Prime-Line D 1579-1 Sliding Door Repair Track – Repair Worn or Damaged Sliding Glass Door Aluminum Tracks and Horizontal Window Tracks, 1/4” x 8’, Stainless Steel (Single Pack)

This is an amazing product, especially if your alternative is replacing a large, heavy, expensive door, or continuing to live with a barely-functioning one. This product is not a brand new door, nor is it advertised as such. If you have other door issues, resolve them also. This simply repairs the existing damaged track. This is designed for minor damage. If you have severe damage or missing sections of old track, you may need to consider a more substantial product like CRL Aluminum 96" Sliding Glass Door Replacement Rail by CR Laurence . If you are not handy, you should not attempt to do this project on your own and then write a negative review on Amazon because you didn't know what you were doing. If you are not going to do it the right way, you probably should just hire a contractor to install a new door. Be careful with this repair track, it can have sharp edges. This is not a complicated project but you should at least have some concept of DIY projects. You must completely remove the sliding door (possibly both) from the track - this may be a task for 2 people depending on your situation. You should also replace the door rollers at the same time. They are usually inexpensive and you have to take the door out anyway to do this repair, at which point you can easily change the wheels. If your track was damaged, the wheels are probably damaged. If you reuse them on the new track cover, they will damage it. It's really pointless to repair the track and not replace the wheels. If you don't know what type you need, you will have to remove them to match them at the store. Before I started, I purchased 1 set of each type they had at Home Depot instead of leaving the door open to go to the store. I returned the ones I didn't need when I was finished. If the slot at on the bottom of the door has buildup or debris in it, clean it out with compressed air or a stiff brush. Clean your old track with a strong degreaser and a scrub brush. Make sure all the old grease, wax, dirt, etc. is removed before installing the new track cover. Make sure the track is dry. If you have severely damaged track, try your best to straighten it out - this can usually be done with visegrips or other strong pliers. If there are jagged edges or irregularities, use a file to clean them up. The purpose of doing this is to prevent the door from hammering the new track cover over the existing damage and replicating it. The repair track is stamped stainless steel. It has a thin coating of oil on it from the manufacturing process. Make sure to clean the underside with degreaser so the epoxy will adhere effectively. I wiped the underside of the repair track and the floor track with rubbing alcohol just to ensure they were clean and dry. Do not use silicone or caulking. Use this Loctite 2-part epoxy: Loctite Epoxy Five Minute Instant Mix 0.47-Fluid Ounce Syringe (1365868) . This is designed for metal surfaces and works very well for this project. Not only does it ensure a strong bond between the repair cap and the track, it also helps to fill in and harden low spots where the original track was damaged, providing support to prevent damage to the new cap. You will have about 5 minutes to work with this epoxy before it begins to harden. If you are prepared and organized, it should take you about 1-2 minutes to put the repair track in place. Wear rubber gloves in case the glue gets on your hands. The nozzle of the epoxy syringe is slightly wider than the repair track. I used pliers to slightly "squish" it and make it narrow so it fits right inside. Measure the repair track to ensure that it fits your door width. If it needs to be trimmed, you can do this with a Dremel, hacksaw, or cutting wheel. If you can do a dry/test fit, do so to get an idea of how it will go on once you are ready. If you trim a small piece off, temporarily dry install (no glue) this piece on the old track so you can see how it works. If you do this, take this piece off before the final install. When you are ready, apply a generous bead of glue to the inside of the repair track. If you have made the nozzle narrow, you will be able to get the glue directly onto the bottom of the repair track (the surface that will touch the old track). Keep in mind that you need enough to do the entire length and observe how much is in the syringe. I put a generous bead down the entire 8' length and only used 3/4 of the glue. Start on one end and gently press the repair track onto the old track. Depending on the condition of the old track, this may be easy or difficult. If it goes on easy with some room to spare, install the entire thing, then gently crimp it on with pliers. Take care to only crimp it enough to make it tight, not enough to deform the repair track. I crimped mine about every foot. If it goes on snug, you may have to use a rubber mallet or a block of wood and hammer to coax it into place. Be gentle - your goal is to get it on the old track, not deform the new one. Once it's in place, go back over the entire length and make sure it's all even and properly secured. If any epoxy leaked out, clean it up. Make sure none is on the surface of the repair track. I wiped the new track down with alcohol when I was done just to make sure. Install the new rollers in the door, making sure to adjust them low so you can get the door back in. Once the door is in place on the new track, move it back and forth to make sure it's not hanging up anywhere. Adjust the new door rollers. There are several videos on YouTube that show how to do this - it's very simple and will ensure that the door functions properly. Inspect the top guide ("track") - often if the old track was very damaged, the door may have caused damage on the top. If there are burs, gouges, or damage, they can usually be easily smoothed out with a file. Roll the door back and forth a few times in the first 5 minutes. This ensures that the repair track is properly and evenly seated when the epoxy hardens. Don't try to take shortcuts on this project. If you've been fighting with a damaged track for any amount of time, doing this project the right way will be well worth it. I worked alone, took my time, and was very thorough on my 8' sliding door. It took me less than an hour from start to finish.

