Brad_Blazer said:
A guy loaned this stretcher to my brother. The design looked so good I took some pics and may make one.
That’s looks very well thought out, would save a lot of labor rolling out fence on the ground then trying to pick it up. I usually do fencing by myself which can be challenging, that idea is like having another person. I assume the only way to stretch the fence with that is by pulling with the tractor.
My local Tractor Supply Store sells two types of fence stretchers already built which I’ve considered buying, but that idea looks more interesting and an easy way to move left over rolls.
I do fencing several times a year and most recently stretched several 330’ rolls of field fence in one pull and 200’ no climb horse fence. I’ve used the bolted 2x4’s (kinda time consuming) nailed fence on to a post and pulled the post (time consuming and wasteful) and most recently used a heavy gauge 1.5” pipe weaved through the fencing then wrapped the cut ends (about 12”) back around the pipe and a few turns wrapped back on the strand itself, then hooking a chain around the middle of the pipe and placing the chain hooks on the top lip of the loader and backing the tractor to stretch (while hoping nothing breaks and comes flying back at you). Having a tractor with loader has made things much easier since you always have an anchor point anywhere and can raise or lower the loader if you need to adjust the height of the fence. I am finding it a bit hard to get a good feel for how tight to stretch with the tractor, I’m finding keeping in 2WD avoids over pulling as the wheels will start to spin, in 4wd I’ve torn the fence loose pulling too tight. I’ll be using the cumalong hooked to the loader in the future for better control of tension. Also can see the need for a brake pedal on the left side to control tension while you hit the brake and set the parking brake. My Kubota having the brake on the right along with the hydro pedal has me with two feet on the right side of the machine. I may have a look under the machine and see if there is enough room to run a connection shaft over to a left side brake pedal.
On the same theme....
Everyone has a little different twist on how to build strong corners that won’t pull over while stretching the fence. Would be interesting to see pics of how others build corners. On long runs I use 8’ long corner posts (7-9” or so dia) with 54-56” out of the ground, then a smaller second but heavy duty (4-5”) post with a horizontal post at 48-50” nailed between the two with 60-80d nails. I had been using standard 6’8” posts for the horizontal but will be using 8’ horizontal posts in the future (less angle on the diagonal 9ga wire should be stronger). I also reinforce that with 9 gauge wire wrapped around the corner post and nailed to the horizontal post to keep it from twisting. Then run a loop of 9ga. Wire on a diagonal from a point about 9-12” off the ground at the corner to about 6” down from the top of the post in the direction of the fencing....the diagonal has to be lower at the outside and slope upward in the direction of the pull....I have actually seen this done in the reverse which adds little or no triangulation pull out strength. I’ve experimented slightly over the past 16 years with different approaches, this works pretty well. I can still get over enthusiastic on occasion and stretch too hard and it will lift the end post out of the ground, but that is VERY tight fencing. Suppose using two 8’ corners would be best for long runs. Have also seen mobile home type anchors used mid way between the two corner posts used to tie off the diagonal 9ga wire. That approach seems to work well also.
My most recent corner was built with a 45 degree angle at the corner to make mowing into the corner easier, it was time consuming and used extra posts but I like the result so much I am going to do them all this way in the future on interior fencing. It also keeps my dogs from stopping at the corner and turning back which causes a wear hole in the ground, with an angled corner they run around the corner vs. stopping and turning.
