COUCH SIDE.JPG Seems to me that this track is vertical.
The mounting board or track carrying board seems to be vertical. In other words, it appears that it has not "rolled over."
At the bottom of this page, I have commented on how, in the TV side pocket...looking up, it appears the track/track carrying board has leaned over. In this photo, of the working door, the photo shows what I would think to be normal perspective. The side of the track carrying board can be seen (as well as the board's lower edge), but it seems to be normal "parallax" effect-to use a photographic term.
couch side bottom.jpg
I surely see how the floor guide seems to be touching the bottom of the door; but is it? With a Lane track it is not likely that the door has dropped down-I mean beyond being rescued by turning the adjustment screw. You have a 45 degree slanted adjustment screw on each hanger. Take the weight off the door. Have a helper lift the door (a little...maybe 1/2" or 3/4") and someone else then sticks a temporary something under the door on that end-either a paperback book or a piece of wood or several tapered exterior shingles acting together as a wedge. Then, using lubricant or not, take a stout screwdriver and turn clockwise in an effort to raise the door. Do not spray an excess of oil all over the place. Make sure you have the "hummingbird" red pipette/straw attached to the head of the WD-40 can. Just a little spritz on the screw threads.
tv side bottom.jpg
Now aside from the fact that I talk above about how to raise the door by using a screwdriver at the screw, this photo is very interesting because it seems to show that there is plenty (I mean a comfortable amount) of clearance between the door and the jamb trim.
tv side chewed.jpg
I would be interested in knowing at what height off the floor these gouges have occurred. Is it the height of the cast iron dog at the back of the door? You mentioned something about this in your text accompanying the pix. What's that at the back of the pocket? Look like perforated metal lathe.
tv side top.jpg
Crux of the problem?? Maybe. Now here's the pic that started me thinking. Looks like this track carrying board has "yawed" like a sailboat heels over in the wind. When this happens with your door, if it has indeed occurred, the wheel is unhappy because the weight of the door is insistent on making the wheel remain close to "north/south" i.e. upright, but if the rail has keeled over a few degrees then the wheel's not going to roll freely on that "angled over" track. Very important for you to ponder on this-whether or not the track is vertical or if it has tilted.
One of the fingers is pointing to a rub mark-on the underside of a "standoff." There has to be a reason for this. Something is imparting this/depositing this.
wheel left inner.jpg
this hanger look like the letter "D" or question mark. Uh, Oh. Do I see, on the head of the screw, a broken screw head?? Looks like a flat plane on the left and a domed surface on the right or north, northeast side. Broken? That'd give you a hard time trying to raise the door.
However once again: if you lift the door and take the door's weight off the hanger, the screw should be willing to turn. An important note about these screws----they are not standard thread pitch screws. They were proprietary. They are 9/32"-larger than 1/4" and smaller than 5/16". As my friend Bill Rigby of http://www.wmjrigby.com has informed me-Lane made two versions of the screw which I have just described...two different pitches 20 tpi and 24 tpi (threads per inch).
wheel left outer.jpg
Here the hanger looks like the letter "C". This is the other end of "wheel left inner.jpg"
Scary photo...in that it shows one side of the header trim is in good shape and the other side has, at some time, gotten gouged. Once again, the only thing I can think of is that when the door is pulled along the track the lowest part of the metal (obviously) is digging into the header. Now this is attributable, possibly, to rotation of the track (from perfectly plumb to "yawed over"-the theme I have been harping upon). Elsewhere I have said that the bulk, the weight of the door would tend to keep things vertical, but it also possible that some other things have shifted. The whole partition can have been affected by some settling. Or in this case, one end-the tv end of the partition. Just as a global comment, I want to say that the architects or the craftsmen of those bygone days seem to have "had a thing" for hemming in the doors very closely. It seems they left very little clearance. That's OK when things are new, but as the decades go by....I think you know where I'm going with this...
track.jpg not sure if this is "representative"of the track in the regions of the opening-where people walk-or if this is possibly a pocket. I assume it is in the middle of the opening.
This is as good as place as any to mention. When you raise up a door, of course there are consequences. You might bump into something up top. I don't mean willy-nilly, but you might take up the door by one revolution or two revolutions of the screw and see if the door clears the floor guide better. See the small amount of clearance at the top of the door?
But I think the problem is in the track carrying board.
Give me a little feedback after you have studied the track carrying board and tell me please if it appears to be other than straight. It is a difficult situation...access-wise, I mean. Nevertheless, I have an idea for one approach to this repair. Regards. Stephen.
I surely want to say, "Someone south of Poughkeepsie" has got their act together! These pictures are superb!!
Supplementary comments added at noon on Jan 1st. Here's a "word picture" on how I conclude the door has been affected. Let's say that you are walking down a corridor, with your shoulder close to the wall. Now imagine you keep your body straight, but allow your shoulder to rub against the wall-as if your shoulder had all of a sudden become a paint brush and you wanted to leave a stripe of paint along the wall at shoulder's height. You are not bending your knees, but your legs are still powering yourself down the corridor. And your body is straight and the shoulder is rubbing against the wall.
This is how the door would be traveling if the track board:
1) became warped-from the weight or for whatever failure
2) became detached from its original position. If you look at the photos, you can see how the area of the top of the stud is notched. There's a horizontal cut made by the installers...and on that ledge they rested the track carrying board (in its original vertical position.) They also of course would have nailed it with horiz spikes. But these appear to have loosened. Of course I cannot see any gaps (they are out of sight) but the evidence is there.
I'm not going to go into detail about another symptom, but all this talk of rotation of the door would account for why one side of the header trim (horiz trim) is chewed up/raspy. When the door is canted, it cants the metal hanger and that can act as a blunt scraper, butchering the wood trim. I imagine you have a fine (not so fine) collection of wood fragment/splinters lying around.
I have never seen such good photos!
This page was created using photos from a homeowner in the Northeast who wants my help. He saw the site and got in touch with me. These pictures are the BEST! Supplemental lighting has been used to reveal details of construction.
Initially, I made this page for a private viewing. But since it is a perfect demonstration of long distance cooperation, his photos and my comments are posted to serve as a pattern.
He has a pair of pocket doors. With instructions I sent him, he was able to withdraw from their pockets (non-destructively) both the "not OK" door and the "OK" door. Because he had my notes from an email, he was able to examine the upper regions of each pocket.
Note: This technique wherein I can "long distance tutor" will not work for an opening with a single door. Why not? Because with a pair of doors you have four segments or territories for "parking" the two doors. Therefore it should be possible to put one door into its usual pocket. And it should be possible to dislocate the other door from its "usual territory" by bringing it up close to the first door. Then you have a clear path whereby you can peek into the empty pocket...to inspect, to diagnose, to photograph.
The reason for which a typical homeowner would not be able to inspect the pocket belonging to a single door is...you can't see into the pocket! There's no place to "detour" or dislocate a single door-you can't get it out of the way!
I have concluded the track carrying board may have keeled over a bit-in the TV side, at least. You know how when you look at a sailboat from the stern? In a wind the tip of the mast goes sideways and the keel tilts in the opposite direction, of course.
