Repairing a sliding closet door requires only a few simple tools.
Most closet doors are hung from rollers at the top rather than at the bottom. Rarely with heavy glass or wooden closet doors, a lower roller track and bottom roller may be used. These tend to get dirty and the rollers tend to wear quickly and jam in the rails, which is why this kind is seldom used. If you do have a bottom roller style closet door that no longer slides freely, you may be able to repair it simply or you may have to replace the roller. Does this Spark an idea?
Instructions
1. Check the frame of the roller track at the bottom of the door. If the aluminum frame is bent or twisted, use your pliers to gently straighten the damaged sections of the track so the wheel will roll freely. That alone may fix your problem.
2. Examine the wheels for damage. If they appear to be jammed, you may have to work them loose with a screwdriver and pliers before you will be able to lift the door from the track. Clear the wheels so they move as freely as possible in the track.
3. Locate the Phillips head screw just above the frame, usually in the side of the door just above the frame near the rollers. This screw lowers and raises the rollers. Tighten the screw to lower the rollers. This will lift the lower frame and may free the rollers so the closet door works fine.
4. Check the top of the closet door frame to see if there is a similar roller adjustment screw for the top of the door. If the rollers at the top and bottom are extended too far, the door may be binding. You can usually loosen both rollers by loosening the adjustment screws slightly. If the lower wheels still won't roll, then they must be replaced.
5. Loosen the adjustment screw to lower the wheels, dropping the door lower toward the bottom of the track. Loosen the upper wheels, if any, to provide more clearance. Be careful that the door doesn't drop out of the upper track and fall on your head. Once the wheels offer enough clearance top and bottom, you should be able to lift the closet door upward and swing the bottom out of the lower track.
6. Remove the door and set it on top of a pair of sawhorses. Locate the damaged wheels and remove the wheel and bracket. A drill and driver bits makes a quick job of it. You'll probably have to replace the wheel and bracket. Try to find an exact replacement for the wheel so you don't have to force-fit the part, which might make it difficult or impossible to replace the door in the track.
7. Clean the tracks with steel wool before remounting the door. Use a silicone lubricant to reduce dirt collection you will get with petroleum based oils.
8. Fully retract both top and bottom rollers by turning the adjustment screws counterclockwise (loosening). Insert the top of the door into the upper track and lift the bottom over the track rails and set it down in the groove. Hold the top and extend the wheels till they are barely high enough to hold the top of the door between the rails of the door guide.
9. Tighten (extend) the lower wheels until the closet door rolls easily in the rails and the top of the door is securely in the upper guide track. Make sure you don't overextend the wheels and cause the door to bind as it rolls.
Tags: closet door, lower wheels, able lift, above frame, adjustment screw
