Fence Stretching

[enggass]

Hey all,
Anyone here used an ATV to stretch woven wire fencing? If so, is it best to use a Winch on my ATV or just use the ATV itself to pull the fencing taught? My Winch is 2500lb capacity... Any tips or step by steps would help. I know I would have to rig up some sort of pull such as 2x4 or rebar to end of fence to pull with the Winch/ATV. How have you all done it(with ATV)?
Thanks,
Steve

 

[Latestarter]

I would think using the winch would be better. with the ATV there's much less fine control and you could easily over tighten and weaken the fencing. A couple of 2x4's bolted through in multiple places, the fencing then pulled by those so the entire height of fencing gets pulled evenly. Once upright, it shouldn't stretch more than a few inches.

 

[babsbag]

I agree with @Latestarter. I use a come-a-long attached by chain to trees but I have crazy land. The 2 2x4s with fence sandwiched between them works great. I use screws to hold them together, easy in and easy out. I also use a ratcheting tie down strap attached to the top and bottom of the 2x4 so it comes to a "v" and that "v" is where I attach my cable for pulling. Since I have very hilly ground I can make the "v" higher or lower so when I attach my cable it will either pull the top of the fence tighter or the bottom. I like a tight fence.

 

[Steve Enggass]

Cool. How do you attach the ratchet strap to the 2x4s?

 

[babsbag]

I just looped it around the 2x4 and hooked it back on itself. I am the official fence installer around my place and what I would give for some nice level clear land to fence.

 

[CntryBoy777]

@babsbag ya won't be heading my Way anytime soon, will ya?....just think of it as a "Pit Stop" to NC...

 

[babsbag]

@CntryBoy777 I would be more than happy to stop and help IF I was headed to NC. But goats are kidding this week and I still have a dairy to finish so I think I will have to pass this time. If we get the land next to us I will have some more fencing to do but this piece is dang near level. And while level is great some areas have no trees either which means I actually have to put in corner braces and line posts. WOW. Another new skill to learn. I know that you aren't supposed to use trees, but these oaks stand FOREVER and they don't mind holding up my fence, it sure makes my life a little easier, plus I use them for anchors when I stretch fence. Fortunately I have a great little Bobcat with an awesome post hole digger that will help. And I know there is a good posts on here somewhere about floating corner braces.

 

[CntryBoy777]

Well ya would be Welcome any Time...
.....and I sure wouldn't let ya work while ya was here....and trees are certainly used around the area for sure. I just don't put any in the bird pens, coon will utilize the Highway...

 

[Bruce]

You are better off using 2 come-alongs one high, one low so you can tension more evenly. You do NOT want to pull with a vehicle and be careful if you use the winch. You CAN do it but you won't get a straight pull at the right height because you likely have no way to get it that high on the ATV.

The more difficult part is finding something you can hook the come-alongs to both high and low which is why people use the "v" format. Assuming you are putting in gates with H braces, that gives you one location. I recently put in 300' of woven wire with a gate about 130' from one end. H braced on the hinge side, floating brace on the latch side. I could have used the H brace to pull the fence to the strike side but not the other way around. I had seen a video showing pulling two pieces from the 'middle'. In their case they had no way to pull from one end so they cut the wire in the middle, put 2 fence pullers in, pulled them together then spliced the fence back together. Since I did have some posts, I 'folded' the fencing between the hinge and strike posts, attached the come-alongs and pulled. Once tight I started cutting and attaching the wires to their respective posts. Would have been really good to have had some help because when you aren't attached to a close by anchor, the whole thing likes to fall until it is pretty darned tight.

The discussion related to my fence project is here:
https://www.backyardherds.com/threads/fence-post-bracing.34779/

 

[babsbag]

I just don't put any in the bird pens, coon will utilize the Highway...

Smart