To install sliding door tracks, first prepare your workspace with the necessary space and equipment. Ensure you have someone else on hand to help with lifting and mounting the doors. Check your new door, track, and fittings to ensure they are secure using nails and glue. Lay out the track while the doors dry, following the hardware instructions.
Install the sliding door track by taking your time, double-checking the placement of hangers and stops inside the track, and ensuring the brackets are spaced evenly. Measure the rough opening from stud to stud to ensure the best fit for your new sliding glass door. Place flashing on the sill to prevent leakage. Install the new door, hang it in the track, adjust the door to the required height with a flange nut and tighten the lock nut, and adjust offset pendant bolts of trolleys so the door hangs flush against the track.
Sliding patio doors can be an amazing way to fill your house or outdoor office with sunlight and bring the outside in. Although it can be a fiddly job, it is achievable. Learn how to replace and install a sliding door to easily access your backyard, deck, or patio.
When installing the sliding door track, position it so that the sliding pane goes on the outside, with the fixed pane on the inside. Attach rollers to the sliding door track, and follow the steps to create a floor. Remove the existing interior trim, disassemble the door, and support the weight. Hang the sliding door in the track and lift it into place, having someone help support the weight.
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Thanks so much for the article. I popped the screen doors out to get some furniture into the house, but didn’t know how to put them back in. After seeing your article and realizing that the top track trenches are much deeper than the bottom ones, it made so much sense to first align the top wheels and then use a flat tool to nudge and slide in the bottom ones onto the nearly bare bottom track. Appreciate the help.
I can’t thank you enough for this article! After 16 years of lifting the door and using our body weight to push it open, we watched your article and fixed it the next morning. Only $17 for wheels and it’s like new! It glides so well now that we had to put in a new handle because the old one almost crushed my fingers when I closed the door. Thanks again! PS: For anyone doing this, I highly recommend using a wire brush, cleaning liquid, and paper towels to clean the track. Ours was full of tiny metal shavings from the old wheels and door.
From WC, my wife came up with the idea to cut a piece of old broom Handel just the right length to fit in the door frame when door is closed! It would take a super strong person to brake that piece of wood and open the door! Also my wife uses candle wax to lubricant the door rail, works good and doesn’t attract dirt or dust! Slides good, very little noise! Sorry for any bad spelling!
I had a property management business working on estates in a water environment, where aluminum track corrosion was an everyday problem. 25 years ago, I used to get stainless steel track covers; they were small C-shaped covers that came in 2 – 3′ or 2 – 4′ sections for those size doors. You cleaned the old pitted aluminum track well with acetone, ran a small bead of silicone down the inside of the C website, and installed it over the track. You ran the door over it several times to set it in place, then did the same to the other side. Even if the old wheels were frozen, the door would glide over the SS like new. Whenever I had the door off, I would replace the wheel carriages or at least replace the iron adjusting bolt with a SS one to make future maintenance easy.
I noticed these particular model design of doors had the sliding door outside instead of inside the house. I wonder why? Because this design, the dirt in the backyard sometimes accumulates in the track blown by the wind or if someone put a stick in the track to jam the sliding door you can’t get out.
I replaced my wheels around 10 years ago and now need to do it again. To get the sliding glass door out i had to remove the stationery door as well. Im going from memory here but lifting the sliding door just would not work, it was just the smallest amount too much to pull out towards me at the bottom. I couldn’t lift it any higher without hitting the top and it just barely wouldn’t clear at the bottom. Anyone got a trick so I don’t have to do that again? I remember years ago looking at my clearance problem at the top and wondering why I couldn’t just take a Metabo cutting blade to the top and solve my problem but i didn’t do it and took out the stationery door.
Good article! Not sure if this has been pointed out but Prime-Line has “Repair Track” for sliders and I can tell you from my own use, it is awesome! Very easy to install and durable (good, quality stainless steel). I installed it 8 years ago, along with new wheel assemblies (very inexpensive) and the door has been great since!
I personally made the mistake of using WD40 on my sliding glass door rail after cleaning it up good. While it did slide better for a while, the amount of filth it attracted which clogged it back up with greasy sludge was not worth it. Not sure what the answer is, but in the long term my personal experience was not good with the WD40 unfortunately.
Very helpful. Thanks! Wife and I just bought a condo where the older couple who lived there haven’t used the three sliding patio doors in at least twenty years. They are VERY hard to open and close. I want to thoroughly clean the tracks and remove the doors themselves so I can clean and lube the wheels. If I’m successful, I may save $1k for each one by not having to replace them. Wish me luck.
Sorry you’re giving bad advice For the amount it cost to get you there and phaff about with the old worn wheels just put new cartridge in and clean/work on the track. Because 6 mths later those wheels you fixed will be back to square one again, dont use WD40 worst thing you can do. The bearings nowadays are sealed and oils hold dust which wear the track even quicker. I hate these cheap arse sliding doors they are always going to be a problem in the future
Is there supposed to be anything at the top of the door to prevent it from being able move up when slid so the wheels don’t come off the track? My wheels are protruding about the same as yours. However, there is enough of a cap between the door and the upper track that the door can tilt and allow the wheels to come off the track.
You can buy a s/s cap that slips over the rail and also new rollers. Much better than fooling around with the old crap. Not a real hard job for a handy person. The slip over track comes in two different kinds. One is just a u shape that just slips over. Quite thin. The other slips over too but has a flange that screws down to bottom of door frame. Much thicker than type one. Way better and silent with new rollers. The tracks come in 8ft lengths so you cut to fit your door. Go for it!
I have old Pella (wood) sliding doors, circa 1978. They do stick quite a bit, unfortunately. Just can’t get enough clearance to lift the door out, wood to wood contact with the wheels retracted. Need about an 1/4″ taller frame or shorter door. Might be just as well as I think replacement parts would have to be hand-made. 😀
You can usually get a replacement track ridge at a local glass shop, it’s kinda like a formed overlay website that snaps over the ridge on the existing patio door threshold, tap the overlay track over the damaged ridge track with a dead blow hammer, you don’t want to damage the overlay track during installation, that should take care of any flat spots, cuts, or gouges, then follow the rest of this article!
How to fix an old patio door . Remove it completely throw it away and replace with French doors trust me in the end you will be overjoyed that you ditched that old energy inefficient sliding door. Even new sliding doors are less efficient than standard doors you cannot achieve an air tight seal due to rolling design,junk it don’t think twice about it!