# Garage door opener "Operator placement bracket 20.8"



## raylo32 (Nov 25, 2006)

Over the last couple of years my mom has had her 3 old Wayne Dalton garage door openers replaced. For whatever reason the guy who did the first one did a bush league job and bolted the operator arm directly to the door. It looks terrible and will probably mess up the door or even pull out over time. The other 2 were done correctly with a bracket to distribute the load and to keep from making big bolt holes in the door. Anyone know where to get one of these... or equivalent? They are labeled "Operator bracket 20.8" as indicated in the subject line.


----------



## Chris616 (Dec 31, 2019)

I believe that the part that you’re looking for is obsolete and has been replaced by this one. If you take a look some of the reviews on the linked page you’ll see references to the old style (see graphic below).

Chris


----------



## raylo32 (Nov 25, 2006)

Thanks much, Chris. Looks like I may have more work on my hands than I thought.


----------



## Chris616 (Dec 31, 2019)

You’re welcome. I’ve been looking into this recently because my mom’s house also has three ~15 year old Wayne Dalton shaft drive openers, two of which have died in the last year (it seems that these openers are not that long-lived). Fortunately, the one that she uses for her car is still working.

Chris


----------



## raylo32 (Nov 25, 2006)

My mom's house is about 30 years old and came originally with the WD shaft drive openers. I actually really liked them. They were fast and left your garage headroom intact... but they started dying after xx years and eventually went obsolete. The doors were destroyed in at least one hurricane so it isn't clear to me why 2 have the old brackets and one has nothing. And it really pisses me off that her Liftmaster installer bolted the one new one directly to the door. Really poor. And then he (or the same company) comes back to replace the other 2 a year later and bolts them to those crappy brackets that were never used when they had the shaft drive openers. Sheesh. If I lived closer to her I'd have installed them myself.



Chris616 said:


> You’re welcome. I’ve been looking into this recently because my mom’s house also has three ~15 year old Wayne Dalton shaft drive openers, two of which have died in the last year (it seems that these openers are not that long-lived). Fortunately, the one that she uses for her car is still working.
> 
> Chris


----------



## raylo32 (Nov 25, 2006)

Here is a pic of the other side of the door where the tech just bolted the operator arm to and through the door. Rusty bolt heads, dented and compromised door. Pathetic.


----------



## firehawkmph (Dec 12, 2009)

Wayne Dalton makes a reinforcement bracket for the doors for the doors like yours with the formed in struts. Those are really lousy doors, with no vertical reinforcement at the hinge points. But anyway, this bracket will work.
Mike Hawkins


----------



## raylo32 (Nov 25, 2006)

This is what the new design bracket looks like in person. It gets fastened to the door by 4 sheet metal screws on top and bottom. The small separate bracket inserts into the channel and it has holes to accept the operator trolley clevis pin. I am beyond surprised and pissed that the mechanic didn't take the time to get and install this when he put in the opener. Pretty sad that these doors need such a kluged bracket like this to connect up to an opener. I know there are a few curmudgeons out there but, really, how many people install garage doors these days without openers? It should be designed into the door in the first place.


----------



## Chris616 (Dec 31, 2019)

raylo32 said:


> It should be designed into the door in the first place.


I think that the reason it was not done that way was because of the type of garage door opener that Wayne Dalton exclusively used back when this door style was made. It was a “jackshaft” type that turned the custom torsion bar directly, with no direct connection required to the door.

Chris


----------



## raylo32 (Nov 25, 2006)

Got this done this morning... mostly. See pics below. There are 2 self drilling screws through the trolley bracket into the door that I could not install because the door is mangled from the previous bad installation. I will probably epoxy a wood wedge into that space to set the screws into. Then caulk up the holes. Sheesh.


----------



## raylo32 (Nov 25, 2006)

Yes, that's what they had... but 2 of their doors came with the glued on brackets for standard openers anyway. Only the 1 didn't. As for Wayne Dalton quality... yikes. I was measuring things to make sure it was centered and discovered that the doors center hinges are not centered perfectly... and they don't even line up with each other!



Chris616 said:


> I think that the reason it was not done that way was because of the type of garage door opener that Wayne Dalton exclusively used back when this door style was made. It was a “jackshaft” type that turned the custom torsion bar directly, with no direct connection required to the door.
> 
> Chris


----------



## Bablosik (Nov 23, 2021)

I don't think this is the most reliable way to put Garage Doors. Not only can it ruin the aesthetic appearance of your mom's garage door, but it can also make it difficult for the door to work. You'll have a hard time opening and closing them because the thing gets stiffer over time and starts to shrink. Change your Garage Doors before they break in the future. Then it will cause some problems for your mom, and she won't be able to get in or out of the garage. Think of a new door as a long-term thing that won't need to be fixed once a year. LOL.


----------



## SW Dweller (Jan 6, 2021)

Mine has an 8' 2x4 across the top screwed from the front. Opener is attached to that.

I have never seen your neat bracket before. Thanks


----------



## raylo32 (Nov 25, 2006)

Me neither. All the doors I ever worked on had a center metal bar and another across the top to which you fasten steel angle irons to make a "T". Then the opener arm attaches directly to a hole in that vertical steel angle. These WD doors weren't built like that hence the need for this special bracket. 



SW Dweller said:


> I have never seen your neat bracket before. Thanks


----------

