Canopy or retractable gear — how to tell which one you have

Canopy and retractable are the two gear systems used on UK up-and-over doors, and they are not interchangeable. A canopy-gear door has its springs and pivot mechanism mounted across the top of the fixing frame, so the whole door tilts out and up as one panel, leaving roughly a third of the door hanging outside the garage line when open. A retractable-gear door has springs and tracks running back along both sides, so the door retracts fully inside the garage when open, with almost no forward swing.

Ordering a spring, cable or roller for the wrong gear type will not fit. Quoting to automate a canopy door as if it were retractable will produce a door that fights the operator. Getting this identification right first is the gate that every other up-and-over repair or automation decision sits behind.

1. Open the door fully and stand to the side. Does the top of the door swing out past the face of the garage before it lifts clear, so a third or so of the panel sits outside the brickwork line when open? If yes, this points to canopy gear. If the door tucks almost entirely inside the garage with barely any forward swing, this points to retractable gear.
2. Look at where the springs are. Canopy gear has one or two springs mounted horizontally across the head of the fixing frame, above the door, usually behind a plastic or metal cover. Retractable gear has a spring running along each side track, roughly at door height, usually visible as a coiled unit partway along each horizontal track arm.
3. Measure the width of the opening. Canopy gear is only fitted up to approximately 2438mm (8ft) wide. If your structural opening is wider than that, or the door is a double, it is retractable gear by necessity — canopy gear cannot span it.
4. Check whether it is a double door. Retractable gear is the standard fitting for all double up-and-over doors in the UK. If you have a double door, treat it as retractable unless you have visually confirmed otherwise using steps 1–2.
5. Look for side-mounted tension adjusters. Retractable gear has a visible adjustment mechanism — usually a series of holes or a ratchet — on each side track, used to set spring tension to match the door's weight. Canopy gear has no equivalent side adjuster; its tension is set at the head.

Canopy gear is the simpler, cheaper mechanism and is common on older and lighter single doors. Springs and the pivot mechanism sit entirely at the head of the frame, which keeps the side tracks minimal — often just a short guide rail rather than a full length track. Because the door swings outward before lifting, canopy gear is a poor candidate for automation: the outward arc makes it harder to fit a reliable operator arm, and the mechanism's design ceiling around 2438mm width rules it out for most double doors and many wider single openings. Where automation is wanted on a canopy-gear door, some installers will recommend converting to retractable gear first rather than fighting the geometry.

Retractable gear uses full-length side tracks with a spring and cable arrangement on each side, individually tensioned to the weight of the door. Because the door retracts almost entirely inside the garage with minimal forward swing, the motion is far more predictable for an operator arm to follow, which is why retractable gear is the easiest and safest up-and-over mechanism to automate. It is also the only option once a door exceeds the canopy width ceiling, and it is the standard fitting on every double up-and-over door sold in the UK.

If you have been through the checks above and are still unsure, take photos of the springs and the fully-open door from the side and send them to a UK garage door engineer rather than ordering parts speculatively — the wrong spring or roller for the gear type will not fit and most suppliers will not accept it back once installed. Never attempt to inspect or adjust the springs yourself while the door is under tension.