Ro-Way Garage Door, Model 21, a 60 year old system needing 2 1/2" of headroom. I need help and info to do repairs.

Hello,
 
I'm new to this forum so please excuse my mistakes if I make any.
 
I'm in the process of repairing my garage door hardware. It is an old set up for low clearance garage.
 
It is called Ro-Way garage door model 21.  It was manufactured around 1955, by  Rowe
Manufacturing Company in Galesburg, Illinois,  so finding parts for this system is difficult.
 
So I have a bunch of questions, but I'd like to know first if anyone is familiar with the system:
 
 Ro-Way garage door model 21. 
 
The model 21 needs as little as 2 1/2" of headroom to be installed. And has a system called a 2 way switch and uses only one track, instead of the common two tracks for low clearance headroom.
 
As I noted this system is 60 years old or so so I'm looking for someone familiar with the system to help me.
 
I can't seem toattach any files but the booklet on the Model 21 is at:


https://archive.org/details/Sweet1955rowe72/page/n6

 
Again, I'm looking for someone who's familiar with this, then I can ask specific questions.
 
If I don't hear back from anyone, I'll just post the questions and hope that I can get generic answers.
 
Thanks,
 
Jerry

I probably won't be much help since the times I saw similar setups like that was when the door was being replaced because it didn't work. If you still have a working door with that setup then congratulations since you're probably one of the few that do. I can appreciate the engineering that went into to the low headroom track setup but because of safety issues in today's world I doubt that would fly.

Feel free to ask any questions you may have. If I can help I will or perhaps someone else will see your questions and have some input.

GDZone wrote:I probably won't be much help since the times I saw similar setups like that was when the door was being replaced because it didn't work. If you still have a working door with that setup then congratulations since you're probably one of the few that do. I can appreciate the engineering that went into to the low headroom track setup but because of safety issues in today's world I doubt that would fly.

Feel free to ask any questions you may have. If I can help I will or perhaps someone else will see your questions and have some input.

Hi Brian,

Thanks for the reply.  Ugh.

I ordered 10 #1 hinges, since my hinges are all similar to the #1  Hinge.

They are not exact but they may work , DEPENDING ON YOUR NEXT ANSWERS.     That is said in good humor.  I will take your advice seriously though.

Question:  what is the purpose in having each hinge #1, #2, etc. a different spacing than the previous hinge.  #2 roller sits deeper (or shallower) not sure, than the previous one.

I'm trying to picture the hinge working in my mind.  I'm usually very good at picturing this type of stuff. What's it called? Spacial reasoning or something to do with mental images.

Anyway, why is each door hinge different from the next?

Thanks.

Jerry

My answer is based on today's garage doors. Garage doors from 40 or 50 years ago may be a little different (like the way yours is with the low headroom setup).

The track brackets on the vertical tracks start with a smaller bracket near the bottom of the track and the brackets get slightly larger as you go up the vertical track. The larger brackets bring the tracks out away from the jambs. So if you look at the track from the side it goes up and back towards the inside of the garage. This allows for the garage door to roll smoothly when opening and closing. And this leads to the why the end hinges (the center hinges are all the same) are numbered. As you go from a #1 hinge to a #2 hinge the vertical track is going out away from the jamb a little. To accommodate this the roller sits out a little more than the previous one. As you go up each roller will be out a little bit more towards the inside of the garage as the vertical track "leans" a little more towards the inside of the garage.

To determine which end hinges you need to use on each section you can remove the hinge and lay it flat. Measure from the flat surface to the center of the hole where the roller goes. Here are some measurements to determine which number of hinge to use:

#1 hinge = 5/8" to 3/4"
#2 hinge = 7/8" to 1"
#3 hinge = 1-1/8" to 1-1/4"
#4 hinge = 1-3/8" to 1-1/2"

Sometimes a #2 hinge might work better in a situation where a #3 hinge would normally be. It all depends on how the track is set but the measurements above are a good guide. As I mentioned earlier this only applies to the end hinges. The center hinges will be stamped with a "C" or a #1 as they are not graduated like the end hinges.

Hope this helps.