Did your garage door come off track? The first thing to know is you need to repair your overhead garage door immediately — or stop using it until you do. If you continue to use the door, you could cause serious and expensive harm to the door or the track. This is usually a fairly simple easy and cheap repair — you might even be able to do it yourself. But if you cause substantial damage to the door or the track, this otherwise simple repair could end up costing you hundreds of dollars.
Disconnect the Opener
To fix your overhead garage door yourself, first disconnect the opener. Pull the overhead rope to release the door. Next, open the door manually. Get a person to spot you. (The door is very heavy — hundreds of pounds. It could come crashing down and cause serious injury.)
Notice which wheels have gotten off track. This might be difficult if this is the first time you’ve tried fixing this. If you can’t figure it out, call a garage door professional.
Once you’ve spotted the jamming spot, engage locking pliers to hold the door in place.
Reconnecting the Track
Next, grab the edge of the track with a pair of pliers and pull the outer edge out so there is room to reconnect the wheels of the door. Once the wheels are back in place, knock the track back into position gently with a rubber mallet.
Finally, test your door. If it seems to work smoothly, reconnect the door to the opener by operating the opener. It should reconnect automatically.