What Are Garage Door Rollers?

Garage door rollers are small circular wheels that are set within the garage door tracks. The rollers spin like wheels on a car allowing the garage door to open and close smoothly. The number of rollers varies according to the size of the garage door. Generally, most seven to eight-foot garage doors have ten to twelve rollers installed in their tracks.

In older garage door models, the rollers that the doors came equipped with were very low quality and needed repairs or replacement not too long after the installation. So if you have an old garage door, you should get the assistance of a garage door roller repair service and get your rollers inspected.

Types of Garage Door Rollers

Garage door rollers can be classified into different categories according to the material they are made of. Following are the different types of rollers that you will normally find installed in garage door tracks:

Steel Rollers

Initially, most garage doors were equipped with steel rollers. Each roller had around eight ball bearings molded into its body. The problem with these rollers was that the metal encompassing the bearings creeped out of shape over time due to the continuous stress of the garage door.

The result was that the roller would start leaning out of their upright position, this caused a drag force on the rollers, and the problem ended with either the bearings falling out or the roller breaking off. The simplest way to check whether the rollers had worn out or not was to wiggle the rollers while they were in their tracks and note how much movement they made.

Another way you could tell if your rollers needed repair or replacement is through the noise of your garage doors. Loose and misaligned rollers would produce a noise similar to that of a train moving on its tracks.

Plastic Rollers

As garage door technology progressed, plastic rollers were soon introduced. These were designed as plastic wheels connected to a steel shaft at their center. The unique thing about these rollers was that they had no bearings and were marketed as self-lubricating rollers that required no maintenance.

However, this was false marketing, and the rollers had to be oiled somewhere between two to three times per year, else they would become too dry, and your garage door would begin to lag and slow down.

Steel Rollers With Nylon Tires

These rollers were made out of steel with ten to thirteen ball bearings per roller. This time, the steel used was creep-resistant, and therefore, the wheels lasted longer. The nylon tires help the rollers turn smoothly without producing much noise.

Causes of Roller Problems

Several factors can cause your rollers to malfunction; the most common ones are as follows:

• Poor lubrication.
• Dented or loose tracks.
• Dirt and grime accumulation in the grease.
• Rollers have outlived their lifespan and have worn out over time.