Replies

1. 
   BoJangles | Mar 21, 2009 08:10pm | #1

   First look up on the door hangars and see if you can adjust them upward.  Most of them have some kind of adjustment.  Look closely!

2. 
   Heck | Mar 21, 2009 10:10pm | #2

   You may have to remove the trim and jambs to get the door out.

     

   when you are up to yur knees in gators, make gatorade     

3. 
   jonblakemore | Mar 21, 2009 10:21pm | #3

   I would attempt to trim in place with a biscuit joiner.

    

   Jon Blakemore

   RappahannockINC.com Fredericksburg, VA

4. 
   WayneL5 | Mar 21, 2009 10:56pm | #4

   Usually, the trim on one side of the opening has to come off, then the door can be unclipped from the roller trolleys by a camlock lever.

5. 
   Dinosaur | Mar 22, 2009 12:10am | #5

   Some newer pocket-door hardware sets use cam-lock pins for the trolley hanger. These can be released with a small wrench that is usually supplied with the hardware. (Others of this type have a lever built into the mechanism.)

   The procedure is to remove the head casing, then release the leading hanger pin with the door in the open position. Once you've done that, you can then pivot the door out of plane so you can pull the trailing trolley into the opening where you can get at it.

   In general, this type of hanger only requires a ¼" drop to release the door. You may be able to crush the carpet enough to get the door out.

   Older hardware sets, however, have hanger pins which are often just threaded rod with a couple of nuts on them. To release the door on those, you'll also have to pop the head casing to get at them, but they can require up to an inch of drop space before the pin can be pulled out of the trolley. If you can't lower the door enough, you'll have to remove the split jamb on one face of the wall and cut back the gyprock enough to clear the door when it's in the closed position. Then you can tilt the whole door out of plane so it can be disengaged and removed.

   Or, you could try to cut the hanger pins with a hacksaw or Dremel, then remove the old hardware and replace it with the newer type.

   Dinosaur

   How now, Mighty Sauron, that thou art not brought
   low by this? For thine evil pales before that which
   foolish men call Justice....
   

   

6. 
   Dave45 | Mar 22, 2009 12:39am | #6

   There should be either four or six pieces of trim approx 1" wide and 1/4" thick on the jambs close to the door. (It's called "stop" and looks like what you see on a swinging door.) You'll definitely have stop on the pocket jamb and the head jamb but may not have it on the solid jamb.

   With the door open, look at the track and see if it looks like a single or double "J". If it looks like a single "J", carefully remove the piece of stop from the head jamb that's on the LONG side of the "J" and see if the roller assemblies have an adjustment screw or nut. If they do, you may be able to use them to raise the door enough to clear the carpet. If they don't (or if you can't adjust them), remove the rest of the stop on the side where you removed the head stop and swing the door so it can be lifted off of the track. With the door out, you can easily trim off whatever you need to.

   While you have the door out, inspect the track and see if you can get replacement roller assemblies. This is the perfect time to replace the rollers.

   Replace your door in the opposite order that you removed it, adjust the rollers so it clears the carpet and closes without a gap at the solid jamb, replace the stop, patch, paint, and call it good.

1. 
   LIVEONSAWDUST | Mar 22, 2009 12:55am | #7

   Thanks for all the replies

   It did not look like there was any adjustment in the rollers, I'll take a better look when I get back there next week.  Seems like my best bet may be to cut the hangers, remove enough trim to get the doors out and replace the hangers.

   Guess I'd better check what kind of replacement hangers they have at the hardware store ahead of time.

7. 
   hammerelbow1 | Mar 22, 2009 03:18am | #8

   Look at the head jamb and you should se 2-3 screws, sometimes with chrome washers or they are painted or sometimes they are counter sunk and then filled in with putty and usually on the room side of the door. Take these screws out and you may have to score the paint ,if painted, and remove this peice of head jamb. If the carpenter did his job right the casing should not be nailed to this peice. This is all you should have to remove to access the roller hangers. This is the way it's done around here.

   Wayne

1. 
   Heck | Mar 22, 2009 04:53am | #9

   I'm guessing on a 60's ranch that there is not an easily removeable head jamb.  

   when you are up to yur knees in gators, make gatorade     

1. 
   Dave45 | Mar 22, 2009 05:02am | #10

   Last summer, I helped #2DD and #1 SIL replace a pocket door in their 50's era house. Their head jamb was continuous and the rollers were a kind that we couldn't find. Since they were going to a divided light, solid wood door, we opened the wall and replaced the entire track with a heavy duty trolley roller system.Before we did that, the door was very hard to move, but now it works like a fream.

1. 
   JulianTracy | Mar 22, 2009 06:04am | #11

   I've had no luck finding new rollers for the older single J rail style pocket doors.Most times the rollers are just worn out. Once, I found some shower door rollers with a threaded hole in them and drilled out the old roller plate and screwed the new roller to the plate with loctite.With paint grade, you should be able to simply remove a couple pcs of stop and then tilt the door up and out to fix it. The trim can be re-applied and with white doors at leaset, you can simply caulk your tracks of ever working on it.None of the older doors I've worked on have adjustable rollers - you have to shim or trim to get it to hang right.If you do need to replace the entire track, you can usually do it with a single large access hole in the drywall to access the track screws and install the new track.JT

1. 
   brucet9 | Mar 22, 2009 07:03am | #12

   "I've had no luck finding new rollers for the older single J rail style pocket doors."Have you looked here?
   http://www.prime-line-products.com/prodcats.aspPrimeline/Slideco has rollers for something like a dozen different styles of pocket door rollers. BruceT

2. 
   Dave45 | Mar 22, 2009 05:05pm | #13

   On a few occasions, I found roller assemblies that looked right but didn't work in the track - either because the track was shot, or the wheels were a slightly different size.The two wheel, rocker, assemblies at the Borg or hardware stores will often work ok, but don't seem to hold up on doors that get used often.I've gotten pretty good at opening a wall to replace a track. I cut a rectangle just big enough to work thru, replace the track, and replace the cut out drywall. A bit of tape and texture and the hole disappears.I've heard that there's a tool that lets you change track by working thru the pocket jamb. I haven't seen it and understand that it's pretty expensive ($300 - $400).