It sure looks like those gears are eating each other. Lots of nylon shavings in there. I'd take a good look at the age of your current unit, the cost and time to replace the gears versus just getting a new opener. When I replaced mine I was able to reuse the old rail mount over the door so it was really a direct swap. It went quite smoothly Plus the new opener came a remote keypad for the exterior, that I didn't have with the old one. Watch the sales as Sears has them on sale pretty frequently. I think I paid ~$150.

I have seen waaaay too many complaints on craftsman door openers. Buy something different.

I suspect that the problem that is causing the door to go to far is allowing the gears to grind against one another because one of them hits a stop position and the other one wants to keep going. This is something that can possibly be fixed by making an adjustment, but you will need to locate an manual online if you don't have one. If you can get the problem with the travel fixed, those gears are so eaten up that it would be a good idea to replace them, also. But until you can get the problem fixed, I don't think it is useful to replace the gears because I think the wear is a symptom, not the cause.

And then you have to decide whether it might not be simpler to just replace the whole thing rather than invest time or money in trying to fix this. A garage door technician might be able to fix it, but that would probably cost more than simply getting a new unit.

tim: I don't work for Sears and I'm not a professional garage door guy but if you do some internet searches you'll find that Sears openers are made by Chamberlain, a well respected long-time manufacturer. Further if you search on this site you'll find posts from Don who is a professional garage door guy. Don suggested that the reasons you'll find lots of issues with Sears on the web are 1) They sell a LOT of openers (because bulk inventory results in lower retail costs, lower costs means more sales), and 2) Sears openers are most often installed by DIYers who use the internet to solve problems as opposed to openers installed by GD contractors where the homeowner will call the contractor rather than review/look online. this results in many posts if you do an internet search.

Lastly I personally have gotten 15+ years out of a Sears opener (got my monies worth out of a ~$100 opener) before I replaced it with a newer unit with better features (for about $150 which included a keypad remote which retails for ~$40 as an add on). I installed them both myself and have had virtually trouble-free operation.

I have no problems recommending Sears openers to anyone.

Thanks for all the advice. This garage door opener is the original from 1994 and it's lasted this long without much maintenance. I must give credit where credit is to be given.

In my case since the gears are already worn and upon closer look, it seems that when the gears are not working in tandem the mechanism to trigger the stop is not actuated.

Anyways I ordered the replacement gear kit for about $20 on Amazon and many people on youtube posted videos on how to replace them. I like to do things myself so I'm going to give it a try myself.

Thanks!

Good luck. Please re-post on how this turns out.

I am thinking many people have problem with that brand due to many people having them, not a quality or durability issue.