How to Adjust the Travel Distance on a Craftsman Garage Door

Your Craftsman garage door opener comes equipped with a safety reversal system designed to keep your family and pets safe from injury or death. The safety reversal system automatically opens the garage door in the event the door comes into contact with an object that blocks its down travel distance. Failure to properly adjust the travel distance on your Craftsman garage door could result in the failure of the safety reversal system.

Step 1

Stand behind the Craftsman garage door opener and face the garage door to determine the left and right sides of the motor. Set a stepladder under the left side of the opener motor to access the light bulb cover.

Step 2

Find the round tabs on each side of the light bulb cover. Press the round tabs with your fingers to release the light bulb cover from the top of the motor. Rotate the cover away from the top of the motor to access the travel limits adjustment screws.

Step 3

Press the switch on the wall to operate the Craftsman garage door opener. If your door fails to open farther than five feet, you must increase the up travel distance. Use a flat-head screwdriver to rotate the right adjustment screw clockwise. Each full rotation of the adjustment screw increases the up travel distance by two inches. Press the wall switch once again after you make the adjustments to determine if additional adjustments to the up travel are necessary.

Step 4

Push the garage door opener wall switch to determine if the down travel distance needs adjusting. Use the flat-head screwdriver to rotate the left adjustment screw counterclockwise if the garage door fails to close completely. Each rotation of the down travel screw increases the down travel by two inches. Press the wall switch to operate the opener to determine if you need additional adjustments.

Step 5

Adjust the down travel distance if the garage door opens automatically once it reaches the closed position. Use the flat-head screwdriver to rotate the left adjustment screw clockwise to decrease the down travel distance. Again, each full rotation of the adjustment screw decreases the down travel distance by two inches.

Step 6

Open the garage door. Test the travel distance adjustment by placing a 2-by-4 inch piece of lumber in the garage door opening. Turn the down travel adjustment screw one-quarter turn if the garage door fails to reverse automatically when it touches the lumber.

Step 7

Close the light bulb cover after you are satisfied with the travel-distance adjustment.