Just wondering if anyone out there has a better idea on this than I do...

I have a wooden garage door - it is 16' wide, by 7' tall. I'm betting that it is 22 years old, same as the house (we've been here 8 yrs). The springs were replaced just 2 years ago, since one broke. (yes, both springs were replaced). It has an old "Stanley Delux" opener attached to it.

Yesterday, the opener started having trouble with the door. It would start to close the door, but would get jammed up at the last 14-16 inches and start giving a shuddering/grinding noise. The door would shake, and inch downward, before the whol thing would stop.

If I disconnected the opener, I could open and close the door, without any noticeable "catching". I did notice that some screws had fallen out of the ends of the horizontal metal brace that goes across the door at the midway mark, so I replaced those and also tightened down the loose screws on the top metal brace. No change.

I tried greasing up the pole that the traveler for the GDO rides upon, but that also didn't make a difference. Those stanley tubular poles come in three pieces, and I've always found them a bit flimsy, they flop around a bit in use. I thought that in my last house also. I tried the grease, because it was right near one of the joints where it was seizing. Doesn't feel rough though, so that may just be a coincidence.

The opener has no trouble opening the door, it just can't close it. It also will run back and forth with no problems with the door not attached.

At this point, I'm thinking that the problem must be the opener, but I'm wondering if I might be overlooking something.

Even that doesn't really make sense. Why can the opener push the door 90% of the distance? It really does not feel to me like the last 15" of travel are any tougher than the rest for pushing the door.

anyone got any ideas?
thanks
...art