It’s easy to install and works great

Our sliding glass door was installed at least 35 years ago. Over time the track became worn and bumpy making it difficult to open the sliding door. We were afraid a new door was going to be the solution until I looked on U tube and found the repair track video. I found the track on Amazon along with an installation video. It was easy to install and the door is like new. Instead of paying over $3,000.00 we paid under $40.00. Thank you Prime-Line.

This product works great. The negative reviews are because it was not installed correctly. There is an installation video under the product listing but it is missing a couple of key points. You may have to reshape your existing track if the new track will not hammer down without smashing it. I used a dremel tool and file. I cut off a small piece of the new track to do a dry fit on the old track. Use a generous amount of silicone. The silicone not only adheres the new track to the old track but also provides a hard rubber like buffer to fill in the dents and divots in your old track. What they don’t tell you is -YOU MUST WAIT 24 hours for silicone to dry before putting any weight on the silicone. I tarped off my opening over night. I have triple sliders that create a 12’ opening in my wall so I did not have to remove doors. I piled doors on one side and I did an 8’ section, waited 2 days, then pushed the doors to the other side and did the other 8’. Yes- you can butt new track end to end. Bottom line I have 8’ tall, double pain impact glass doors (extreamly heavy) and this worked perfectly. Doors slide smooth and quiet. I called Prime line tech support to find out you must wait 24 hours for silicone to dry. They should make that clear in their video!!! THIS WORKS PERFECTLY

This product works to address a bad sliding door. Ok, the first thing you need to do is not be naive. This is a "skin", it does not fully replace and repair the entire track. You need to look at the exiting track and think about how this works and how you need to prepare the old track. If (looking straight down at the track), you have wide spots, where the original track was so crushed that it has widened the track, you are probably doing to have to clean that up a little with a dremel type tool. You need to get the old track to almost the same width as what the original/healthy track was. (A tad wider is ok, don't overgrind). If you have severe "dips" in your original track, you need to think about that. Some people use a hardening epoxy to restore the original height. You need to keep in mind there were "forces" that caused the original track to deform. Some of those forces will still be there. So if you put this "skin" on top of a huge "dip", then more than likely the originally existing forces are going to re-damage and cause another dip. Again, you may need to get a hardening epoxy, tape up the area, apply the hardening epoxy and file away the excess to try and make the track as close as possible to the original height/width/shape BEFORE you apply this skin. In regards on whether to use silicone. Again, don't be naive. Look at the track. If you have some minor dips, then a hardening silicone is going to help with strengthening the original track and help support this "skin". Its not simply about adhesion. Its about providing a little bit of support for this product to try and slow down the recurring damage.....again, there were forces that causes your original track to fail. Those still may be in play. Before you apply the silicone, line up your sized piece (this item cut to correct length) and match up how much silicone you apply to the contour of the existing track. If you have an area where there are small dips, then add just a little bit more. You don't have to over use the silicone, or your gonna splurt it out and make a mess. I took one star off for the simple reason, the kit, at this price point, should include a small tube of silicone. If you are the company who makes this, please include a small tube of silicone that would work best with your product instead of relying on someone picking a correct one from the dozens of choices out there. You should include the silicone that does just enough adhesion, dries hard to give the old track some extra supports, and the dispenser head for the silicone should fit perfectly in the groove of the track to make application easy. Overall, I'm happy with the product itself. I think the product is about $10 too much in regards to what you get. I realize there is probably an extra shipping cost because of the nature of the product. (The product came in a long cardboard tube, about 3" in diameter and obviously a little bit longer than the length of this product. I was happy with the product packaging that tries to protect the product during shipping.) I think some of the negative reviews are from people who didn't think it out. If you have a severely damaged track, then you are going to have to do some prep work that will allow this skin to work for you. One minor note, the skin adds just a tad bit of height to the track after you apply it. Thus, it makes getting the door/roller wheels "over" top of this a tad harder. So you might need an extra pair of hands to do the reinstall. I used this and got some new rollers, and it rolls much more smoothly now. Its not "single finger" smooth, but it doesn't register on the Richter scale like it did before the repair. Tools Needed: I used a rubber mallet. A normal hammer will work WITH A WOODEN BLOCK, do NOT HAMMER DIRECTLY ONTO PIECE. Hack saw to cut to length. Dremel tool to grind down a few wide areas of my original/distorted track. Silicone (I only had a few minor dips). Block of wood. You basically put this on top of the existing track, and tap it (straight down). Distributors of this product, please add a small container of silicone to use with the product.

