Sliding glass door roller
pictures and help

Cannot remove sliding glass door roller. Have the new, correct rollers ready, but need HELP

Hi Bev;

It would really help if you could post some pictures of the bottom of this door.

Normally, to change the rollers on a patio panel you remove the bottom rail. Most aluminum patio doors have 2 large screws, one on either side that hold the bottom of the door on.

Once you have these screws removed you can work on pulling the bottom of the panel off. Its usually force fit over the bottom of the glass and you have to carefully work at pulling it off to work it loose.

If the the bottom rail has been on for many years it can be difficult to get it loose. Whatever you do, dont do anything that involves levering on the glass, as it will break.

To make things even more tricky, some old doors have metal tabs that look the bottom into the vertical rails. You might have to carefully push the bottom rail away from the tabs before it will come loose.

Once the bottom rail is off, replacing the rollers is quite easy. The rollers may be held on by one screw. A small piece of cork may be placed over top of the screw head to stop it from contacting the glass. Make sure this gets replaced or reinstalled or the glass may crack when the bottom rail gets re-installed.

Some modern vinyl doors have rollers which are glued in place as well as frames which are welded together. Sadly, there is no way to replace the rollers without changing the entire patio door.

Wooden patio doors typically have rollers in pairs called "tandem" rollers. These are usually easy to change out because it is not necessary to remove the bottom rail to change them. Simply remove the door, lie it on its side and remove the 2 screws that hold each roller assembly into the bottom of the door.

Patio door roller and
Solar screen question

Lou

Delray Beach,Florida

Question: Need help on how to remove old wheels from screen door. Can anyone tell me if the screening that is being sold as solar and heat blocking really works?

My feeling is that the roller is a #7406 shown on the patio door roller page. Whats confusing me is the empty screw hole above the existing phillips screw. That should be where the screw goes that holds the frame together.

The existing screw is probably the screw that holds the roller assembly on. In some designs the screw both holds the roller assembly as well as adjusting the height. This panel looks like it might have a tab style roller like the 7406.

The tabs on the top of the roller assembly lock into the holes in the vertical rails. They can be a real pain to get out because you have to spread both sides of the bottom rail apart a little to get the tabs to pop out of the hole.

One advantage to these old roller is that once you get them out, even if you can find the right housing, its still possible to push the axle out and replace just the wheel or bearing itself. Its probably a 1-1/4" diameter bearing in there.

Unfortunately you have to get the roller assembly out before you can tell for sure.

As for the Solar screening, it does work simply because its thicker than regular screening and it blocks much more of the suns rays.

Its more like a curtain or a blind, the weave is much more dense. It acts like a sunshade or sun umbrella at the beach.

Nothing complicated. Another thing about it is You can see out, but its hard for those outside to see in unless there is a light behind the screen.

Question: I Have three sliding screen doors. all different sizes but same manufacturer. Rescreening is no problem but I need new wheels. Not sure how to remove wheels or where to get replacements. Sending a picture or two.

Thanks Lou

Answer:

Thanks for the question.

Great Pictures Lou

You will need to remove those rusty screws on both sides of the bottom of the panel and pull the whole bottom of the door away from the glass. Watch out for any metal tabs poking through into the vertical rails. When the door bottom rail has been there for 30 years, it can be hard to pull off.

Gently work a flat blade screwdriver between the vertical rail and the door bottom near the weatherstripping and gently lever on the door bottom to get it moving.

You can break the glass so work slowly and carefully. Once the door bottom is off, there will be 1 screw holding each roller in. It will have a small piece of cork or rubber covering it to prevent the glass from touching the screw.

Make sure you put the cork back after re-assembly! Once the screws are out take one roller to home depot or a local glass store and with luck you will find the roller. If the 3 doors are all the same same width, most likely all the rollers will be the same.

If you cant find the rollers locally send me a photograph, I will send you price and delivery.