The 'dials' are the safety feature that you set so that the door won't crush anyone that is underneath it. You can use these to temporarily get past your problem but you will be disabling this safety feature. If yout door isn't opening all the way and tripping the safety, you should look into fixing the real problem. Somthing is obstructing the door travel or there is too much friction in the tracks or the door is being pulled up unevenly. Certainly horsepower may seem to overcome it but usually more modern openers have more safety features and they will be tripping even more unless you fix the real problem.QUOTE]
Sorry, I think I used the wrong word. Perhaps "dials" wasn't correct. It was some tension adjuster or something.
Anyway, just as a follow up, once I got it fixed, it happened again within a week, so I had to call someone to come out and take a look at it. Turns out the door was too heavy for the opener, so the motor had to be rebuilt. Talk about a learning experience!
Huh???? Someone "rebuilt" a garage door opener because a door was "too heavy"??? Something sounds fishy about that. First off, like someone mentioned the door should be configured so that its easy to open and close without an electric opener. This means proper springs, lube, adjustment, etc. It should open and close easily manually.
As for "rebuilding". I do not think the kind of motor that any garage door I have ever seen can be re-built. Even if it could it would be significantly more expensive than replacement. Someone correct me if I'm wrong. I'm more familiar with power tools motors. This just doesn't "pass the smell test". I'm afraid someone got suckered.