Finally got my garage door opener to stop making that grinding noise

Betty Rodriguez · 2026-03-15T16:55:13.974995+00:00

Man, this was a three-day job that should have been an hour. The opener was making this awful metal-on-metal sound every time it ran. I thought for sure it was the chain drive, so I spent a whole afternoon adjusting the tension, cleaning it, and greasing it. No change. My wife said it sounded like a robot dying. I finally pulled the whole motor unit down from the ceiling to get a better look. Turns out, the plastic gear inside the motor housing had worn down so much it was just spinning against the metal shaft. I ordered a new gear kit online for about $35, and after watching a video three times, I got the old one swapped out. It's quiet as a mouse now. Has anyone else had to rebuild one of these older LiftMaster units?

skylerm556mo ago

Totally get what @patel.alice means about that one cheap part. Had the exact same plastic gear go on my old unit. That high-pitched grind is unforgettable. Felt pretty good getting another five years out of it for just the cost of that little kit.

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the_faith5mo ago

My neighbor's opener failed because the plastic gear swelled up from summer heat. It's funny how the same part can wear out in two totally different ways. Makes you wonder what the engineers were thinking when they picked that material.

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patel.alice6mo ago

That "three-day job that should have been an hour" is the story of my life with home repairs. It feels like everything is built with one cheap plastic part that fails, and you have to take the whole thing apart just to find it. It's weirdly satisfying to fix it yourself, but also kind of annoying that so much stuff is designed that way now. You fix the one little gear and the whole machine gets a new life.

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