Hangar door suspension

I've offered to help fix the doors on a 1950s~1960s hangar. Its only a small steel framed agricultural type building to house 2~3 planes. The side-to-side sliding doors are top-suspended, with steel frame and trapezoidally corrugated steel cladding.

Age, use, and almost certainly lack of maintenance means it is almost impossible to move them now. They don't appear to completely resting on the ground but there may be intermittent contact.

I imagine wear and tear of the runners and bearings is the issue and I feel it must be fixable for not too much money. But I haven't been up on a ladder to have a close look yet.

Its a long shot I know but just wondering if anyone has experience of such things, in particular:-

a) Is the suspension system typically a square 'C' sectioned runner ?

b) Might the rollers be height adjustable for wear or fixed size ?

c) For runner and roller repairs would it be necessary to remove the door completely or could it be done with the door jacked up ?

All experience appreciated

Gerry

Most of the "ACME" runners I have worked on have a threaded rod down from the rollers that you can adjust door height with. You can usually prop the door and disconnect the rollers but sole go down into the door so you need to slide them out of the rail which is C section.

The suspension will certainly be adjustable for height, but the only way to assess the job will be with a ladder and no.1 eyeball. There must be something at the bottom to stop the wind from blowing the doors in and out.

Edited By old mart on 06/04/2021 21:00:26

As said above, also have a look here, PC Henderson Door Tracks, these are one of the main suppliers of sliding door tracks,

Mark.

A lack of lube over years can allow,along with corrosion the runners(rollers) to wear through the upper track allowing the door to drop in places and hit the ground. It may be possible to move the door to one side, remove a section and replace it, Etc. To hold the bottom in, a strip of angle is fixed to the floor(concrete ?) and the botton of the door has a narrow U section running on it. This also over time will wear and corrode. As Mark has said Henderson door are a good place for info. Be VERY careful of unhanging the doors if there is ANY wind. Good Luck. Noel.

There is invariably some means of height adjustment provided so the door runs clear of the ground. Unfortunately if the door has been abused and forced to overcome lack of maintenance you are likely to find bent or twisted components in the hanging system. Getting all straight and aligned again will be a royal pain and very likely impossible without removing the doors.

If there is decent quality hard standing under the door folk have been known to take the easier route of simply fitting wheels to the bottoms of the doors and "bodge-justing" the top hangers sufficiently to stop the doors falling off. Which has been said to work adequately for a while.

Odds are it will prove better to bite the bullet and replace the hanger system completely with the expectation that it will work fine for the next quarter of a century and more. After 60 ro 70 years the existing system will be coming to, or past, the end of its natural life so any fix is likely to be both fairly temporary and involve disproportionate efforts.

Clive

On occasions when the top support structure proves inadequate to support the weight of the door it is jacked up to provide floor track clearance and a wheel is fitted at each end of the door on the free side if double doors are fitted.

Emgee

Gerry, do be careful, as an aircraft owner and operator for many years, I have seen numerous hangar doors with this problem, some run on steel rollers let into the concrete base with a roller running along a top track for guidance and others hanging from a top track with rollers running along a ground track for guidance. They all seem to suffer with neglect and wear in nearly every possible location. As they are usually large structures they can easily be moved by the wind and can, whilst trying to repair, be blown over and once they are down they are a devil of a job to get back up. I did see such an event at Biggin Hill some while ago when a door whilst being repaired was caught by the wind and was pulled from its temporary fixings and fell on to a Citation parked on the apron in front causing substantial damage. The company doing the work in this instance were insured I believe.

I think Clive's suggestion to replace the system completely by a specialist is the best option.

Christopher

Gentlemen, seven 'quality' responses. Thank you all very much. What a site this is. Anything you need help with is available !

Gerry

Might not be a cheap job if corrosion has attacted the tracks etc. Henderson is very nice gear, but not cheap, F.H. Brundle have a selection of door gear also.

Good Luck, risk assessment and safe working plan spring to my mind also !