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Replace Patio Glass Door Rollers

Opening your patio sliding glass door should be an easy task. If your sliding door is giving you a work out every time you open it, most likely it is your rollers that are causing the problem. The rollers are located on the bottom of the sliding door and give the door the ability to slide. Often times they get dirty and wear out, making it difficult to open the door. Below are detailed steps containing all the information you will need to know to replace your patio sliding glass door rollers yourself. * Before you start, understand that you need to take the sliding glass door out of its frame to work on the rollers. The sliding glass door is heavy. You may need the assistance of another to help you remove the door.

Your patio glass door will have two separate glass units. One unit is the door that you slide and the other unit is stationary. First, stand outside your house and look at your sliding glass door. If the stationary unit is between you and the sliding unit you will most likely have to remove the stationary unit so that you can get to the glass sliding unit. To remove the stationary unit, you first need to take out your screen door (if you have one). Lift one end of the screen door frame and use a screwdriver to lift the roller on the bottom of the screen door frame off of the track. Do this to both ends of the screen door and your screen door will pull out of the door frame. The stationary unit is held in place by a metal piece that runs along the bottom of the track from the corner of the stationary unit to the bottom of the side jamb (there is a chance this piece is missing but if you do have one remove it from the track). After you have removed the metal piece, look for screws holding the stationary unit frame in place. After removing all of the screws pull the stationary unit out of the door frame.
You may need to create more room when you attempt to remove the sliding unit from the door frame. To create more room you can adjust the rollers on the bottom of the sliding unit. By turning the adjusting screws on the rollers clockwise the wheels move up into the sliding unit's frame giving you more room. The adjusting screws are located either at the bottom of the sliding unit's frame or in the sides of the frame. After you adjust both rollers (one on each side of the sliding unit's frame) try to remove the sliding unit from the door frame.
To remove the rollers from most sliding unit's you need to remove the bottom of the sliding unit's frame. Most likely the screw that holds the roller in place is the same screw that holds the frame together. Remove the screw from both sides of the unit. Then try to remove the bottom piece of the frame off of the sliding unit; you may need to use a rubber mallet or a piece of wood and tap on the bottom of the frame until it comes off of the sliding unit. Now that you have removed the bottom of the frame you can take a close look at your patio glass door rollers. Remove one of the rollers and match it up with one of the rollers from Swisco's online catalog section of patio glass door replacement hardware. It is a good idea to replace both sliding door rollers at the same time to prevent extra wear-and-tear to one new roller, which will have to work twice as hard when paired with an old roller.

After your new rollers come in, replace your old rollers with the new ones. To make it easier to install the sliding unit back into the door frame, adjust the rollers to be all the way up into the frame. Once you have the sliding unit back in the door frame you can adjust the rollers for optimal performance. Keep adjusting the rollers until the door is sliding back and forth easily.