Sounds like someone has a toe-ache.

I hear you can just plow right through those things.

Repeatedly
.

Fortunately, this one died a somewhat natural death. In my experience, if you can get six or seven years of work out of a Sears opener, you're doing good. I've lost track of the number I've installed over the years (we have two garage doors).

Hm. That's bizarre. Our Sears openers are on 6 years and going strong...maybe I should be worried though. :)

What is it, do you think, that causes them to stop working? They just get tired and need a vacation?

I've had to replace some worn plastic worm gears and cogs in my day, but that's not a big deal. A rebuild kit from Sears, an hour or two of standing on and (occasionally) falling off of a stepladder, and I was done.

Just make sure your battery-operated screwdriver is fully charged before you begin.

They just get tired...

Beth, that's actually exactly what happened to ours: metal fatigue. The shaft that attaches the main cog to the motor broke.

Who knows what causes these things? Perhaps the door's not balanced properly, or perhaps we just use our opener more than most people. We have a front entry garage and so we go out through it instead of the front door more often than not.

Foo, I guess I could find a replacement shaft, but in my experience, replacing something like that is more trouble than it's worth.

They have automatic garage door openers now?

Yeah, but they're not as much fun as you might think.

I guess you could manually open the door.

Just a thought.

Julie, that's just crazy talk.