I was very hopeful that this track repair would work, but it was a bit too tall for my older aluminum window. It appeared to be of decent quality, but I could not test that to be sure.

I wanted to share my experience with this product. First off, yes, 5 stars. I will explain. I had a real problem with my sliding door, which is a tall 8 foot door, and quite heavy. It takes two of us to remove and reinstall the door on the track. The problem is that the door is really too heavy for the kind of track it was on. The thin blades of aluminum were just not up to the job of holding this door over the years. Over time the top of the aluminum blade begin to crush and formed a mushroom shape at the top. As the door sagged lower and lower, and in primarily just specific spots, the bottom edge of the door started to rub on the track base, and even gouging some out of the metal. A real mess of aluminum grime. I tried to level the track blade by filing it, but this just made it worse. The rollers in the door had been adjusted as high as they would go. The door was a manual force it with your whole body kind of door at this point. I ordered this track in July of 2020 for $37.80 but it sat in my garage until cool but not too cold weather came so extended periods of not having the door installed would be one less worry. One day when my son was available to help, I took the plunge. 1: FIrst thing, I had to shave off all the wide mushroom shaped edge areas on the top of the track blade back to its original thickness so the repair track would slide on top of it. I had to use an angle grinder and carefully took off the sides of the track blade where it had been flattened and widened. This was no easy task. I was able to use the track itself as a guide to help me keep the cutter in position as I went. THen followed up with a cleanup with a file and sandpaper. 2: Now that the blade was narrow again, there were a bunch of dips in it, which is the problem at hand. You cannot just place this metal repair track on that. It will fail pretty quick. I had to fill in the gaps first. I used some metal pieces (bookcase tracks I had laying around) as guides and placed one on each side of the blade and clamped them into place. This formed a mold into which I could pour something that would bring the track blade back to it's original height and no wider then the existing track. But what to use? I used the loctite epoxy recommended in another review. This brand was easy to use since it mixes automatically as you dispense it. I used about 4 of these to fill in the track from one end to another, keeping the top level. I let that harden and removed the 2 metal mold pieces used to form the mold. Then cleaned it up with a file and sandpaper. The concern was is this strong enough to do this job? I had my doubts. 3: Once I had the newly formed track blade hardened and shaped, I installed the repair track piece on top of it. Looked great, but would it hold the door for very long before the epoxy started crushing? 4: we reinstalled the door, and it actually slid pretty well. The extra width of this track cover still fit in the groove in the door, and on the roller, barely, but it fit. 5: Bets around the house seemed to predict that our expectation would be that this fix would last about 2 weeks before it started failing. 6: Surprise! it is now several months later and the door is still all good. Door slides just fine and no sign of the epoxy crushing. I will update in about a year. It just might be that this is now Better than new.

The item was perfect. It corrected my issues. The way this item was shipped was awesome. Amazon must have spent several dollars to pack and ship this item. It was all worth it. Good job, Amazon!