the spring is broken. you need a new spring. You can see it there in the photo--that dark bar. It should be one piece.

these are dangerous to replace so get a professional garage door person.

Thanks - yes this is too tough for a DIY job (after looking are videos) - we've hired a company to replace both springs for $195 including parts. which seems to be slightly better than the going rate in our area.

This is NOT "too tough" a job for a DIYer. One only has to learn about the job (by watching videos), and get the right tools (real winding bars, not screwdrivers, etc.) My spring broke a few weeks ago. I called one garage door service company who wanted to charge a fee just for giving an estimate- despite his ad which states"Free Estimates". "That's only for new installations", he said. Another repair guy made an appointment and never showed up. Finally, I watched videos made by a supplier, and ordered a spring, two winding bars, and a bearing. I took my time (job took almost two hours)

If you are careful, and pay STRICT attention to what you're doing (including painting a line on the spring to keep track of no. of turns you wind), you will be OK.

I've been doing all kinds of repairs for 40 years, but a garage door spring replacement is one of the few things I would hire out. I know of two highly competent people who ended up at the emergency room with serious injuries because they thought they knew what they were doing, but had something go wrong.

kidzu9: A LOT of people will always feel like they know what they're doing. I guess my success in my garage door spring replacement must have been due to luck, and not the ability to follow directions, huh?. But to discourage competent people from doing things is just plain wrong.

As a retired airline pilot who flies my own personal plane (in ALL types of weather, including light icing), I got mad when TV weathermen made comments about a plane crashing into a house in New Haven, CT two summers ago. They were commenting with "what was a small plane doing flying on a rainy/foggy day?", etc. Maybe we should ban private planes or discourage pilots from flying in that type of weather because of one accident like your friends had trying to install their garage springs?

And believe me, if my local "pros" were more sensible with their billing practices and not have separate fees for estimates AND labor, maybe I would have been willing to put money in their pockets.

Why don't you just fix it yourself like I did?
I found this video that was super helpful for me and saved me a few hundred bucks.

I have to agree the potential danger outweighs the money saved. Inexperience could be quite costlier than just paying a pro to take care of it and avoiding the risk.