My garage door had been making a little extra noise and seemed to be moving just a little bit slower lately. I did what anyone would do – I checked the log and found that I had neglected my lubrication duties! So I pulled on a pair of latex gloves, grabbed an old towel for the inevitable mess and went to work. I mopped up the old grease from the tracks – the towel collected the gobs of gritty goop nicely. I shot the rollers and the chain with fresh lithium grease. I ran the mechanism several times, paying attention that I’d gotten the grease into all of the moving parts. It appeared that over the years the chain had stretched some and I wondered briefly when it would fail…

And suddenly it stopped, mid-cycle! What’s more, I think I saw wisps of smoke curling from within the motor power head’s housing. Smelled like… and I would later confirm… eau-de-silicon. More precisely, the motor’s startup capacitor was had fried.

Stanley, the manufacturer of the unit, stopped making garage door openers back in the late 90s, the Web told me. Not much chance of finding replacement parts.

It still works to a degree if it’s had a chance to cool down. I can tap the button and if I twist the motor’s shaft with pliers before it shuts down the motor will start. But that’s no long-term solution. It’s time to replace the unit. (To be honest, the door itself has seen better days as well. It didn’t help that I kicked a hole in it, in anger, one morning long ago. But the opener is the pressing matter now.)

I find myself considering which type of mechanism is best. The current unit has a chain. It’s noisy and requires maintenance – maintenance which I seem to neglect. There are belt drive units. Belts can be good these days. My Harley has a belt as the final drive – I certainly don’t miss the chain with all the associated headaches! I hear belts are quieter and require no maintenance, but the belt can twist over time. Then there’s the screw drive. The better screws seem strong but they sure are pricey. Decisions, decisions.

I’m leaning toward the belt.

Added July 14, 10:10 AM:
I ended up installing a Genie Powerlift Excelerator, a 1/2 HP screw drive. After reading lots and lots of reviews – the wisdom of the ‘net – I concluded that the small additional expense would be worth it over time. I completed the install in a couple of hours and the final adjustment took a bit less than an hour.

We’ll see how it holds up. The one before it set a pretty high bar. The 1/3 HP Stanley Professional 7200 installed September 14, 1985 failed July 11, 2007. That’s 21 years 300 days, not too shabby!