How to Replace the Rollers on your Patio Sliding Glass Door
Posted: Wednesday, July 20, 2005
by TipPro
Swisco Inc.
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. If you have an older sliding glass door your rollers may have become rusty because sliding door units did not always use stainless steel rollers.
* 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.
1) 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.
Before you go through the trouble of removing the stationary unit, first try to go inside your house and see if you can remove the sliding unit. Usually you cannot because there is a lip along the bottom of the patio glass door frame (it keeps moisture out of the house) that prevents the sliding glass door from being removed from the inside.
If the rollers on the bottom of the door are difficult to get over the lip, you can adjust them to help you create more room (go down to step 2). If it is not the rollers but the sliding unit's frame preventing you from pulling the sliding unit out of the door frame, you are going to need to remove the stationary unit first before you can remove the 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 try pulling the stationary unit out of the door frame. If you are having trouble pulling out the stationary unit, try placing a screwdriver between the stationary unit's bottom frame and the track it is resting on. Lift up on the screwdriver while you have a helper pull out the stationary unit from the door frame. Be careful not to use too much force with the screwdriver so that you do not damage the door track.
2) 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. There is a chance that there are plugs covering the screws.
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. If the unit is still getting stuck you may need to get someone to help you. Have your helper lift one side of the unit and pull outwards while you try to pry the other side of the unit over the track.
3) 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 on the link at the bottom of this article or bring it to your local hardware store.
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.
4) 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.
This Article has been viewed 61,804 times. (Not updated in real-time.)
More commentsI can't seem to find my roller on the page you sugusted.My rollers have two wheels one in front and one in back and they pivot.I updated the link in the article that will bring you to all of the patio glass door hardware available at SWISCO. Take a look at the section of 'Doubled Wheel Rollers' for your replacement roller.
Can anyone tell me how to fix a set of sliders where one seems to be warped? They were new construction 2 years ago, and it looks like one door of slider set (the one that moves always was sticky) has bowed out over time, away from the other door, at the middle height of the door. Could this be a roller problem, or something else? There is no condensation, think the seal is still good, just the bowed in part (away from other door) can be seen where the door meet when closed, there is a gap where air is pouring in this winter. Help? The builder refuses to return and address the problem. Drafty in Pennsylvania...
yes; though accompanying diagrams/pictures would have really been a big plus, especially for a novice like myself.
Thanks for the article!! I didn't know how to remove the rollers. $10 worth of parts at Home Depot and the door is back to new :) (Original rollers were 25yrs old lol)
Well what a relief, I’ve have been looking for just the information mentioned, thanks TipPro.
I agree with JT. More visual aids would've been helpful.
Thanks you so much for providing this information, a couple of old ladies were able to fix our sliding glass doors!
Very helpful article, thanks.
I agree, more photos/diagrams are better than fewer. My bigger problem, however, is how to remove the rollers. I can remove screws with the best of them, but it sounds like you want me to remove the bottom of the door frame to get at the rollers. That entails knocking it loose with a mallet, a block of wood or a screwdriver, breaking loose the thin gasket seal around the glass to release it (and possibly breaking the glass in the process), removing/replacing the rollers (admittedly easier at this point) in that piece, then hoping you can get the thing back together without cutting yourself on the glass and getting the rubber gasket back in place to seal the glass back in the door. If I mess up the gasket, the door leaks, requiring the whole door to be resealed. That's what I'm looking at; am I over-thinking this, or did you just not include that information originally? The bottom of my sliding door looks open, and if I could just find a way to push the rollers out and reinstall them, then tighten the screws I'd be home free. One roller wheel is rusted tight, and both rollers seem rusted to their mounting positions in the door frame as well (the door is close to the pool, which has a cleaner that threw water at the door over the years), so it seems more trouble than it's worth to do this. However, I'm game if you have any good ideas. I've sprayed penetrating oil on them several times and pulled and tugged, but no luck so far. Thanks for any help you can offer.This is actually a really old article - I am surprised to see it is still receiving new views and comments. Open up a discussion on SWISCO's Web site - our experts will help you identify your door and then help walk you through the process of replacing the rollers.
I have a very old sliding glass door. The room the door is in was added on 35 years ago. It squeaks terribly and you to be pretty strong to open it. There is only one glass pane as opposed to one stationary and one that glides. The problem is that as it glides(SQUEALS!) open it recesses into a wall. When shut I can't grab it by both sides to lift up and out. And by the way, the wall happens to be ceiling to floor all mirror, so its rather delicate. Any ideas would be very helpful.
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