will give me a view of the 2 doors I currently can’t view.
 
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I know you're asking about a replacement, but depending upon what's broken you may be able to repair the one you have.

One of my openers quit working a few years ago and I discovered the electrolytic capacitors on the main power board were dried out. $5 worth of new capacitors got it working again. I told one of my co-workers and he did the same thing to repair his.

I have also replaced the drive and driven gears at the motor, and even the entire motor one time.

And just yesterday I repaired one of my non-functional remotes by replacing the one electrolytic capacitor on the circuit board. I checked it at work and found its resistance (ESR) was 10x higher than a good capacitor. After the capacitor replacement the remote works like new - before I had to press the button repeatedly until anything would happen.
 
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I have a Liftmaster shaft driven opener. It frees up ceiling space and the only sound I hear is when the deadbolt kicks or out.

Door Opener.JPG
 
I have an old Overhead Door brand 1/2 h.p. chain drive on the detached garage 16' door that has to be at least 30 years old, I put it up 25 years ago and it was used when I got it. I think I traded a assortment of lumber I had left over from building the detach. :cool:
 
so in the end I went the full lazy man route, bought the Craftsman chain drive to utilize all the existing infrastructure. 'Bolt pattern' lined right up :ROFLMAO:


IMG_6351.jpg


still took about 90 minutes, mostly because they moved the control panel from the rear to one of the sides resulting in a bump-out which interfered with my existing brackets, they were too long and jammed into the bump-out so after fucking around with it for 15 minutes trying to make it fit I hadda hunt around for my cutting wheel to lop 4 or 5 inches off each side... then the wiring going into the unit was slightly different and I also wound up using one other new part which was the wall mounted switch as it also has a on-off switch that works the light alone which is nice, old switch just looks like a door bell, only opens/closes so if you want to use the light as an actual light you either have to periodically hit the button to move the door or walk through the safety sensors.

Anyway all is well in the TJ's private home again:

IMG_6352.jpg


bonus, she matches the rig
 
so in the end I went the full lazy man route, bought the Craftsman chain drive to utilize all the existing infrastructure. 'Bolt pattern' lined right up :ROFLMAO:


View attachment 402961

still took about 90 minutes, mostly because they moved the control panel from the rear to one of the sides resulting in a bump-out which interfered with my existing brackets, they were too long and jammed into the bump-out so after fucking around with it for 15 minutes trying to make it fit I hadda hunt around for my cutting wheel to lop 4 or 5 inches off each side... then the wiring going into the unit was slightly different and I also wound up using one other new part which was the wall mounted switch as it also has a on-off switch that works the light alone which is nice, old switch just looks like a door bell, only opens/closes so if you want to use the light as an actual light you either have to periodically hit the button to move the door or walk through the safety sensors.

Anyway all is well in the TJ's private home again:

View attachment 402962

bonus, she matches the rig

You do have a wifi garage door opener!