Replacing a Stabilizer Bar

Hi all,
 
I have a 16” garage door with a 2” stabilizer bar at the top of the top panel. I recently purchased a 1987 VW Westfalia camper van that I would like to park in the garage, but the stabilizer bar is about an inch too long – when I pull the van into the garage, the van would hit it.
 
Wondering if there is such a thing as a 1” stabilizer bar or some alternative I could MacGuyver together to accomplish the same reinforcement benefit as a traditional stabilizer bar. Looked into 1/4" x 1 1/2" 6061 aluminum bar, but it’s only available in 144” length.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

David in Seattle

I can't tell from the picture but do you have a garage door operator? If you don't then you could get away with removing the u-bar stiffener from the top section without affecting the door. The springs on the door may need adjusted if you remove the u-bar since the door will be 15 lbs. lighter without the u-bar.

If you do have an operator and remove the u-bar stiffener then I would recommend putting an adjustable garage door opener bracket to the center of the section. You then hook the operator arm to the bracket (which spans the height of the section) and will help relieve stress on the section.
I'm not aware of any low profile u-bar stiffeners. Most of them are around 2" - 2-1/4".

Hope this helps.

Thanks for the reply Brian. By garage door operator, do you mean opener? I do have one - a Liftmaster 8550W. 

Do you have any thoughts on using something that is flatter, but rigid - like a long piece of metal - in place of the stabilizer bar? Or, is the adjustable garage door opener bracket simply enough? 

If I don't have that long bar, is sagging a risk?

Thanks again,

David

Since you have a garage door operator I don't recommend removing the u-bar stiffener. Like I said I'm not aware of a stiffener that is less than two inches in height. If you could find something with a lower profile you would have to make sure that it was something that was rigid enough to do the job otherwise you're just adding unneeded weight to the door & the possibility of the door cracking or bowing from the operator.

Thank you Brian. You are providing a great service with this site.